New Year

It's a new year, and for all intents and purposes a new decade. 2010 people. It's been over ten years since everyone freaked out about y2k and nothing happened. Its been ten years since I was in high school. I've lived in three different cities, nine different houses/apartments, and just one state. I've graduated high school and college and am now in the workforce and paying taxes. I've yo-yo'd in weight. I've been depressed. I've been in love. I have come into my own as an outgoing, out, proud, happy, engaging, smart, dedicated, and loving person. I have dealt with my own homophobia, sexism, racism and classism (the work is ongoing and won't stop.) I've grown as a person. I've learned that it is better to smile and nod, to not stir the pot, learned how to impress strangers, and that I can scare people. I've learned how to pick my battles. I look forward to the next year and the new decade.

I move forward with goals that I would like to achieve in the next year and the new decade. I call them goals and not resolutions. These are things I would like to achieve, but it won't be the end of the world if I don't. Resolutions feel negative to me. "I resolve that I will not.. blah blah blah" It automatically puts you into a "this has to be achieved or I am a failure as a living breathing human being" state of mind. A goal is ongoing. If I don't achieve it for today; there is tomorrow. If I am not able to get it accomplished this week; there is next week.

I have tried to make my new year goals smaller ideas that move me into a direction that will make me happier and healthier. Instead of "loose weight" doing things that I think will help achieve that goal in small steps. Instead of "feel better about work" it's two small goals that I think will help me in that area of my life. My new decade goals are larger life affirming and healthy goals that I would like to see through to completion by the start of 2020.

New Year Goals:

• Blog an hour, 5 days a week. I fell off the bandwagon, I loved being on the bandwagon.
• Wake up at 630 and do a half hour to hour of yoga before work. Flexibility and balance. Yay!
  
• Walk 30 minutes 4 days a week. Reduce chance of diabetes, raises good cholesterol, helps circulation, being more active and not such a couch potato.
  
• Personal Finance Plan. I am in debt, I don't want to be there. I don't really know what I spend my money on, I forget and lose track of that. I'd like to keep better track of that and manage my money better.
  
• Better Paying Job/2nd job. I need to make more money. Pretty simple as that.
  
• No Soda. I drink way too much of the stuff, too much sugar and calories in those things. It's too easy to consume. I would like to stop that.
  
• Flexitarian diet, less than 5 servings of meat a week. I did the vegetarian thing for a year a while back, I felt great about myself, I lost weight, my skin was better, but I missed meat. Maybe I can do something in the middle ground.
  
• Food Journal. I think keeping track of what I am eating, and how it is making me feel will keep me more regular, help me assess what I might need to stop eating, and assess what I need to bring into my diet.
  
• Make lunch three days a week. Cheaper, active eating and vegetarian options made easier.
  
• Limit going out for meals to one a week. Saves money.
  
• Portion Control. I feel that when I sit down to eat, I don't actively pay attention to how much food is on the plate and how much of it I consume. Thinking about the food and eating it slower makes for happier and healthier meals.
  
• Purchase Planning of Wants and Needs. Oh gosh impulse buying is out of hand. I want money to be in my bank account, I don't want to be living paycheck to paycheck. My goal is to lessen my impulse purchasing and assess my needs and wants. Create a list of these things in my life, to have more on the want list than the need list. In much the same way I want to think about the food I eat, I want to think more about the things I buy.
  
• Work before Play, accomplish work task goals for the day before blogging, Facebook, and Google reader. Accomplishing daily work tasks and goals before getting onto the internet for my regular blogging, facebooking, and RSS reading.
  

New Decade Goals:

• Out of Debt. I am currently in debt about $35,000 (it's a guess, I don't know the actual number) School has me in debt about $29,000 of that. My wages are currently being garnished at 15% which will at my current wage get me out of school debt within 9 years. I have about $6,000 of credit card debt. Money long past spent in my late teens and early 20's, mostly on things I no longer have. I want this burden and black mark on my life to be lifted. One of my new year goals is to create a personal finance plan. In this plan I will have it set to get me out of debt before the end of the decade.
• Own Dream Car. My dream car is a Jeep Wrangler. Most of the details beyond that are up in the air. I love the sporty look and the option of it being a "convertible."
  
• Weigh less than 200lbs. I don't even know how much I currently weigh, I don't even know if less than 200 is possible for me, I do however know that I weigh too much and want to weigh less and I think the closer to 200 the better.
  
• Fully paying my own way through life. Earning enough money and spending money in a wiser way to not rely on my parents for my daily, monthly, yearly money needs. I hope this is accomplished sooner rather than later.