New Year, New You!

As excited as I am to be welcoming 2013, this year holds a lot of unknowns for our family.  We're planning to welcome a new baby in March, have two out-of-town family weddings to look forward to and a deployment.

As you can imagine, I have mixed emotions about this year.  Part of me wants time to speed up so we can meet our new girl, while the other part of me wants time to move slowly so we can savor our time together as a family before hubby leaves.

I've spent a lot of time the past month or so thinking about how I want my 2013 to look.  Much of it may be out of my control, but I'd like to have a grasp on how I react to things that happen to me and my family.  I've made a few goals, or resolutions, for the year and sharing them here is a good way for me to keep track of how I'm doing.

1.  Be/Eat Healthier
I haven't had too much trouble keeping myself in check this pregnancy, but I do want to make sure that I am more conscious of the things I eat and drink.  I also need to make a point to exercise at least a little bit after the baby comes.  I know that its going to be hard to find the time and energy, but every little bit counts.  We've already kind of started eating more healthy, so I need to just make sure that I'm keeping up with it and being conscious of health when meal planning.

2.  Financial health
In 2012 we started following the Dave Ramsey Total Money Makeover and have since paid off most of our consumer debt.  By the end of this year we should be completely debt free aside from our mortgage.  That means no car payments, no credit card debt, etc.  I am very excited for this milestone, but I also want to make sure that we don't go crazy after we get everything paid off.  I still want to maintain the working budget we have and save as much as we can while hubby is gone.

3.  Patience/Serenity
This is a big one for me.  I need to work on controlling my temper and being more patient.  In addition, I want to try to be more calm and serene about things that are out of my control.  This can include anything from my kid(s) to my husband's work schedule to old people blocking the aisles in the commissary.  I feel like I spent a lot of 2012 being mad about something, and it leaves me anxious and unsettled.  I think if I concentrate more on being content and patient with others then I will see a noticeable change in my mood most days.  This one will be a challenge for me.

4.  Be Nicer/A Better Wife
Probably the most challenging goal of mine will be to be a nicer person and more responsive/caring wife.  Its not that I'm disrespectful, I just tend to use a certain tone of voice that is not the nicest.  It can best be described as abrasive.  The problem maintaining this goal will be that most of the time I don't even realize that I'm being condescending and abrasive.  I'm hoping that by being more conscious of my attitude (see #3) I'll be less angry and explosive by the end of the day.  I also think that finding an outlet for myself will help in the stress-relief aspect of this.

5.  Accountability
I want to hold myself accountable for things financially.  I've been much better about this in 2012, and I want to continue on this track.  I often find myself out at stores and figuring out a way to fit something into the budget.  This is good, but also bad.  Its good because I know I won't spend the extra money on something if we truly can afford it, but bad because I "steal" from other budget categories to get what I want, when I want it.  For instance, if I am at Target and decide that the baby needs that dress or AJ needs those boots, I'll get them because even though I know I already spent the money allotted for baby stuff this month, I can use the money set aside for the dog's vet bill in a few months.  This only really becomes a problem when I need to take the dog to the vet unexpectedly because she ate a whole ham or chewed through an electrical cord again.  I need to make sure I keep myself accountable to the budget and our family's financial goals.

So there you go, a short (kind of long-winded) list of what I want to aim for this year.  After thinking about all these goals, I decided to come up with a short "focus phrase" for myself.  Something that encompasses my main goals for the year.  Something I can concentrate on and remind myself of that is easier to remember than those five points above.  Since I tend to be a worrier and most of my goals revolve around stressing less, being more peaceful, and not worrying so much I've decided to use the word "kairos" as my word for the year.

Kairos is a Greek word that loosely translates to mean "on God's time" which I think is fitting.  I like having the reminder that He will take care of any problems I may encounter as long as I let Him.  When I was in high school we went on a retreat that was named Kairos and the main theme of the retreat is to "Let Go and Let God."  Meaning, let it go and let God worry about it.

So for 2013, my plan is to trust in the higher power and know that He will never give me more than I can handle.  Where will your focus be this year?