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After reflecting on my experience with my word for the year thus far I wanted to check in with my goals for 2024 today.
I find that regularly reflecting on my goals and progress towards them makes a big difference in my “success rate”. In the business of life it is easy to lose sight of my intentions. Also, when I take the time to evaluate what worked and what didn’t and why I can make adjustments.
Sometimes I abandon a goal because it no longer serves me. It may become clear that I need to change some priorities or how I structure my time. And I can pause and celebrate how far I have come.
My 2024 goals
With all that said, let’s have a look at the goals I set for the year! I found it quite tricky to know how ambitious I could be. With a new baby life would look very different to the past weeks and months. I didn’t know how tired I’d be and how much free time I’d have. But I still allowed myself to dream and I decided on a couple of areas to try and work on.
Spiritual life
For me a big part of nurturing myself spiritually is to read Scripture. My aspiration was to open my Bible every single day, with a pen in my hand to jot down notes, thoughts and prayers.
So far, this hasn’t gone amazingly well. I have read my Bible and journaled but definitely not every day. On average maybe once or twice a week, which is a lot less than daily.
Blaming my lack of free time wouldn’t be honest. L is a pretty chilled out baby and naps much better than SJ did as a baby. I have many evenings with both kids asleep before 8 pm.
However, every day is a bit different right now. And for me, that makes sticking with habits a lot harder. However, God is merciful and meets me despite my measly efforts. I wrote a whole blog post about it.
I still want to keep trying though – we shall see how the next few weeks go!
Family life
Family life is going really well. Edd and I are probably the happiest in our marriage we have ever been. SJ is amazing and we are all in love with Baby L.
Let’s check in with my goals:
- So far, we have managed a date night in both January and February . We haven’t been out on our own in March but have had many evenings where we sat together talking or playing board games. It’s been great.
- SJ had more screen time after L was born than I had originally intended. However, by now we are mostly back to our normal routines and the TV hasn’t been on in quite some time.
- For a long time the only way SJ would fall asleep was while drinking breast milk. I really didn’t want to be in this situation again. So far L is a great sleeper and manages to fall asleep in her bed without much assistance most of the time. I am very grateful!
There is actually a new goal I have. With SJ we are more and more finishing the “care” stage and entering the “parenting” phase. She isn’t necessarily a rebellious child but definitely has her own mind. There are situations most days where we need to decide how to react, what consequences to give and think about what explanations she will understand.
I want to educate myself more on parenting strategies and what happens in the brains of toddlers and children, so that we can make good decisions that help her grow into a kind human.
Community
Here my goal was to reach out to a friend every day. I am not sure if I hit 100% here, but I have definitely made a lot of effort to get in touch with my people. I am getting better at responding to messages in a timely manner but there is still room for improvement!
Church + Outreach
- So far, we haven’t been to church once a month. Since Christmas we hardly had a week where all four of us have been healthy. And now we are a bit out of the habit. Definitely something to work on!
- I haven’t done a Bible study with a friend but asked two people whether they would be interested – we shall see what happens…!
- We haven’t had as many small group meetings this year for various reasons but I managed to attend every single one. Those evenings are always a big highlight for me.
The blog
I have decided to not do another 100 day blogging challenge. (For now!) However, I have still blogger quite a bit this year so far. It continues to bring me lots of joy and it makes my day when people say they enjoy reading my words.
Health + Fitness
This area needs some work! Since L was born I haven’t been back to the pool and I definitely could do some more pelvic floor exercises.
As L is a pretty chill baby I could probably leave her with someone while I go swimming. Also, I should definitely just get my yoga mat out and do some postpartum workouts.
Hobbies
I have been doing lots of knitting! Over on Instagram I often share the projects I am working on. Also, with the arrival of spring I always feel the urge to sew. Maybe I can get a small project done soon!
Reading + Learning
Mostly, I am on top of my podcast queue. However, I am quite behind on my reading goal. With my own life being so full, I have found it somehow hard to immerse myself in a story. But I recently finished “The Measure” which was excellent and am currently reading the Hunger Games, which is a great read.
Home
We still haven’t bought or hung any artwork. It’s very difficult to know where to look and to decide. Let me know if you know of any cool websites where one can buy affordable art.
So far, I have more or less managed to return our flat into a tidy-ish state before going to bed. It makes waking up a much happier experience for me.
So far, so good! How is your 2024 going so far?
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