New Year... New Goals... New Word... And A Look Back At 2016
With a New Year upon us and the whole world, scrambling to stick to their New Year's Resolutions, I like to take this time to look back, set new goals, and commit myself to a word of the year. My vision board is complete and I am ready to make 2017 my B***H. Happy 2017 and thank you for all the love and support you have given to The Daily Bubbly, Cheers!
For the past few years, I have been reading about how both financial and emotionally successful people create a vision board of what they want their lives to look like. Now I must admit, when I first heard about this idea, I thought it was novel but I did not see how it was going to make my dreams come true. I had always learned that with a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck your dreams can come true. But, as I continued to learn and listen to a variety of successful people and self-help gurus I began to understand the importance of visualizing your dreams. That Vision are about seeing is achieving, believing in yourself, and not being afraid to live your dreams out loud.
My goals, this is a first for me, I am not one to share my goals with others, ever. But this year, I have created a goal jar, written them down and I will share them with you today. I know it may sound silly what is the big deal with sharing your goals for the year with people, for me, it's always been one of the things I hold close to the vest. A safeguard from disappointment and never having to answer why I did not achieve the goals I set out to. It's scary putting yourself out there for everyone to see and to question your decisions. Self-preservation above all. So here it is... my goal list.
- Work out every day: For me, this is a biggie I hate working out but I have recently found yoga and haha yes, I know it's not the latest workout craze. The people have been practicing yoga for decades but I have finally found a very happy medium, no going to classes, to working my schedule around class times, no to driving, or walking through the snow and rain. Just me, a quite room, and Yoga with Adriene on Youtube.
- Reach 5K Instagram followers: I currently have 1K and I am very proud of that. I worked my butt off for the past 6 months to gain the 400 plus followers I needed to reach my 1K goal by 2017. Which I did! So adding 4 thousand in 1 year is quite a big goal. I need to gain 11 followers a day for 365 days to reach this my magic number. So tell your friends, family, and co-workers to follow my Instagram.
- Travel: I had forgotten how amazing it is to travel, but 2016 reminded me of this big time. My husband and I have been together going on seven years and our honeymoon this summer was our first vacation together. Yes, we have visited family, but had never been on a destination vacation just the two of us. So this year I want to make travel and time together a priority. Getting out of our comfort zones, seeing new things, meeting new people, and embracing a new city and cultural. Traveling really does feed the soul.
- Career: This year will hopefully mark the first full year of being self-employed and with that comes an income goal. You may want to brace yourselves for this one, but my goal for this year is 60 thousand dollars. I feel like Dr. Evil from the first Austin Powers saying this. I know most people and other bloggers are laughing out loud right about now, but I am trying to embrace the goal, the dream, the vision. I know I have it me, and yes I have a plan... Please send $5 a donation to my go-fund-me page. (Just Kidding!)
These goals bring me to my word of the year. For those of you who have not heard of this concept and trust me, I did not either until I lived with a very wise woman who introduced me to the concept. Instead of making New Year's Resolutions, that most of the time are overwhelming and maybe somewhat self-defending, you chose a word. It's one word that is positive to your well-being... happiness, change, moments, etc. and that word is the approach to the year. This word is to give you meaning, to push you toward self-advancement in both your personal and professional life. My Word of the Year is... You Guessed it... BELIEVE.
I am choosing to believe in myself, my career path, my family, and friends. I am choosing to believe that not only every day is a gift but everyday things will get better, not just for me but for the world. No, I do not believe that I will wake up tomorrow and everything will be amazing, but one step at a time, one good deed, one blog post, one dollar, one trip, one follower, and my life will start to change for the better.
I also believe that to move forward you have to take a minute and look back not dwell or live in the past but to gain perspective and insight. I am not going to lie as much as people hated 2016, it had been a pretty good year for me.
- My friendships in 2016 grew stronger, which is truly such a wonderful blessing.
- I watched my oldest brother marry his beautiful wife and flew in a helicopter over Vegas. (Pretty cool once in a lifetime kinda experience)
- I took the first step in what will hopefully be one of the best decisions of my life and started The Daily Bubbly. (It was a five-year wish in the making)
- My fiance (now husband) and I moved our family from Chicago to Milwaukee. We have been here 6 months and have absolutely come to love and embrace this city we now call home.
- My husband and I were married in September and it was truly one of the best moments of my life. We were able to celebrate with our family and friends surrounding us and for that, I am incredibly grateful.
- Our honeymoon, six blissful kid-free days in New Orleans doing what we love to do the most... eat!
- Beautiful sunny days exploring, biking and walking around Milwaukee. We have made new friends and get to spend more time with family.
-Freezing winter days snuggled on the couch watching movies, eating popcorn, reading books and enjoying the Christmas season.
I will say 2016 was not all sunshine and roses I spent the beginning half of the year extremely stressed and unfilled from a job I liked at a good company but did not love at all. I felt uncreative and completely unfulfilled. I left a city and friends that I absolutely loved and called home for close to a decade. My family suffered the loss of my Aunt Susie. She had been ill but the loss was sudden and very deeply felt. I always looked to her for strength and independence, a reminder that family comes first and that you cannot always pick them but you do always love them. A family is the greatest gift we have and no matter what is to be cherished. I am a better person, woman, mother, and wife for knowing her.
I want to thank everyone for sharing, following and reading The Daily Bubbly. It's a great honor to be able to do what I love every single day and I would not be able to if it wasn't for you. Let Me Know In The Comments Below What You Think Of My Goals And Word of the Year. Also please share yours; with me.