4 simple goals

Happy October to you!

This month is my favorite one on the calendar.

My birthday, wedding anniversary and Halloween all happen in October.

Plus, it's the month where we actually start having fall-like weather here in central Texas.

Needless to say, I am stoked for the coming month!

Recently I was reading one of my favorite blogs, A Beautiful Mess 

(really, if you haven't visited Elsie and Emma, you should!),

and I came across this post.

In it, Elsie encourages her readers to make 4 simple goals to complete before 2013.

She also differentiates between result oriented goals and activity oriented ones.

This challenge is for activity oriented ones.

Well, challenge accepted!

source

I've spent some time thinking (and re-thinking) on my goals.

The thought of this challenge is reiterating that I truly have an "all or nothing" mentality naturally.

Several of my goals were huge and far fetched.

So, really, I'm already being challenged to simplify, to tone it down a bit.

Here is my final list.

1. Spend time with my kids everyday.

I know, you're probably thinking, "What?!", "Isn't that a given?".

No, not really. Notice with in italics.

It's super easy to spend time around my children, but really with them, focusing on them solely, is unfortunately not as easy to do.

So, everyday I want to provide my kids with my undivided attention.

Whether that is coloring or getting down on the floor and playing with them 

(even though I do this for a living and often don't want to do it when I'm at home) 

or reading book after book to them, 

I know I need this time as much as they do.

2. Blog.

Easy as that. 

I have a number of posts in my head that I would like to ideally get out in a week,

but as much as I want to, I won't lock myself into a number here.

I've found that I truly enjoy blogging, whether people are reading or not.

It's a great outlet for me (both creative and personally) 

and it's something that I can look back on as a kind of diary.

So I just want to keep up with it and keep on blogging.

3. Read daily.

This one is normally the easiest one to keep up with.

I love, love, love to read.

It really goes beyond something I enjoy, right into something I'm passionate about.

Unfortunately, with the craziness of my schedule as of late, there are sometimes multiple days in a row where I go without cracking open a single book.

Talk about depressing.

I want to change that.

Even if it's only a single chapter or 15 minutes of reading,

I need to do this daily.

I've realized that this is one of the ways that I decompress.

Plus, if I do it right before bed, I tend to fall asleep easier.

4. Enjoy the seasons.

These next three calendar months (October, November, December) are my favorite.

Fall, my birthday, anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving. Christmas.

It's such a joyous time of year.

So often, I find myself starting to stress rather than sitting back and enjoying myself.

Or I find myself getting lazy and never getting out and doing the things that I want during these months.

So my goal is to really and truly enjoy the seasons ahead.

Light spicy candles. Bake yummy sweets. Make pots of soup. Decorate.

Go to the pumpkin patch. Look at Christmas lights.

The list goes on and on.

All of this stuff is simple and creates lovely memories for me and my family.

I will keep you updated throughout the next three months as to what I am doing to accomplish these 4 things.

Wish me luck!

peace, love, and all things sparkly.