Goals O' Plenty!

Well.

I feel it.

That motivation. It's creeping back in. The excitement of a new year. New challenges. New changes.

Ahhh, that sweet scent of starting something new!

The key is grabbing hold of that excitement and running with it. I tend to get stuck inside the gate and never make it out. I end up wasting a whole barrel full of motivation, and it takes ages for me to recoup it all.

So where to begin? Where should this motivation lead me?

A couple places, perhaps.

This blog. I love writing in it. It would be way more fun if people read it, but hey, writing for myself is what I'm doing here, and myself is reading it, so score one for me! I also just joined BlogHer, which is very exciting, yet completely overwhelming. We'll see how it goes!

Myself. Physically. I woke up yesterday and was determined to make this weight loss thing work. It's going to take a lot of work and energy, but I really do want to be happy with myself again. I'm in a wonderful yahoo group with wonderful motivating women and I'm utilizing that support to its full capacity. I rejoined SparkPeople, where I can keep track of my food, water, and exercise. As writing is a tool I use to process things in my life, I've started blogging about my weight loss journey, as well. There's more to feeling better about myself then just the weight loss. I'm going to work on being happy with me just the way I am.

Myself. Spiritually. This has been a tough one. It's an area of my life I am very eager to explore.

Relationships. My relationship with my kids, with my husband, with my brothers, with my friends. I want to work on all of them. They are all positive relationships now, but I often don't give them the attention they deserve. Then there is the parental relationship, notably with my father. More notably with his wife. How that will progress, I have no idea, but I have to do something about it. I need more "Girl Days" with the Princess. I need more one-on-one time with the Baby Boy.

Books. Reading. Writing. I'm feeling the call! I haven't decided yet what kind of reading challenge I want to undertake this year - whether it be a goal of some numeric value by December 31, or something different like the Rory Gilmore Books Project. Also, I'm going to write. I pumped myself up for NaNoWriMo last November, but didn't get very far as November became the month of the big move. I think I want to take things in a whole new direction with my writing. I have some ideas, and I'm going to give myself the time to put the pen to paper and see what develops.

School. I AM DOING IT! I've had several conversations with my husband and I know now without a doubt I am ready to go back and finish college. I know what I want to do. I'm going to save that for another blog post, though. :)

Theatre. Before we moved to Texas, several of my theatre pals and I created our own group. It never took off quite how we envisioned it, but I think we weren't ready to really put the effort in that was required. I was the last to hold on to our little group, and when I moved, I closed it for good. Now I'm ready. I don't foresee opening it this year, but my goal is to really lay the groundwork. Do my research. Set the ball in motion.

Coaching. I haven't decided yet if I will return to coach volleyball in the fall. I enjoyed it much more than I had anticipated, and I've already been coming up with ways to improve my coaching for the next season. It all depends on my family and our schedules. I'm still hoping to coach softball this spring. My fingers are crossed.

Work. I don't know what I'm doing yet. Am I going to continue working in real estate? Let it go and work as an assistant from home? Just coach, and find another part-time job that fits around the husband's work schedule? I'm not sure. I have a lot more thinking to do.

Volunteer. I want to give more. My husband and I have reached out lately and given toys and coats to families that needed them, and it felt so good! I want to feel that feeling more often. I want my kids to learn the joy of giving. I want to help people (oh how my mother would cringe when I'd say that growing up..."I don't know what I want to be, Mom, I just want to help people!"...not that she didn't want me helping people, but the college I chose to go to unfortunately did not offer a BA in Helping People...much to my dismay!).

It's going to take a lot. I need this year, though. I need something to change. We, as a family, need this year.

Ok, motivation, don't let me down!