A New Year, A New Me?

I've always loved the concept of a new year and a new start.  It's cliche, I know, to set a bunch of new year's resolutions but I don't care--I love it!  As some of you know, I've been wrestling with some of the changes in my life and what direction I want/should head and frankly, I'm a bit flummoxed.  My whole adult life has been spent caring for a house full of kids and those kids are flying the coop at lightning speed.

The bottom line is this:  I don't know what in the heck the future holds or what I'm supposed to be doing.  It's pretty annoying,slightly frightening and results in a lot of late night worrying, but I figure that until I receive a lighting bolt from heaven (or even a gentle nudge) that I can work on some goals that will make me a better person.  That's the theory anyway...

So for 2018 I'm conquering one goal a month and I hope to blog more frequently about it.  Feel free to follow along as I document my successes, failures and life lessons I learn along the way.

JANUARY GOAL:  BECOME A MORNING PERSON

I am a night owl.  At least I used to be a night owl.  I found that I was most productive in the hours after my house was quiet and it was nothing to be up until 2 or 3 am plodding away on some project.  But as I get older I find that 8:00 pm rolls around and I'm ready to be done for the day.  Which wouldn't be so terrible if I could get myself going at an earlier hour.  My husband is a morning person and I've always been so jealous of the fact that he wakes up without an alarm and can get more done in his first 3 hours of the day than I seem to accomplish in 8 of mine.

This goal isn't going to be easy because let's be frank, I wake up thinking about how I can get back in bed.  Is 9:00 am too early for a nap?  But I really think that if I can make progress in this one area it's going to help me in the other 11 goals I have planned for the year.  I think...

Step 1:  Purchase a "Happy Light".  I'd heard good things about these little lights and even if it's a bunch of mumbo jumbo, as long as I believe it there has got to be some placebo effect right?  I have to say, that so far, so good.  It could all be in my head but I think it's helping--when I remember to turn it on.

Step 2:  Eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking.  I'm reading a book that talks about the importance of this for maintaining a healthy weight but I figure if I can get myself downstairs and noshing on my toast and protein shake from the start, it will be much harder to get back into bed.  That's the idea anyway...

Step 3:  Hit the gym.  I know for myself that if I don't get my exercise in first thing in the morning it is highly unlikely to happen.  And once I put on the track to "The Greatest Showman" and start beating the heck out of my punching bag, it gets the juices flowing.

So there it is--my January goal.  So far I'd say I'm about 50% successful.  I've got work to do so I'm gonna turn on that Happy Light and suck down my shake.  Wish me luck!