Life After I "Dew"

I have a love/hate relationship with New Years resolutions.  On one hand I love the idea of being able to start fresh, set a goal, maybe become better at something, be a better you.  On the other hand, it stresses me the freak out.  I feel like I have to have this grand plan and that my resolution has to be a good one.  It can't just be "exercise more" or "eat better" or "read more books" or "be a better wife".

Last year I toyed with the idea of a word for the New Year and my word was "think".  Looking back, it was a pretty generic word even though, at the time, I thought it was so profound.  I do think {hehe} that I thought more about the decisions I made but that doesn't mean that I always made the best ones.  I was more aware of my actions and really tried to do better and be better for my family and myself.  As I look back at the person I was a year ago I can see a change.  I am wiser, although not wise.  I am always a work in progress but I am a better me.

I like the idea of a word of the year though and how you can apply it to so many areas of your life.  It turns a resolution into something more, I think.  For me it really lets me be a better person because I can change things that I don't like, not just focus on one thing I want to accomplish.  I want to constantly strive to be the best me I can be and so applying a word to all areas of my life instead of just checking one thing off my list really works for me.

The past week or so I have been thinking about what I want 2014 to be about.  What do I want to achieve?  What do I want to learn?  Who do I want to become?  And the one word that keeps popping up over and over again is 'responsible'.

Not to say I'm not a responsible person.  I pay my bills.  I wear a seat belt.  I make sure my kids get to all their doctors appointments.  I do all of the "right" things, of course, but I could be more responsible in other areas of my life.

I can be more responsible about my time.  Instead of trying to squeeze so much stuff into so little time I want to focus on one thing at a time.  I feel like I always have a bunch of things that I'm trying to tackle yet all of them are just half-assed. I'd rather just focus and maybe have less things get accomplished but the things I do accomplish are complete.  Does that make sense?

I want to be a more responsible wife.  With parenthood comes a lot of responsibility and not a lot of time left for other relationships, it's true.  I want to start focusing more on my marriage and make more time for husband-wife time.  Not that our marriage is bad or in trouble or any of that but I want to nurture that relationship and really take care of Jimmy & Shannon, not just dad & mom.

I want to be more responsible with our money.  This will be the year we get out of debt, I just know it.  Jimmy has a master plan and it's hanging on our fridge for a constant reminder of what we are working towards.  We are so sick of struggling to make ends meet most months and feeling like we are never getting our head above water and this year is where it ends.

I want to be more responsible about my health.  Again, my weight has been at a standstill since about October and enough is enough.  I'm tired of just waiting for these pounds to fall off and I'm definitely not where I thought I'd be at this point.  I'm not being too hard on myself, it's just the reality of the situation.  So it's time to get serious about getting this baby weight off, for once and for all.

There are so many other areas of my life that I can apply this word and so I'm excited to see where this takes me.  I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for me and my family.

What is your New Years Resolution?