In 2013 I’m breaking a bad habit. I’m not making any resolutions. Instead, I’m going to change my focus, very similar to the advice Xe gave. There are three areas that need my attention. I have more of a plan in some areas than in others, but there’s no need to have everything figured out immediately. If I had everything figured out already, I wouldn’t have the need to write this post.
Tanya and I got to talking last year about life and about what it takes to be happy. We both agreed that sitting around and waiting for the world to make us happy is unrealistic and counterproductive. We cannot change others or, in many cases, outside circumstances. We can change ourselves. Tanya took the bull by the horns last year and made some outstanding changes. I guess I wasn’t ready to let go of what was holding me down at the time. No matter. I’ve taken the past few weeks to give that conversation more thought. Operation MyFutureSelf is now officially underway.
I’m focusing on three areas of my life this year: Body, Mind, and Dwelling.
Body
I have needed to get into shape for quite some time now. I am an emotional eater. When I am upset, bored, happy, stressed, anxious, or thrilled, I eat. I need to break that cycle and get into shape. MyFutureSelf will thank me for it. This will not be the first time I’ve attempted to get into shape. Unlike in previous attempts, I am not going to focus on the big picture. It’s too overwhelming. Instead, I am going to decide upon different goals along the way.
My first goal is to wear the dress in this picture (it’s much brighter and pretty in person). I bought it for a job interview six or seven years ago that never took place. It is two sizes smaller than I am right now. When and where do I want to wear this dress? That is actually what prompted me to come up with my goal. My sister Meridith recently remarried. The ceremony itself was small. Just the couple and Meridith’s children. That isn’t going to be it, though. Meridith and Christian are throwing a party over Memorial Day Weekend. When I found out about the party, that dress came to mind and my goal was created.
I’ve given the question of how to achieve this some thought. I’ve had success on Weight Watchers before. In fact, I lost about 120 pounds after Emma’s adoption. The first 25 came with being too busy to eat with a newborn in the house. The rest came through following the Weight Watchers program. It’s a good program and much better than the time I lost a lot of weight in my early 20s through crash dieting. The problem I have now with Weight Watchers are all the times I’ve gone back after Allison was born. I don’t fault the plan. It’s just not me right now. My life has changed. Instead, I’ve decided to use by MyFitnessPal and Fitbit. MyFitnessPal is a free web-based calorie counting program that allows you to configure your meal plans. Fitbit is an activity tracker. I bought the coordinating scale as well. Fitbit encourages increased activity and it syncs up to MyFitnessPal, creating a full program. There is a social aspect to this as well for encouragement along the way.
I’ve hit a slight snag right at the beginning. I took the girls bowling on New Year’s Eve for two hours. It was at least 30 minutes too long for my poor knee. Even though it was hurting, I hit the ground running when my Fitbit arrived, making my knee much, much worse. I am taking this weekend to rest it up and I’m hoping it feels better on Monday so I can get back to reaching 10,000 steps each day. I’m not going to let this little road bump get in my way. I know that the ultimate way to care for my knees is to take the weight off. I’m on it!
Mind
Of the three areas I want to work on, this is the one least sketched out for me. I see this primarily focusing on reading and blogging.
Reading: I read more books last year than any other as an adult. While I’m quite pleased, that’s not a sustainable pace for me down the road. Trying to keep that up would only cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. I do want to change up what I’m reading a bit. For the past several years I’ve read and reviewed primarily new releases. I’ll still do that, but I’m going to cut back some this year because I’ve been thinking more along the lines of what I’d like to accomplish as a reader over the course of my life. For example, reading an author’s entire catalog, selecting especially challenging books, engaging more with other readers through challenges, etc… I certainly don’t want to confine my reading life in any way. My focus will be on figuring out what will sustain and fulfill me as a reader one year at a time.
Blogging: On the 17th I will celebrate six years of book blogging. Where did the time go? It doesn’t necessarily feel that long. At the same time, I’ve been having more and more frequent internal blogging crises. Crisis hopping certainly is no fun. If I want to continue, I need to work on redefining who I am in this space. I enjoyed the work I put into Baby, It’s Cold Outside in December, but it left me burnt out as well. While I ponder MyFutureBloggingSelf, I’ll pick back up on my reviews and hopefully I’ll be able to change things up in just the right way to make year 6 of Literate Housewife a year of blogging renewal.
I am going to continue to give this area more thought and I’ll post something more specific in the coming weeks. The Mind has consistently been my lowest priority thus far.
Dwelling
There are those who immediately take over their spaces immediately upon occupancy. There are others who can move into a house in December of 2002 and put almost no personal stamp on the place outside of the furniture and one’s own unique clutter. I fall into the latter category. I’m not an interior decorator by nature. Two of my sisters are, but they live too far away to help me out. I have often daydreamed about a Trading Spaces type of scenario coming along to help me make my house my home. As with happiness, it just isn’t going to happen on its own.
While I was in NYC for BEA in June, Random House hosted a Power Reader breakfast. One of the speakers was Nate Berkus. I had never heard of him before the breakfast, but what he had to say made an impact on me. I coveted his then upcoming book, The Things That Matter and bought a copy for myself for Christmas. The focus of the book is on sharing yourself and your story through design. That is very appealing to me.
My plan of action for the Dwelling portion of MyFutureSelf is to start by reading Nate’s book. I’ve already paged through the entire book several times and know that my story and the things that matter to me are much different. That’s not important, though. It’s about thinking about my house and my life on a new level. Once I’ve finished reading the book, the first room I’m planning on tackling is my living room, but I’m open to whatever inspiration dictates.
So these are the things I’ve chosen to focus on in 2013. Not everything is going to be accomplished at one time, but I don’t think anything I’ve chosen is insurmountable either. I’ve created a journal of sorts about each of these things to help me organize my thoughts. I plan on sharing my progress and thoughts once a month, be that by area or altogether. I’m excited to see what 2013 brings.
Good luck Jennifer! I think your goals are all fantastic and I’m looking forward to seeing you making strides on them this year.
Thanks so much, Meghan! I love taking the year by the horns and making something of it.
I hope your New Year is off to an equally good start.
Good Luck on your goals. I am doing Weight Watchers as I too need to seriously get in shape. Maybe we can encourage each other through our weight loss progress.
Hillary, I would love to! Weight Watchers is a great program and I know that if you focus you’ll get into shape like you want. Please turn to me any time for encouragement. I’ll do the same.
You are so positive…you are an inspiration! And I think you’ve got the right idea here. I personally love MyFitnessPal. I lost all my weight last year from just keeping myself honest on what I put in my mouth, and exercising. Period. I just had to make it a priority. I put a LOT of other things aside so I could focus on the fitness. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help encourage you!
You are so right about making it a priority. All you really need to lose weight and get in shape is exactly what you’ve said – being honest about what you eat and exercising. How many times have I frittered away my lunch break? Almost all the time. That’s time that’s lost. If I take it and exercise, I’ve not “lost” anything and have gained much better health. Let’s encourage each other. Here’s hoping that when we see each other again (I’ll be in Orlando in October) that I’ll be a shadow of my former self.
I know you can do all of these things because you are a powerful woman!
Thank you, Kathy! That means a lot coming from another powerful woman.
Awesome goals! I’m rooting for you!
Thank you! I appreciate it every single time.
I applaud you, Jennifer! Love your spirit and your wisdom. I think “Operation MyFutureSelf” would be a fabulous title if you ever decided to write a book about your journey.
Thank you, Beth! I like that future title, too.
YAY Beth! I was just telling Jennifer that she needed to take notes so that we could collaborate on a book! Ms Dodde, are you listening?Oooh, who would we get to do the audio?
I’m listening. LOL! I hadn’t thought about the audiobook. Hmmm….
I’m in! I love these goals, Jennifer, and am so with you on #3. Balancing the creative challenges while keeping stress low is a goal I may borrow.
And I applaud you for aiming to care for your body – since I’ve been narrating more and more, I’m finding it harder to cook as much from scratch (and with as many fresh veggies). But my commute is reduced, and for my the key is using my breaks and my errands to get active. I ride my bike or walk to the grocery store, bank, post office, library, school pickup. I think it adds up, even if it might take a bit more time and planning.
In any case I have confidence that you will see some big shifts! Happy 2013.
Wonderful goals! I wish you success. I like the idea of reaching small goals on the way to a big one! My daughter is getting married in July and I would love to lose some weight and my plan is to eat less and move more.
Thank you! Eating less and moving more is a winning combination. Good luck with all of the wedding preparations!
Hey! Thank you for the shout out! 2013 is going to be great! I can just feel it
I love the way you broke this down into Mind, Body and Dwelling segments and, the way you broke down each segment into a series of smaller challenges to be met. I’m on the last 5 lbs of my own weight loss campaign and it’s proving to be the hardest! My home office is still organized, though other parts of the house reflect my indifferent attitude towards housekeeping, LOL. I went through my own blogexistential crises as you know and made my decision to stop blogging. For me that has been enormously freeing though I do find myself spending more time on a couple of online groups basically writing reviews! Anyway, you know this but I’ll put it out there again, whatever you need, I’ll support you and, let’s seriously think about collaborating on a book!
Hooray for 2013! I think that breaking it down multiple ways is really helpful. Who wants to focus on one thing all the time? This way I can keep my focus and ideas feeling fresh. Smaller goals will help me from feeling overwhelmed. Think about those last 5 pounds this way – you have made lifestyle choices. You are doing things now that you want to continue doing. Keep doing those things and don’t focus on those 5 pounds. If they are meant to be gone, they will eventually go away as your lifestyle continues. If they’re not, you’re living the physical life you imagined for your future self to be living. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. It’s only greatness.
I’ll figure the blogging out one way or the other. I am not really going to worry about it much for now. I’m hoping to gather up some inspiration from MyFutureSelf. We’ll see. 
In the meantime, I’ll be thinking very seriously about that book.
brava jennifer! taking control! your future self will thank you. xo
Thank you so much, Hillary!
Good luck with your goals. I am always a work in progress. Each year I seem to do better health wise than the last. This past year, I really feel that my gluten free lifestyle is now a part of me but although I expected to lose tons of weight after going gluten free, I haven’t lost anything! Now, I just strive for clean eating. If the weight comes off as a result, great.
Thanks, Ti. I know more and more people who are having to eat a gluten free diet. By clean eating do you mean organic? I think that by focusing on healthy eating that eventually it will come off. I wish you luck, too.
Great idea to focus on individual steps. That’s what the journey is made of: the next steps.
I wish you success in your year!
Thank you so much, Debbie!
I feel I’ve started 2013 already behind, and envy all of you who are clearly so much better organized! Good luck with all of your goals! I’m going to read The Power of Habit this week, and hoping it will help me develop better reading/blogging/Twitter/Facebook/life balance.
Awesome goals Jennifer. I have been meaning to set up a challenge on my work out blog and have yet to get it organized. I love My Fitness Pal and have Fitbit but haven’t used it yet. I need to
Great goals, and yay for NOT calling them “resolutions.” Good luck, Jennifer!
These are excellent, and I wish you all the best in achieving your goals for 2013. I have no doubt that you can, my friend!
Aw, best of luck to you Jennifer! Looks like you have a lot of cheerleaders to root you on…
I really enjoy reading posts like this! You have goals and you’re trying to figure out how to accomplish them. I share some of the same goals: making my living space better and getting into shape. Good luck to you.
This is such a great post. I think you have some fantastic goals, and of course, you know I love #3 especially.
I got his book for Christmas, and the title has long been something I believe in my own home. I love coming home and knowing no one else could quite live in this space, it’s so me.
Happy new year!