New Year, Better Me

I remember every year growing up my cute Dad would give me and my sisters a page out of his special Franklin Day Planner to write our New Years Goals. He would help us think about them and give us some examples of his goals, and we would then write our own. I am so thankful for that small simple lesson. Every year at this time, I start thinking about my New Year's goals. I now start panicking if by the 1st day of the New Year I do not have them written down. Because it is one thing to think about them, but it is another to have them written down, concrete on a sheet of paper to remind you all year long what you wanted to accomplish that year. It's amazing how easy it is to forget. Because life happens.
So this year....guess what is #1 on my list. ME! I am #1. Call me selfish, I don't care. I want to be better than I was last year. I want to feel better. I want to eat better and live better. I am focusing on myself this year. Yep, I'm putting myself before my husband and my children. And guess what? I already know what will happen.....they will benefit too!
I remember my first year of marriage, I came across a saying....."A happy wife, is a happy life!" Well, I used that to my advantage, and said to my husband.....in a sarcastic (yet serious too) sort of tone....Honey, if you buy me an Ipod...I will be so happy. And you know what they say....A happy wife is a happy life!! Well needless to say, I got the Ipod...with that saying engraved on the back....but then guess what...I wanted something else to make me happy, oh and a new Ipod came out the next year, and the next year after that....and that cycle will continue forever and ever. Now that I am more mature....ahem!....I realize that that saying...is true. But in order for the wife to happy, she has to make herself happy. No one can choose that attitude for her. I have to make myself happy. Money cannot accomplish that (long term), things cannot accomplish that (long term), nothing material and tangible really can. But being selfish can! If I want to be happy, I am in control of that. That is why this year, the focus is ME. I will eat better, excercise better, and focus on myself and the way I feel about myself, which will in turn benefit everyone around me!

Also, I would like to point out, my post title is not New Year, NEW me, it is New Year, BETTER me. I do not want to change me, because I love me. And no one can really be NEW. I am who I am, and I'm thankful for who I am...I just want to be better. I know I can never be the BEST, because I will never be perfect....but life is all about progression, and so really every year, no matter what I accomplish this year, the next year I want to be better, so that every year I focus on myself and have something to work towards, something to make me better.

I LOVE a new year! It brings with it a fresh start, hope of better things to come, a time to reflect on last year and decide what you would like to do different, a time to focus on your deep inner thoughts, and to set goals for yourself in all different areas, spiritual, physical, family, monetary, you name it. A time to realize your potential and to work towards being a better you!

Bring it on 2011~can't wait!