This year, I plan on setting goals for myself, lifestyle changes, and bettering life for myself and those around me. There are several things I want to do but the top 4 can have a great effect on the rest of my life.
1. Simplify
I live a life of overindulgence. From drinking too much coffee, eating too much chocolate, buying too many pairs of needless shoes or scarves or hates or clothes. I need to simplify my life in pretty much every aspect. I live in clutter. Right now that could be due to the fact that I don't have a lot of space. In Virginia, our condo is small and definitely not made to support 2 people living there full time. Hopefully our house hunt will provide successful later on and that will help my lack of space and clutter problem. But I know that the change begins with me. You can buy a bigger and bigger house forever and keep filling it with stuff. I don't want to be a hoarder. I don't want to make impulse purchases, I need to appreciate each and every single item in it's entirety. I love my vintage pyrex collection, but I can't see the beauty of just one when it's in a stack of 100. Now that's not to say I'm getting rid of any pyrex, that's the one thing I'm not simplifying/decluttering this year. But I do plan on letting go of things, purchasing less, consuming less, and doing more with less.
2. Being better with Money
This is something I have always struggled with. Neither of my parents really ever taught me the value to saving and to this day it is something I still need to master. This, of course, goes hand in hand with my first goal. If I simplify my life, want less and buy less it will of course help me with money. I need to do this in my personal and business life. I still want to go out to dinner with friends, go shopping and buy ice cream. But I need to make less impulse buys and be more careful where and when I spend my money. I get excited and I find myself purchasing way more than I need or really want. I am a consumer and I want to break the cycle. This is a simple as not eating lunch out every day to limiting myself with a budget and a list of things I actually need/really want when shopping. Also, with my etsy shop, I need to learn self control. I need to establish that my paypal account is strictly business. It funds my business, is used to restock items, pay for monthly fees and any other additional items I may need for it, not for that adorable hat or camera bag I want on etsy. I do want to make a profit and spend it on something else for me. But I want to make sure I have a good chunk of change in that account before I splurge on something for myself. I think I want to save up enough to buy a new laptop. Using Shauns every time I need to blog, upload an item or edit photos is getting old and mine is so ancient and falling apart that it's depressing even to look at it, let along open it up and use it to work. I also want to be one of those little hipsters that sits in a coffee shop in Middleburg and edits photos that I just took in the countryside while listening to Band of Horses and sipping a latte. *shh don't tell anyone I'm a closet hipster*
3. Control my Emotions
This is not as simple as it sounds. I like to think that I make decisions based on common sense and logic most of the time. But the truth is, I am a big ball of emotions. I've done a decent job at work of making business and managerial decisions with a stone cold facade and minimizing the emotional input I add to my decisions. But in my personal and business (etsy) life I have a harder time. The emotional aspect will of course influence the first 2 goals (see how I'm already getting organized?!). By controlling my emotions I control my impulse buys, which in turn helps me simplify which then helps me be better with money. Yep, I can do many a thing by controlling my temper, desires and excitability. I think that the majority of the problems in my life can be fixed or at least improved by stopping myself from getting emotional and approaching the situation with a calm mind.
4. Being a Better Person
yes, I know. This is sort of all encompassing. We all want to be better people right? But I want to be a better person in several different aspects. I want to be a better friend, girlfriend, family member, employee, business owner, stranger and person in general. I want to make decisions that minimize the hurt or problems for other people. I want to also take action when I see injustices and do simple things that will better other peoples lives. This means not going crazy when Shaun and I have a fight. Always being there for a friend, helping and spending more quality time with my family(even when they drive me crazy), working harder at work and with my etsy shop, and helping people I don't know in any way that I can. I think we complain a lot about other people. We place the blame on those we do not know or those we do know and say, "Well if they would just stop doing this or start doing this the world would be a better place." I want to get away from that. I want to stop placing the blame. I want to take responsibility for every stupid mistake in my life, take action when I usually would sit on my butt and do nothing. I want to do my taxes when I'm supposed to. Take a walk or a run even if it's cold outside. Procrastination, the bane of my existence. I need to change that. There are about a billion things I could improve about myself and I need to sit down, take a good hard look at myself and re-evaluate what I find important. Stop ignoring the things I hate but have to do and hoping that they go away. Start getting things over with. Start loving more and being angry less, taking better pictures but less. Simplifying, being better with money, working on my emotions and improving as a human being.
Happy 2013!
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