It's a lovely early morning, celebrated with a big cup of coffee, Christmas jazz playing on Spotify, and my BLOG in front of me. My blog! It's been a long time.
I'm resurrecting this site because I've always loved to write and need a place to really focus on it again, get my thoughts on "paper" and practice! I actually keep a handwritten journal as well, where I keep more personal thoughts, perhaps. There is just something about using a pen and paper to communicate my thoughts that I will never be able to leave behind. I've kept a journal since I was maybe 8 or 9! Doing so is part of who I am.
The second reason I'm back (hello! hi!) is because I am embarking on a few new things and am dying to record my progress and use my blog as a tool to keep me motivated!
What are these new things, you ask?
1. I'm currently on a Spending Diet and plan on going on a full blown Spending Fast for one year, come January 1, 2017. This means I will only be spending money on Needs. Not Wants. Oh how hard this will be. I'm practicing now and it is hard. Doable, but difficult. Especially with the holidays around the corner! The reason I'm going on such a journey is because the cloud of student loan debt has gotten big and black enough that I'm ready to work harder to eliminate it sooner. Bob and I have big plans and it feels like we can't move forward with this hanging over our heads. I thank Anna Newell Jones of AndThenWeSaved.com for introducing me to the terms and ideas.
2. I'm growing my nails! Me! The person who has LITERALLY bitten my nails for as long as I can remember. I've grown them a few times (sadly, not even a handful, I don't think...pun intended, kind of) in my life and I always go back to ruining them. This time it's going to be different (ha! We've heard that phrase before, haven't we? I'm using it anyway, because I believe it). This time I'm simply just full-force-full-speed-ahead growing my nails and not looking back. Lotion. Hands OUT of my mouth (I'm 37, for Pete's sake. Embarrassing). The dangling carrot is a nice holiday manicure and some sort of sparkly thing for my finger...see 2a.
2a. Okay so the manicure and sparkly thing go against point #1, I see how you may note that. However, I am determining nail care as a Need. I've had maybe one manicure in my entire life and it was before my sister's wedding over ten years ago (cripes). If I am going to have nice, normal person nails, I need to maintain them. I need help doing that considering my idea of maintenance thus far has been to chew them off. Enough said.
As for the sparkly thing...that's a long term plan. I'm not spending money on that until I'm out of debt. I can't. It's not a Need and I know it. I have a while to go before I'm out of debt, but it's an exciting reward to think about and a great motivator.
3. Exercising on the regular. Like six days a week. I can't think about it too much or I will talk myself out of it, even though I like exercising and feel so much better even after only one full week of six days of 45 minutes (per day) of aerobic exercise. This week I'm on day 4. I am going to the gym tonight. It's happening. I got the idea of six days from a book I'm reading about aging healthfully, called Younger Next Year by Chris Crowley. It's geared more for people of a slightly older age than I but I know I can also reap great benefits from taking care of myself NOW, not waiting until I'm older and it's even harder to create a new routine. Aside from the physical benefits, exercising does MAJOR things for my mental state. I can easily fall towards the depressed side of things, and exercising really keeps that at bay. It's huge. The pain of going to the gym when I don't feel like it is nothing compared to the pain of living under a heavy blanket of negativity and fear.
That's my list! It's a big one, and I'm ready to tackle it. I hope you'll join me along my journey; I'll need all the encouragement I can get. In return, I'll be sure to entertain you with stories, setbacks, learnings, and my AMAZING PROGRESS that I'm going to make.
Good to see you again!
No comments:
Post a Comment