2016 was not a bad year. Our daughter graduated high school and began a new adventure at college. Our son found his mojo at college and is now working towards the responsibilities of getting ready to graduate in 2018. My husband and I both stayed employed, volunteered and gave back to the community. We took a wonderful family vacation to New Mexico and we stayed healthy.

But I failed! I did not blog, which is funny because my passion is writing. I did not take time to quilt (another passion) and even though I work at a church camp, I did not do a good job in growing in my relationship with God. I also got out of touch with people who mean a whole lot to me. I created empty places in my life. In 2017, I need to change that.

In 2015, I decided I was too heavy and worked hard to lose 25% of my body weight. I was so proud when a year ago, I reached my goal. I had not felt that great in years. In 2016, I did not exercise as regularly as I should and I found weight coming back on. While I can still wear 99% of the new clothes I had to purchase, there are two skirts which are too tight. (They are one size smaller than the majority of my wardrobe.) I justified things because I could still fit in all but two things. But when will it end!

I don’t like to think I make New Year’s resolutions. But I decided before Christmas that I needed to get back on track. I started two days ago by getting up and walking in the morning. I have set out my yoga mat to work on toning exercises so I can get back into those two skirts.

But it is really not about those two skirts, it’s about filling the voids which were created in 2016. I need to start a faith study to do daily, more than praying because I have not stopped doing that. I need to make sure that I am working to keep fit and healthy because I am not getting any younger. I need to do the best in my job but not make my job my life. I need to become better organized and efficient in what I do. While I don’t want to tie these thoughts into a resolution for the New Year, 2017 is the best time to start afresh.

This may sound silly because my blog following is so small, but I am writing this to help make myself accountable for the goals which I want to set in 2017. I have already started walking , I am having dinner with a friend tonight , today I will look for a faith study (I have quite a few somewhere in my home)  and yesterday, I started cleaning up my office area and ordered some desk organizers to help me at work . I am writing this right now which will hopefully continue with more substantive topics in the future. And lastly, I started getting my fabric ready for quilting again.

Every year, I say I am going to write more and I have great intentions but intentions get you nowhere without follow through. And I honestly think that one of the reasons I have let things drop is because many of the things I do take me to another part of the house, away from my husband. Even if we are different rooms, I feel closer to him if we are on the same level. I need to make sure that I take time to be with my husband and still feel I can do things which I would like to accomplish, even if we are in different areas of the house.

I was feeling badly about the things that have slipped. As I write this, I realize that I have already begun to make my 2017 a better year. I have started making small strides to accomplish the things which are missing from my life. It wasn’t that hard! I now think of what else I could achieve! I will keep you updated and work towards being all I want to be. I know I can do it.

As I wrote before, this writing is really all about me. I don’t care about SEO or attracting a large crowd; that will be for later blogs.

Your goals are achievable! My goals are achievable! Bring on 2017, I think I am prepared!