Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Breaking and Failing and Hoping and Praying

NaBloPoMo January 2015
 
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
Have you ever tried to break a habit and failed? What made it so difficult to break?

Can a habit be something you DON'T do?  If that's the case, I have tried to break quite a few habits and failed.  I excel at NOT eating healthy and exercising, NOT sitting still for devotional and Bible study time, and NOT staying on top of my housework.  Three things on my goal list for this year and three habits I hope to break - i.e. get INto the habit of doing.  The difficulty of all three boils down to commitment.  If it was simply a desire to WANT to do these things, I would be rocking it!  But making time, making it a priority, is where I struggle greatly.  I am trying to finagle my schedule in such a way to build in time for the important things this year and reduce the likelihood for shortage of time to be the reason for not achieving my goals.  It's early in the month yet, but I am encouraged by the realistic goals I've set and really hope and pray that I'll be able to check these things off the list each month and get into some great habits this year!

Blessings,
Stephanie

Monday, January 5, 2015

Habits - which is my worst?

NaBloPoMo January 2015
 
Monday, January 5, 2015    Tell us about your worst habit?

Well, this is a fun Monday morning post!?!  Call yourself out for your worst habit...yay! I have plenty of bad habits.  I used to bite/peel my fingernails, and to be honest in times of great stress, I find myself picking at them even in my forties!  I leave shoes all over the house, kicking them off wherever the mood hits me, and it even drives me crazy, but I still do it.  But I guess those aren't really that big of a deal.  I am going to go out on a limb and say my WORST habit is lack of motivation.  Is that even a habit?  I'm not sure, but it's my blog and I'm am going to go with that.  Laziness might be another word to describe it, but that word doesn't ring quite true because while I have lazy days like many do, I have many productive days as well.  I would say being AND staying motivated is an area I truly struggle with.  After working from home for nearly 18 years with a home daycare and chaos from basically 6:30am to 6:00pm - I spent many evenings overwhelmed with all that had to be done and one tired woman trying to get it done.  I think some of the bad habits started with undiagnosed depression after my parents passed in 1996 and I was simply trying to keep my sister and I afloat.  I was simply SO overwhelemed and then rolled all of that into a bad marriage and trying to finish college and it was just too much for my brain.  I don't want to make excuses, because I really do hate excuses, however, I think I have this underlying feeling of if it can't be perfect, I don't even want to try and then the cycle begins again.  I want to have the motivation to just get it done, and many days  I do.  But there are many day that I just fall short of hours and a little bit o' gumption to finish my to do list.  I am trying to be more task minded and not try to do the whole house, or scrapbooking project or yard work renovation in one day - rather breaking it down in tasks I can complete and have the satisfaction to check something off the list.  So here's to 2015 and checking the small things off the list in hopes of seeing big results in the end.

Blessings to you from SC,
Stephanie

Friday, January 2, 2015

NaBloPoMo January 2015
 
 
Friday, January 2, 2015 Do you usually keep your resolutions?
 Tell us about a time when you were particularly successful.
 
I am pretty sure the only resolutions I've ever kept for the whole year has been in the years I vowed not to make any resolutions at all.  Partially because I set pretty lofty ones that require a WHOLE lotta discipline and that's where I lack greatly.  So therefore I can't post when I was successful as I can't think of when I was.  So how about this - I will share how I am going to do my best to fix that this year!  I have my calendar printed out, my google reminders set and have somewhat of a game plan for the items I mentioned in yesterday's post.

So here's how I hope to be more committed to 2015's resolutions:
I have joined up with NaBloPoMo to blog 5 days a week, my husband and I have discussed our plan to eat healthier in 2015 (working on the menu is yet to be completed), I've selected my Bible study on my phone to start on January 1st and have my journal ready to go for notes and thoughts as I work on my Bible study and prepare for the ladie's group study I co-lead on Tuesday mornings.  I have a tentative plan for cleaning out my house by spring and still not quite sure when new items will go in the Etsy shop - my latest projects are wood signs, so that will probably be the items to add next!

Here's to a successful 2015!

Blessings from SC,
Stephanie

 


Thursday, January 1, 2015

Resolutions

NaBloPoMo January 2015
 
Thursday, January 1, 2015
What are your resolutions for the new year?  Tell us how you picked them.
 

Resolutions perplex me somewhat...every year, bazillions are made and bazillions are broken, but we do them anyway, right?  Kind of like that Monday morning plan to "eat right starting THIS week" or "work out EVERY day this week"...and by Tuesday we are like nah - I'm not feeling it :)  But I have committed to this blog challenge and have a few resolutions I'd like to try to commit to. If it's written in italics does it count?  I'm not sure, but here goes! 
  1. Blog more - hence the google search and finding the NaBloPoMo challenge!
  2. Healthier lifestyle - we are going to try IVF one more time this year, or we think that's the plan, before I turn 42 in November (my doctor's cutoff age) and I'd like to slim down and walk more, providing for a healthy pregnancy as much as I can.  I won't promise any Biggest Loser results, but 50 pounds would be awesome.  We shall see.
  3. Get my childhood home ready to be put on the market.  It's the year it has to get done.  No more stress over property taxes and cleaning out the mess and mowing the grass and checking the mail...it's just gotta get done.
  4. Add new items to my Etsy shop SmallTownGirlDesign at least twice a month.  I am planning a crafting day every other week to get items made to list, and hope I'll be able to squeeze more days in as the year goes on!  But twice a month is my start goal.  I'd love to do once a week, but that may be ambitious in January, so I'm keeping it realistic.
  5. Bible study and journal regularly - I start off with a plan, but fall off quickly.  I have built this time into my schedule for the new year.  I don't promise daily, but I'm hoping for a few times a week!
I am going to stop at 5.  I probably have more I'll try to do.  But that's a nice round number and it's doable.  Happy New Year to your families from Lake Wylie, SC.  May God bless you all richly!
 
Blessings,
Stephanie