2013 Goals

I realize today is January 4, and that puts me behind in the blogsophere in posting about my New Years Resolutions or Goals.*  I've had the goals listed below in mind for a few weeks, but was hesitant to post them as I was contemplating adding additional fitness, food or weight-loss related goals.

In the end, I've decided not to add anything like that, despite the fact that those are the areas of my life where I need to make significant improvements.  I chose not to add them, partially because I couldn't come up with a healthy, reasonable goal (always in the back of my mind is my life goal to lose 100 pounds, but that's not realistic in one year's time), and partially because I am afraid of failing.**

So, while weight loss is always on mind, here are the personal goals I'd like to tackle this year.

• Read the bible all the way through.
• No explanation necessary.
• Write in a personal journal twice a week.
• While blogging has its merits, there are certain thoughts that you (and by you I mean I) should maybe not share with the whole world, which includes friends, strangers, co-workers and family. I think I could benefit from getting some of these thoughts out of my head and into a concrete place where I can return and review them.  I also have used journals as a form of prayer in the past; writing the prayers help to focus my thoughts and keep me from wandering (or when I do wander, helping me return to where I started eventually)
• Write a snail mail letter once a month.
• I still believe in the power of snail mail.  A card or a note received via the United States Postal Service is a powerful statement to your friends and family saying you love them enough to find a card, take the time to write and then go out and buy a stamp.  I do have more than 12 friends and family members, so I wish I were saying I'd do this once a week, but I just sort of know it won't happen that way. I think once a month is a good place to start.***
• Read five biographies.
• At first I thought I would not set any reading related goals. Obviously, I can read, and I don't feel like I need to challenge myself to read more this year. But after watching Lincoln in theatres (it's great; go see it!),  I was inspired to learn more about the man in the stovepipe**** hat. And that got me thinking, that biographies are a good way to absorb history and expand my reading repertoire. Why five? Well, let's just say I'm a little wary of biographies to begin with, so I don't want to go crazy.  Have you read a really compelling biography? Let me know and I'll add it to my list. (please know that when I say biography I mean biography of a person whom I've heard of, perhaps from history or entertainment or a royal family. I don't mean just a random joe-schmo. No offense to the joe-schmos, just not what I'm feeling)
• Comment consistently on friend's blogs.
• I have a number of friends with blogs or vlogs that I read regularly (and a few strangers, too).  I want to be better about commenting consistently on their blogs, because I know how much I LOVE comments on my blog****** and think that I can do this simple act regularly to send a little love their way. I kind of already started this one.
• Burn a candle more often.
• They're nice. They provide a cozy light and usually a delicious smell.  I have candles. I just never remember to light them. Should be simple.
• Visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando.
• This year I'm going to both Disney World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. However, I've already visited and loved Disney World, so I don't feel the need to set it as a "goal" to attain. I have not been to Harry Potter World, so therefore the goal.

In addition to these, I always have the aim to love more, pray more, give more and, therefore, hold material possessions more loosely.  But those aren't the most tangible of goals, just overarching life improvements, I guess.

What about you? Care to share your 2013 stabs at personal improvement?

*I prefer to refer to them as goals. It makes me craft them in a more concrete manner and makes them seem more real to me.

**I hope to be able to blog more about this soon. Haven't been able to form enough concrete words about it yet. 

***I wrote my January snail mail letter and first journal entry last night and my hand is still cramping.  It is so rare that I write anything more than my signature or maybe a short sentence scrawled on some paperwork at work that my hand is out of shape. Thankfully, my handwriting has always been so bad that the lack of practice did not affect the usual standard of readability for which I strive.

****Full confession, I typed stovetop hat, then thought "That doesn't sound right" and had to google "What kind of hat does Abe Lincoln wear?*****" to find that it is actually called a stovepipe hat.  Seriously, WHAT did we do before the internet?  Just remember everything?  Also, I'm ashamed that I, and all my kin, hail from Illinois (AKA the Land of Lincoln) and couldn't remember. If any of them reads this blog and and this accompanying footnote, they may never forgive me.

*****As I typed "what kind of hat does..." Google supplied (I really, really, really love seeing Google try to guess what I'm searching for) the following 2nd halves of my question:
 "what kind of hat does mary poppins wear"
 "what kind of hat does mario wear"
 "what kind of hat does indiana jones wear"
 "what kind of hat does sherlock holmes wear"
 "what kind of hat does raylan givens wear" Then I didn't know who Raylan Givens was, so I had to google him. Apparently, he's a character on a tv show called Justified. He wears a Stetson.

******New Year's Goal or shameless ploy? you be the judge