Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

New Years Resolutions

Every New Years Eve I spend some time pondering on the year past and the year to come.

Here is drunken little me on December 31st, 2007 toasting the new year.

2008’s resolutions (pulled right from my LiveJournal):
1.  Will take off at least another 45 lbs by continuing the healthy eating and exercise habits I’ve developed this year.

How did I do?  Great, actually.  Even if you count it from my January 1st weight of 210, which took me about half of January to get back to, 45 lbs lost would be 165, which I am below right now.  I have definitely at least kept up on the “eat good most of the time” habits and expanded on the exercising.

2.  Will finally figure out what my goal weight is, even if I don’t get there in 2008 yet.  I thought the 45 would take me to a place where I was happy before, but I think it was just because I was afraid of failure I didn’t want to hope for a lower weight. So somewhere between 45 and 85 down from where I’m at now, I find the happy place where I’m 100% comfortable in my skin and just need to continue building my muscles.  (FYI for anyone concerned with my safety, I can lose another 100 lbs before I’m underweight, so it’s not like I’m trying to be a supermodel or anything – I just tend to carry weight well.)

How did I do?  In technical terms, not so good, but I feel differently about the journey than I did last year.  I have no idea what my goal weight is, but I’m not in as much of a rush to get there.  I know I want to lose at least another 12-ish lbs and get to 150.  Beyond that, I think I will just keep going, slowly, and see where it leads me.  So somewhere between about 12 and 30 lbs should find me there.

3.  Will figure out what I’m going to do when I get in shape – is it dance classes or water skiing or running or underwater basket weaving?  What do I want to do so badly but I’ve repressed it because I think I’m too out of shape?

How did I do?  Well, I guess I found running, but I still feel like I need to finish the weight losing before I can “reward” myself with “fun” workouts (besides DDR).  It’s not the best attitude – I know.  But I can’t quite shake it yet.  I’ll have to keep working on this.

4.  Will start planning our wedding and set a date.

How did I do?  We sort of set a date, started thinking and planning and then *bam*, unemployment and crunch time happened.  We’ve talked more and are looking into alternative, cheaper options that are just as cool.  However, I can’t really say I’ve done enough with this to call it a success.  Considering the original date is in May 2009, I should really get on this, or give up and hire a wedding planner (though the inner jew is screaming “But that’s money you can spend on the wedding and you can do it yourself”).  Again, something to work on next year.

5.  Will be open and receptive to all the good that comes into my life and share it with others.  I will celebrate my successes but not rest on my laurels!

How did I do?  I think this is an ongoing type resolution.  I tried to make a conscious effort to dig myself out of bad moods quicker than before.  With everything that happened this year – it certainly put things in perspective how lucky we had it (and still have it).  While it wasn’t all GOODTHINGGOODTHING one right after another like 2007 seemed to be, there was way more good than bad and if I felt 5 years younger after last year, I feel 10 years younger now.

So what’s on tap for 2009?  As you know if you read my blog I like lists in 5s, and 5 seems like a manageable number of resolutions to work towards next year.

Here is the most recent pic of us, from Christmas Eve.  Wonder if I’ll think how horrible I looked in this one next year (like I think about the one last year)…

1.  Body: Will continue to eat in a manner that is mostly healthy as I do now and improve when I can, continue improving my fitness, and work on reaching my goal weight, whatever that ends up being, in 2009.  While I’ll always work on improving my muscles and endurance, I’d like to get to the point where the scale is just a double check a few times a week that I’m not way off track, and food journals are a thing of the past, by the end of 2009.

2.  Fitness: I will do at least one new exercise-y thing a month.  This cannot include running, DDR, yoga, traditional weights, or Cybil the arc trainer.  By the end of the year, I would like to transition 1-2 days per week to something like dance classes or volleyball or some other competitive sport OR seriously start training distance running/triathalons.  By my 30th birthday, I need to pick ONE of these to focus on and concentrate on it (and make ancillary resolutions/goals based on what I pick).  I guess what I’m trying to say is to start working out for a reason that is not just to make the scale go down.

3.  Soul: I will pick something creative and establish a plan by my birthday to complete a concrete goal by the end of the year.  Decide if I’m going to pursue writing (maybe actually giving a novel or book of some sort a go), songwriting/recording, pick up drawing/painting again, acting, or work on selling my necklaces.  Maybe take up web design and flesh out this site into a pretty one like I used to do and really give blogging a go beyond just using this for personal theraputic purposes.  Realize that I need to pick ONE of these and focus on it or I’ll feel as lost as I did in 2008.

4.  Get married sometime this year!  That’s about all there is to say on this one…

5.  Allow work to be on the back burner one more year. Of course, be open and receptive to any wonderful opportunities that fall into my lap, but work on enriching my personal life and hobbies instead of focusing on promotions, raises, extra responsibility, etc. Realize that having a 40 hour per week stable job right now that I can pretty much just leave at the office when I walk out the door is a blessing that is giving me opportunities to further the work on my body, fitness, and soul.

It looks like I have a lot of thinking to do before my birthday, but I definitely like where 2009 is headed. Except for the turning 30 thing. As my younger self would tell me, 30 is ancient! I guess feeling and looking better than I did since my teens is a pretty decent consolation prize, so I can’t complain. Have a happy new year, I am off to get a nice sweaty workout, and make preparations for the masque ball thingee we are going to attend. Ciao, bellas – see you next year!

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3 Comments

  1. Hey, when’s your birthday (unless I missed it somewhere in the post)? Sounds like you have some solid, fairly specific goals laid out for 09. I’ll be working up a Goal Post (pun. hah. gah.) for tomorrow!

    For what it’s worth, I’ll be 32 this year . . . and I still feel very early-20s most of the time ;).

  2. hoopylorax

    Wow! Looks like a great battleplan. I agree with Ms Turtle, when is the birthday deadline? You have done so well this last year you should be really really proud of yourself! Keep up all the positivity!

  3. Birthday is March 3rd, so I have 2 months to really contemplate what I want to do. Though I DO think that the first fitness-y thing I want to do is train for races. Still figuring out the non-fitness-y thing though…

    Goal Post. Hehe. I love bad puns!

    Hoopy, thanks for the encouragment :). And welcome to the site!

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