Before I post my new goals and dreams for 2018, I thought I would take a little bit and reflect back on my list of goals for 2017. I’ve done this the past couple years and it has been so cool to go back and see which things I accomplished and how I have grown in the span of a year. Btw, isn’t it simply shocking how fast time seems to go by as an adult?? Sometimes I can barely believe it, especially since when I was a teenager it seemed like timed just moved.so.slow and I was in such a hurry to grow up and live my own life!
2017 was overall a pretty great year for us! There were, of course, lots of challenges too but I feel like it was a really huge year for some big life goals being accomplished. The biggest thing is that we finally BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOME!!! This was a really, really big deal for me since I have dreamed of owning my own home since I was such a young girl. It’s true that our very flexible life as renters and absolutely nothing tying us down allowed us to have some great adventures, and live in lots of different states. And although I am so thankful for the experiences we got to have, we were both ready to settle down a bit and put down some roots. We both love having our very own place!
That being said, we have quickly learned in the last 7 months that home-ownership is no joke! (I blogged all about the lessons we learned here) It is WAY different than renting because there are so many more things to think of and keep on top of, and there is no one else who will take care of it for you. That has been quite an adjustment which we have been learning to balance! For example, our amazing beautiful landscaped yard (which we are SO thankful for) takes a LOT of maintenance. Just all new things we are learning to do!
Another thing was continuing to adjust to life with our cats. Although we actually got them almost 2 years ago now, it has been quite the learning curve to figure out the best way to deal with so many things: food allergies, health issues, behavioral issues, getting sleep at night, scratching furniture, just lots of random things. But they are our besties and babies, and we could not possibly be more obsessed with them! It’s all worth it! Just quite the learning experience. (I also shared some lessons learned after adopting them in this post here) I spent the better part of the entire year trouble-shooting my poor buddy Milo’s tummy issues, trying so many different foods to see what he could thrive on. And I am SO thankful I finally found one that both cats are doing GREAT on: Nature’s Variety Instinct canned cat food. So relieved. I makes my heart so happy to see my little guys happy and healthy! 🙂
As far as my health, a huge thing we did was my complete holistic dental revision. I had lots of old mercury fillings from my childhood and I had a holistic dentist remove and replace them with a non-toxic and safe material. I am so thankful I found the most amazing dentist to do it! It was quite the financial investment, but I felt like it was a very important step to my overall health as well as our continued fertility journey. I have seen huge improvements in my health since doing it too, so yay! 🙂
On my goals I set for last year, here’s how things turned out:
- My theme/word for the year was Grace. Being quick to give grace to others: I hope that I have improved in this. I think from what I can tell myself that I have gotten better at it, and letting things go more easily but you would probably have to ask my Hubs for the real test on that one! 😉
- Enjoy being in the moment, be more present: I think I got a lot better at this!
- Listen more, talk less: I think I definitely got better at this since I found myself always being more conscious to just listen more instead of interjecting.
- Start my days with quiet time and bible reading: I think I sort of accomplished this in a different way. It is honestly hard for me to just sit down and read my bible, although I did it sometimes. I enjoy more listening to sermons or talks about the bible or spiritual issues while I ponder it and do housework and other things.
- Spend a minute when I have my coffee looking at my vision board and focusing on my goals: I did this a lot! Maybe not every day, but it has been super helpful to keep my focus clear!
- Moderate social media and Pinterest time better: Yep, I was pretty successful at this! I’ve basically been mostly off Facebook except for my notifications and quick scrolls to see what my closest people are up to, every so often for the past couple years. My fave social media obsessions recently are Instagram & YouTube. I feel like Instagram gives me important inspiration for blogging and life in general, but I am better now at not getting lost in the vortex of it for hours on end! I love YouTube too. I made an important change to the way I spend time on it though. Basically, I try and leave catching up on my subscriptions until the end of the day when I am relaxing at night. Instead of going on it first thing in the morning. That ended up sabotaging my productivity before, and I have been way more productive with this one change!
- Avoid falling into discontent and comparison mode: I think I did pretty good at being careful and conscious of this one while working on daily being more grateful!
- Take brisk walks while listening to podcasts or sermons several times a week: I totally DID NOT do the first part, haha. The walking, that is! But I listened to SO many sermons, podcasts and audiobooks so that has been awesome. Finding a way to exercise that I actually stick to is a goal I am carrying over into 2018.
- Go to a bloggers conference: I did! I am so glad I took the plunge and went to Haven in 2017. It was really inspiring, but to be honest very hard at the same time. As quite the introvert, it was really challenging and I learned a lot of things about myself during it. But I am so glad I went and pushed myself!
- Start listening to books on audible while cleaning or getting ready for the day: YES! This was probably the best thing I did all year and now I am obsessed. Will definitely continue to do this!
- Get better at photography for the blog: I absolutely improved on this, but it is my biggest challenge still. Photography does not come naturally to me, and there has been such a learning curve but I am trying to constantly improve!
- Finish all my half-done craft projects: NOPE. Not at all! Ha!
- Start each day stating something I am thankful for: I don’t think I did this specifically, but I did try to focus on the things I am thankful for a lot.
- Take my blog from hobby to career: Still working on this! My primary focus.
- Keep searching for a holy grail non-toxic foundation: Yay! I totally found a great one! I will try to do a favorites post soon and include it.
- Get better at drinking water all day: Nope! I still suck at this, but am trying again this year!
- Continue the search to find natural products that actually work for my hair: I think I’ve found some lines that look promising for this, but haven’t tried them yet! Hopefully this year.
- Keep ruthlessly purging everything in the house and only keep the things that we really love and bring us joy: Did lots of this, and will continue to do so!
So thanks for reading my looonnnggg post if you are still with me! Haha. That’s my 2017 in a nutshell and I am so thankful for another year with my best boys in the books! Here’s to an amazing, productive and inspiring 2018!! 🙂