New Year's Resolutions 2016 Update

Just a quick update on my "New Year's Resolutions" (let's just call them what they are: Goals. Ok? Mkay.)

Religious:

1. Complete a Bible-in-a-Year plan. 
• I am on 'Day 73' which is about a week ahead of schedule. I've been doing a lot of audio-Bible time on the way to or from work along with some worship songs. It has helped me be more centered throughout my day I feel. I've also been doing some shorter studies and devotionals to help with healing and on topics that I felt would benefit me. So far I've done short studies on: abuse, miscarriage, grief, depression, healing from pain, divorce, prayer, happiness, hope and finding comfort in the Lord.
2. Make more Wednesday Bible studies 
•  I am doing well so far. I have only missed 2 weeks due to bad traffic one of the highways I have to take to get home (they started a new phase of construction on the highway, ugg!)
3. Invigorate my prayer life. 
•  The  younger ladies at my congregation have decided we would like a class on this so have asked someone and she has agreed to teach a lesson for us! I'm pretty excited about this as it is an area I would really like to grow in and I think this class can help me do this.

Health/Medical:

1. No soda. 
• A few here and there that I still need to cut out but I never finish them as they are simply too sweet and I don't really enjoy the flavor anymore.
2. Prep more and try new things! 
•  I've been meal prepping for Monday-Friday for the past few months now with great success... saves me money, time and helps me stay on track. I've been trying a lot of new ideas recipe wise... that means that there are less posted recipes though since I make something new instead of perfecting something I've already tried out so I think I need to work on finding a balance.
3. Water
•  Most days I am keeping to my goal these days which is lovely. I'm not sure I really want the app to remind me to drink water on the weekdays at the office but I need it on the weekends still so reminders are staying on for now. :) When I don't make my goals I get headaches... interesting tidbit to let my neurologist know about. It could be dehydration is playing a part in my migraines more than we thought. I'm pretty much always on the edge of dehydrated it feels like but I've added extra Thermotabs and extra water since the New Year and haven't had to have an IV saline drip yet. Progress!
4. Meds
•  Changed some things up but still doing well with the reminders my app is shooting my way.
5. Exercise! 
•  Still walking... the 5k I signed up for isn't for a while yet so nothing new to report here really. 
• I picked up a FitBit HR Charge to help with pushing me to meet my goals as well as track my heart rate. There have been some interesting observations on that front but my meds seem to be doing a good job most of the time keeping the tachycardia under control so I feel safe to continue my speed walking plan for now. Of course that med is actually to help with the migraines so there's that :P but both the neurologist and I knew that my heart rate and blood pressure would be affected by them as I've been on other medications of this class before for my tachycardia. The first few months were horrible and I couldn't exercise until my body adjusted to the meds. Looks like we're set now though so *fingers crossed* that the neurologist leaves them alone or that his changes don't affect my ability to stick to my plan.
6. Lose 50 pounds.
•  So far I have lost 13.8 lbs. out of the 50 I had as a goal for the year.

Financial:

1. Budget, budget, budget! 
•  Going strong... I'm LOVING the budgeting software I have now so I will definitely review it soon.
2. Pay off debt.
•  So far I have paid off: $1,811.84 worth of debt between my vehicle, student loans and the credit card I took out to move last year.
3. Savings
•  So far I have saved: $2,148.58. Part of this is due to not having to pay rent so far this year as I moved in with my parents as a step towards this goal. I still have storage fees and etc. but I'm trying to put as much as possible towards debt and saving for my future house as possible as well as a healthy emergency fund. I picked up some side hustles with tutoring and work with apps which I will let you guys know about in another month or so as well. I want numbers for 2-3 months to really see which apps I feel are worth looking into and which are a waste of time. So look for those posts in a month or two.

Personal:

1. Get back into the dating world.
•  I've been out in the world of online dating for a while now... nothing major update wise here.
2. Complete at least 50 blog posts this year. 
•  So far this year: 8 of the 50 I had as a goal. I'll be working on getting this number up some.

New Year’s Resolutions

I don’t really do New Year’s Resolutions… I know that seems abnormal with today’s society of fad diet crazes, cheaper gym plans, cleanses, and post after post of organization tips and meal plans in January. I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions because I think they give you an excuse to not take an action that you know you should because your start will be a later date. I prefer to make a goal for myself and start it whenever it needs to be started, preferably sooner rather than later. I started one of my goals about 3 weeks ago for instance. This year I will make an exception, a week late, and make my current goals into ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ that I will share with all of you. Some of these goals are ones I have had for a while but updated to start as of Jan. 1. I have spent the last month or so doing an evaluation on my life and priorities and this is the outcome. 

Religious:

1. Complete a Bible-in-a-Year plan. I chose “Eat this Book: One Year Bible with Daily Psalm” which is available on YouVersion (app or website) if you want to join me! My username is songbirdheather. I’ve decided to do a lot of study this week in order to be ‘caught up’ as if this were a New Year’s Resolution.
2. Make more Wednesday Bible studies. Depending on work I don’t always get to church on Wednesdays if the traffic is bad. My goal is to decrease the number of times I miss services and studies this year in general.
3. Invigorate my prayer life. I have started a 30 Day Prayer Challenge study on my YouVersion app a few days ago to be a new year push on this goal.

Health/Medical:

1. No soda… I started this a few weeks back and so far so good. I had started drinking it again when my headaches were getting really bad to help with them (caffeine can help and it’s just a quick stop at a fast food restaurant verses going home and brewing tea or the like).
2. Prep more and try new things! I got off track a month or so ago when I moved and need to get back on the meal prepping bandwagon something major so that I don’t resort to bad options. This goes with my current goal of sticking to Paleo 90% of the time and Real Food even more than that. I might allow myself a small portion of grains once a month if we’re eating out but I know that I regret it within hours so I want to add ‘try new things when dining out’ to this year’s goals so that if I am faced with a social situation where grains is the main staple on the list of things I know I like the taste of I am less stressed about giving something new a try that looks more gut-friendly.
3. To go with the above, and due to the crazy amount of fluids I now need post flare it seems, I have a higher water consumption goal than before. To help with this goal I downloaded an app: WaterMinder which was on sale over the holidays for $0.99. So far this is my favorite water tracker app… and I have tried quite a few.
4. Meds… take them daily. I downloaded Medisafe over the holidays to remind me and keep track of when I need to have my vitamins, minerals, and medications refilled. I like this app better than any of the ones I have had in the past but it isn’t perfect so if there is a better one out there let me know!
5. Exercise! I need to make sure I am putting in the time for reconditioning as I should be, with finals and the holidays I was letting myself slide more than I am comfortable with. Not everything can go with my Zombies, Run app as not everything I need to do is walking/running/cardio related but I signed up for a 5k nevertheless as an incentive to stick with this goal.
6. Lose 50 pounds. This is less than 1 pound per week, I would ideally like to lose 2 pounds per week but I know that I need to be realistic and account for my illness when it comes to this goal as a flare will set me back. This is one of those goals that isn’t new, just updated for 2016 numbers wise.  So far I am a couple pounds in as I’ve had an awesome week weight loss wise (so if next week isn’t as awesome then I’m ok with that, baby steps!).

Financial:

1. Budget, budget, budget! I am continuing my budgeting campaign to help with the purchase of a home later this year *fingers crossed*. I was going to do a review on YNAB early this year as I had used it for about 5 months and felt I was ready to do so... but they have upgraded. I'm liking the new version quite a bit actually but I want to give it a few months before I review it to find more of those little fixes that I'm already loving.
2. Pay off debt... this goes with my budgeting one from above. I had paid off 2 bills I ended up with according to the divorce as well as the majority of my moving costs last year so this year I would like to finish those and the rest of my credit card (there isn't too much compared to the average person it would seem but it includes the remainder of my moving expenses from California to Texas). Next year I'll move on to tackling my student loans and car note with enthusiasm more than likely (or if I finish my credit card/moving expenses early!). 
3. I'm also saving for a house as I would like to have my own place again late this year or early next year at the latest.

Personal:

1. Get back into the dating world. I was not looking forward to this to be perfectly honest (the annoying messages from people who haven’t even read your profile, the rejection, the mean retorts to rejections… I don’t remember dating particularly fondly) but it was time to give it a try as I would like to find someone to spend my life with… so I signed up for several online dating sites for 3 months to dip my toe into the current dating world. So far I haven’t found anyone with whom I would consider marriage a real possibility so I am not ‘dating’ anyone but I have been on a couple of dates with various people. One of them might even end up being a potential friend, which I am in short supply of, so I would give this a ‘going well’ categorization. *fingers crossed*
2. Complete at least 50 blog posts this year. I need to get back into writing more as it is something I really want to do but had put on the back burner due to finals and the holidays. 50 isn’t an unmanageable goal as it gives me two weeks off with one post per week. I would like to say I will do more than that though so this might get revised later to a higher number but I want to see what my new schedule will allow.

This may be a lot of goals… but I don’t do Resolutions so this is a first for me. Perhaps next year I can chose one or two to highlight and call Resolutions for the year but I doubt it. 

[Edited on 1/11/16 to add financial goals which I had forgotten to put on here as they were continuations and just part of my habit 100% by the original date of this posting.]