2010, let's do it again

I'm definitely not into the whole New Year's resolutions because I know they're NEVER kept but I read a great blog from one of my favorite authors and he talked about writing resolutions within the context of your story. Instead of setting lofty (unattainable) goals he encourages folks to consider setting a goal relative to their narrative. I'm including an excerpt from his blog so you can get the picture a little better.

I’ve discovered something better than resolutions. If you’ve read A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, you know I’ve reorganized my life into stories rather than goals. I don’t have any problem with goals. I like goals and still set them. But without an overarching plot, goals don’t make sense and are hard to achieve. A story gives a goal a narrative context that forces you to engage and follow through. People who are in great shape and have their finances in order probably don’t set goals to be in good shape or get their finances in order. They probably set goals of running a marathon or paying off their house. In other words, they think in narrative rather than goals. The goals get met in the journey of the story.

Sadly, I haven't read his book YET but I like this idea and really it's not a new concept. I spent many semesters in water aerobics thinking of short-term and long-term goals that could be measured, attained, etc. So, my best friend and I have already begun the no-shave test. We're not shaving our legs or our underarms. I think I started somewhere in the beginning of November but I know my friend and I officially decided to stop shaving in the beginning of December so it's definitely been a full month for the two of us. My hair is definitely visible! And my underarms are quite full and luxurious :) Didn't think you'd ever hear those terms used to describe underarm hair on a woman, huh? But someday my friend and I hope it won't be odd at all! And to begin this revolution my friend began an amazing blog. Go check it out! http://hairyleggedgirls.blogspot.com/

This same friend and I are also ending the consumption of pork and beef. We're both resigned to the fact that this idea may not last very long. We both love beef and pork and have fond memories of dining on both quite often together, but we'll see.

I have joined a gym and I've realized that when I'm regularly working out I don't eat as poorly as when I'm not working out so that may help to keep me away from the pork and beef. We'll see.

While writing this blog I realized that I wrote down my resolutions for 09 on my LJ. Here's my resolutions from last year:
1. Write in my LJ at least once a week. I'm doing good on that one so far
Hah, that didn't happen. Since I've had this new blog here at blogspot I haven't even been able to write a blog a week. Sadness.
2. Noemi and I hung out on Wed. and we decided to do the workout and diet thing together. We've decided to be each other's accountability partner.We have a document on google that we each write in every day. We record what we ate that day, our exercise routine (We have to work out 5 times a week, for a minimum of 30 mins) and we've also decided to write down 3 things that we're happy about for that day. We also decided to meet once every 2 weeks to go on a long bike ride. Today was our first time and it went really well. We ended up at the park for lunch and I admitted that I really want to look good for a wedding I'm attending this summer. So, we've decided my goal is 50 pounds by August. And I say, 30 by graduation in May but Noemi says I can do 30 by March. So, we'll see.
I don't remember exactly how long this lasted but I don't think it lasted too long :( But, I would like to at least document my weight again, until I either forget about it or get depressed, whichever comes first. Oh, and I'm sure I didn't lose 30, maybe gained it even.
3. Spend at least an hour in quiet time: A chapter of Proverbs a day, Oswald daily reading and prayer.
This actually lasted awhile but not all year.
4. I have a friend who writes down each book that he's finished in his LJ with the amount of pages he read and then at the end of the year he adds it all up. I really want to see how much I read in a year so I'm also going to start doing that and recording it here.
This actually last all year!! And here's the page accumulation of all my books that I read in 2009! 5988!!!! Whoo Hooo! Let's see if I can top that in 2010

So, there it is. Not too good about keeping the resolutions in 2009 (despite the fact that I said that I don't even try to keep resolutions, obviously I'm a liar) so we'll see how it goes by setting attainable goals in 2010.
1. Be proud of the enormous amount of hair that my body produces, whether I shave it or not.
2. I know I might not be able to last a whole year without pork or beef but I at least want a time where I won't eat it so I'm going to abstain from pork and beef for 6 months!
3. Keep a weight/health chart, especially while not eating pork and beef and see if that makes a big difference on weight loss.
4. Start reading Oswald's daily devotionals again. I've been wanting to so now is the best time to start again!
5. Continue writing down the books I finish and how many pages I read.

Here's the the new year. It should be full of ups, downs and curves. Read more!