Resolute Intentions

It's that time again where even if you never set any goals for last year, you still take stock of where your life is and determine what might change for the better. I set one goal for myself last year and made many intentions. Let's see how I did. (Good thing I have a thick skin.)

My only goal was to Study Daily: FAIL
I didn't even come close. I used Tyler's study guide for about three weeks and then let it lapse. (My fault, not his.) And then I NEVER found a good study time or schedule. This doesn't mean that I didn't open a book or the scriptures for a year. We studied as a family and I usually kept up with my Sunday lessons, but I did not find the groove I envisioned. Pretty sad.

Now how about those intentions...luckily Emily told me I should post them on my side bar, so I really did see them frequently. But that doesn't mean they all went my way. The results are in.

1. Check in with Mint Weekly. FAIL (I maybe looked at Mint 5 times total through the year. I rock.)
2. Do a learning activity with Daisy once a week. FAIL (I read with her a lot but nothing else special.)
3. Blog 3 x's a week. PASS (sure, it wasn't great there at the end, but oddly enough, if you multiply 52 weeks by 3, it comes out to 156. And I blogged exactly 157 times last year. So we'll call that good.
4. Take one child on a date each month. PASS (can't remember all the dates, but they were done.)
5. Do Scripture study with the kids in the morning. FAIL/PASS (we actually did this for quite a while and we are getting back into the groove, but there are huge gaps where we were out of sync.
6. Have a FHE centered around service each month. PASS (we did not get every month, but I am giving myself some slack here. We still did a great job.
7. Possibly learn a home improvement thing. PASS (I could have done more, but I think this constitutes as success.)
8. Maintain all the fabulous stuff I do. PASS (kept almost all the traditions around here. Check.)
9. Read 12 books. PASS (okay, so with a book group, that isn't all that impressive, but I still did it.)
10. Find some exercise plan I like. PASS (have been running for 5 months now. Woot.)

So...if you look back, it isn't perfect, but there are also a lot of passes up there. I will accept my defeat where it came, and vow to fight again and do better. I am a champion, after all. And I like holding myself responsible to myself. Certainly I know best what I could be doing better. In fact, let's do it again. I give you...

Maleen's Intentions for 2013
(in no particular order)

1. Run 3 races. (That should keep me training.)
2. Read the Book of Mormon. (I read from the book every year, but I never complete it.)
3. Kid date once a month. (Gotta keep this one going. I love it.)
4. Attend the Temple 12 times. (That works out to once a month. Totally doable and perhaps a bit low.)
5. Track my spending. (New year, new system, new chance to fail again.)
6. Stop biting my nails. (Don't even care about this one, but it would make the husband happy.)

Six intentions sound good to me. There are more in my head of course, but I am trying not to go overboard. And they are really all things that I want to become. I want to be healthy, family oriented, spiritual, financially savvy, and in control of myself. None of these intentions are out of my reach. Nothing too fancy this year.

I liked this quote by Seth Godin posted recently on his blog: New Year's resolutions rarely work, because good intentions don't often survive a collision with reality. But an inventory is a helpful tool, a way to keep track of what you're building. Drip by drip.

I think my good intentions will collide nicely with my reality. Granted, it is still a collision, so I can plan for mess, chaos, and imperfection, but perhaps I will get a new car out of the bargain.