Happy New Year, all! Time for my January intentions! You can see the December intentions here.
Make listening more important than speaking. I so desperately want acceptance that I am quick to takeover the conservation with "I" statements. Instead of connecting and relating, it alienates me from the other person. It sounds like I'm being selfish, so they disconnect. In conversations this month, I want to deliberately focus on listening instead of waiting for my turn to speak.
Take care of myself and don't feel guilty about it. I have a hard time putting myself first. I feel like when someone asks something of me, I need to give it. I want to focus more on taking time for myself and not feeling obligated to spend time with friends and family. I need to find a balance.
Reflect on my accomplishments. My accomplishments matter. When something good happens, I normally push it aside. My humility is poisonous sometimes. I never give myself credit for my hard work and I never let others give me credit either. It's like compliments; I don't accept compliments well. Like everyone, I usually deny them. No more this month! I can have a cute outfit, I can be funny or kind, and I can do amazing things. Plus, wisdom comes from experience. If we are the grand sum of our choices, I need to focus on not just the bad like I'm used to doing, but focus on how I've pushed through and come through.
Keep a clean home for my sake and for my husband. I normally come home and throw all my crap down wherever I can. I always intend to clean everything up later. The problem is later never comes and my poor husband is forced to sift through piled up clothes and dirty dishes. I need to make an effort to put things away as I finish with them. This will help my husband and me, because if we clean as we go then the house is always presentable and enjoyable.
Put down the phone during quality time—unplug! My husband always gets onto me about being on my phone while were together in the evening. I'm never on it during the day at work, so at night is when I go through Instagram and Facebook. What I'm slowly learning is none of it matters. At least not to be seen daily. I think social media is good at making us think if we miss a day, we miss out on everything, but seeing everybody else's life should not take precedence over living mine in the moment. If I'm with friends or my husband who I haven't seen all day, they or he should be my priority. Not the social media accounts.
Stay motivated for Italy—exercise! I need to get my game up if we're headed to Italy! Stepper, climber, elliptical, whatever is is, I need to get on it! Can't miss out on seeing the world just because I couldn't prepare properly.
