I’m back! I, unfortunately, lost track of my goals this autumn as life got busier and more stressful. I was doing great keeping up with making a new recipe every Sunday and blogging about it until about mid-November. At that point, the bills were piling up and my husband still didn’t have a job. He started driving Lyft to contribute to our income, which meant no more sharing meals together. I didn’t feel much like spending lots of money on new ingredients to make a meal for myself, so I quit. I hate quitting, but I did it to save money and time. I also stopped blogging as a result. I regret that, because once I fall out of the habit it becomes extremely hard to get back into it. I always find an excuse to not take a half hour or more and sit down to write. I also lost my topic to write about.

Moral of the story, life is not easy. Goals are great, but you are going to face obstacles to achieving those goals. Sometimes, you have to put those goals on hold to deal with the trials and tribulations of life. Every year I sit down and write out my goals or resolutions for the New Year and I probably inevitably stick to only a handful of them. It is hard to hold ourselves accountable to change our habits. That is why in January the gym is packed full of people and by February those numbers start dwindling until March it is back to the usual faces again.

I have been dedicated for the most part though to my goals from this past year. I started a workout program on Beachbody and I completed Liift4 (8 weeks of lifting and Hiit) with only a few days skipped. Then I completed 21 Day Fix with only two skipped days in the middle. I am planning to start a new program at the start of the year. As they say in the videos, if you quit you are only quitting on yourself. I try my best not to quit, but there are a few habits I really need to quit. These are the habits I wish to change in the new year and for life and I’ve already started working on them this year. Here they are:

1. Being mean to myself
2. Stressing over the future
3. Eating poorly and never sticking to healthy diets
4. Not trusting my instincts and the Universe
5. Spending money on things I don’t need
6. Hitting snooze
7. Being negative
8. Not taking helpful advice
9. Always wanting what I don’t have
10. Not being happy

Here are the goals I have for changing these bad habits:

1. Loving myself more and saying kind words to my body
2. Being at peace with whatever happens in life
3. Sticking to a healthy diet to help cure my stomach issues
4. Believing in myself and knowing things will all work out
5. Being more frugal and only spending money on things I really need
6. Waking up at the same time every day
7. Seeing the glass half full and knowing there is always a positive way to look at things.
8. Take your own advice and that of others that you deem beneficial
9. Being content with what I have and the timing of my life and not thinking the grass is always greener on the other side.
10. Learning that true happiness lies within and is not conditional on my circumstances

I’ve of course got big goals for 2019 like get pregnant, buy a house, succeed at work, but these things will happen when they are meant to happen. I can’t will things to happen according to my timeline. I need to be more patient, have no expectations, and just live my life! I was recently diagnosed with SIBO and have a long road ahead of antibiotics, diets, and lifestyle changes. It won’t be easy, but the number one thing that causes relapse is stress. So, I need to find a way to finally kick this bad habit of stressing out about everything.

This of course is a problem for most people. I envy those who don’t get stressed. What is your secret? What are your goals for 2019?