Things I’m (Hopefully) Leaving Behind In 2019

Each year thousands of people make New Year’s Resolutions. . . Don’t act too surprised, but I don’t like them. I plan to make “goals” not “resolutions”, and I plan to leave behind bad habits, but not change who I am--because God made me in his image and even with my flaws and imperfections, I am perfect to him. Also, disclaimer, if Y O U like New Year's resolutions good for you, this is just my personal view and know that some people can keep them; do what works for Y O U--no judgment from me. Check out the 4 main things I plan to leave behind in 2020:

1. Unrealistic Goals:

• Whether it be quantities of goals or goals that are unobtainable. Something like going to the gym 6-7 days a week for an hour +, losing 20+ pounds in a month, or organizing an entire home in one weekend. I would tell other people to take it slow, but not myself. I’m working on giving myself compassion, guidance, and support, in the same manner, I would others.

2. Negative Judgement:

• Whether it be with myself or others. I’m trying to give up negative self talk about my weight, appearance, or thoughts. Which let me tell ya, if you have hair loss, THIS IS SO HARD. My alopecia is something that makes me unique (only 2% of the world’s population have my type of alopecia), but also makes me compare myself to others. When you compare yourself to others you just nitpick all the things that you DON’T have that they do. I hope to leave that behind and work on self-appreciation.

• Also quick snap judgments about others based on their appearance or personality—everyone is entitled to a bad day or a poor decision and deserves grace. I’m actually quite good at perspective-taking, but I know that The Lord wants us to honor and respect our neighbors so this is something I personally want to work on—nothing is perfect and can always improve!

3. Perfectionism:

• I’m going to be honest and blunt here—I will not be the picture-perfect Instagram Influencer/Blogger that you see online. *Read that again.* Because I’m sick of my perfectionism. Don’t get me wrong, it will A L W A Y S be a part of my personality and something that makes me, well ME… but I need to tone it down. My unrealistically high expectations of myself and others only lead to my stress and anxiety. Therefore, I’m leaving it behind and hoping to adjust to a new and lesser level of perfectionism in 2020, because let’s be honest it isn’t ever going to completely go away.

4. Unfulfilled Promises + Lack of Follow Through:

• Whether it be making plans with others or myself. How many times do we say we will hang out with someone and then we don’t when it comes time to actually fulfill and follow through with that plan or promise? How many times do we plan things for ourselves and then cancel because of stress, time, or money? This last one is H U G E to me.

• Fun fact, I’ve given presentations on work-life balance + self-care in the field of child life and have done extensive research on these topics and sometimes I can’t even follow through. It is amazing what we can do to help ourselves if we just carve out the time and commit.

So that is where I am at 11 days into this new decade! Also, enjoy our last picture(s) of 2019/the decade that we took:

Anyways, hopefully, this new year and new decade bring some positive changes. What are y'all's goals, plans, or resolutions for 2020? Is there anything YOU plan to leave behind? I can’t wait to hear from you!