Are Resolutions still an 11 letter word?

It seems the last few years that “resolutions” are out and not the cool thing to do. They set us up to fail right? We just end up feeling crud at the end of the year some say. Not everyone though. I will not say I met mine from last year but I learned a lot and got further than some people thought I would. Did you set any? How far did you get? Does that not count for anything at all?

   Human Beings Like To Be Challenged!

This is my theory anyway. I have seen all over social media today people asking about others resolutions, I think in part to try and get motivated. Goodness I have seen a lot of interesting ones, from paying $10 per cuss word, to saving every penny of allowance for college, to not getting into any new relationships. Of course the old ones are still there, to stop smoking or drinking, to diet and lose weight. I love the ones though about people talking about taking the steps to move some place they love or find a new job they have passion for.

   Make resolutions that challenge you and then find accountability!

I think we sometimes have a hard time holding ourselves accountable for actions we want to make sure to do to meet our dreams. I think it is important to set reasonable goals but also ones that challenge us. I have noticed and there are studies saying so, that peer groups to help keep us going can help us stick to goals, be they losing weight or paying odd debt. So that is part of challenge, find the support system.

    My not so interesting resolutions this year:

1. 21 Day Sugar Detox (I got the new book on Kindle, I want to get the cook book too!)

Support for this one is easy and I have done it before. There is a facebook page that offers daily support, there are daily e-mails, and I have friends doing it too! I have issues with sugar and I know this helps me break them, for a while anyway.

2. Gluten Free for 2014

I tried this last year but feel off before summer. I had a hard time getting back to it dealing with loss and stress and I was a mess. I learned a lot though and I hope someday that eating gluten free is second nature to me. Till then, I will keep up with the challenge. For this I do have some friends who can help hold me accountable, my husband as well, and also another small blog to focus on it. I think I need a group though specially for newbies to gluten free!

3. 365 Photo Challenge

I have a friend doing it and hope to find some other bloggers. I want to get more lenses for my camera and learn to shoot photos in manual better and with less fear. I have found a few great blogs thanks to a friend who really inspires. This one will take some time each day to set up, take the photos, edit them, and blog them and I am a busy Mom. So where am I going to get the time? This is where my scary resolution comes in.

4. I am not going to post on social media about politics or religion for 2014!

This might sound easy but if your on my personal facebook wall you know how hard this will be. I have had a big mouth ever since I was 4 and my Pepere was teaching me to read with the Bible. I argued with it then and I still do. While I don’t post much about these topics on my blog or fan pages, it is a big part of my life. I love social justice and I have real passion for many topics. They are however hot topics and sometimes they get so heated people forget about relationships. Relationships matter. I love thinking big and talking about big issues but those things shouldn’t come between people who care about one another. Sadly they do and I have seen it too often. So for a year I want to focus on things that don’t divide people.

Friends have said doing so would be like turning their backs on who they are, another mentioned how much she loves what I post and I shouldn’t do it. I feared at first that quieting my big opinions would be like not honoring myself but the more I thought about it the more I comes to think that it would be a blessing to other parts of myself. It would free up time and emotion for other things, like photography and following my kids around more with a camera. In the end, it will help remind me to focus on people who are important to me. It will however be so so hard to not “share” those great memes friends post or comment on the ones that are just all wrong. This will be much harder than any diet changes.

5. Finally, I want to read more books. I love reading but over the years I read more online than I do in books. I miss books! Not sure the details on this one yet. I have friends doing empty shelf challenges, I have other friends reading 214 books in 2014. I need to pick something already!

So you have any interesting Resolutions? Are they really challenging? Do you have support? Happy 2014!