In about thirty minutes, the sun will rise on our new year. Happy to close the door on a tragic 2022, I wonder what the new year will bring. I am not looking back on my past New Year’s Day posts, but I suspect if I did, they would say that I wanted to focus on my health and my writing. This year is no different. The difference in this year is that my first goal will be to take time off and enjoy guilt free downtime. I worked myself to a point of complete burn out last year. This year will be different.
My happiness rests in my own hands. If I work too much that is on me. Working less begins with careful planning and organization and setting clear expectations and boundaries. I feel empowered to do all of this; it is a matter of making this the first priority. I find it too easy to jump into delivery mode with focusing on the overall objective and leading a team in the direction of those objectives.
A new goal for the year is to get my retirement plan back on track. Like most Americans I am making considerably less than planned because of the impact of inflation. This does not mean that I cannot achieve my retirement goals; it does mean that I need to cut back significantly on every front. I plan to view this as a fun challenge as opposed to any sort of hardship. The biggest area that I plan to cut back on is food. Groceries and dining out are my biggest areas of discretionary spending, and these are among the most inflated aspects of the economy. We will seldom dine out, and we will be enjoying leftovers when we cook.
Personal goals aside, what will the new year bring?
Brainy Bird hopes to enjoy a “Maymester” abroad. A Maymester is an abbreviated study abroad, which lasts a few weeks in contrast to a few months. He is looking at a Maymester in Germany. I really hope he gets to go. Not only would he get to see parts of Europe; the trip is paid for by his scholarship’s enrichment fund. Brainy Bird will also be at the halfway point in college by summer of this year.
Little Chirp will get his learner’s permit in about three months. He already started his driver’s education online last week. So far, he is enjoying it. I think, I hope that Little Chirp will be a confident, cautious driver. We will see.
For me, I am planning two short vacations the first half of the year. The first will be a trip to Vegas in early February. I already saved my special trip money, and I am looking forward to the second out of town trip with my new love. Our first out of town trip was a one-night stay in San Antonio to go to my high school best friend’s Christmas party.
My second vacation of the year will be to Destin, Florida for my Godson’s wedding in May. I hope to meet all of my weight loss goals by the time I board the plane to take this trip. This is an achievable goal if I stay focused, something tells me that I will.
I have so many plans for the new year, but on this first day of the year, I will relax with Potatoe for a bit while I enjoy my morning coffee. Then I will take Big Murph to the dog park, and I will go for a two-mile run. I will spend the holiday tomorrow planning and goal setting. In short, I will take pause before I jump into 2023.
I look forward to finding out what 2023 will bring.
Happy New Year!