The first week of a new year always brings new hope, a new sense of energy and always new resolutions to accomplish for the upcoming year. I always start the year with the best intentions, but then life happens and those resolutions quickly fall by the wayside. This year I’m dedicated to turning over a new leaf and setting goals and following through with them.
A quick review: 2015 was a bit of a whirlwind for me. I had a baby the first week of January and have figuratively been the proverbial hamster on the wheel ever since.
Taking care of newborn baby, check.
Taking care of child with autism, check.
Homeschooling said child with autism, check.
Making sure the pre-tween with sassy mood swings is taken care of, check.
Scheduling some private time with my husband, extremely difficult, but check.
Cooking dinner for the whole brood, check.
Making sure the house doesn’t look like an episode of Hoarders, check (sort of).
Fighting corruption in our government and advocating for parents to maintain medical decision-making for their children, check.
Taking care of myself, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Um, no check. Not even close to a check. Far, far, far away from check.
So this year I’m turning the whole resolution thing on its butt. My one and only resolution will be to put ME first. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so much when you are a mom, a wife, a caregiver, an employee, and an activist. I am pledging here and now to do better. And I really want to encourage all of you to do the same.
I know life is full of responsibilities and many times the demands are overwhelming, but we all need to realize that it’s okay to take time for ourselves and we don’t have to feel guilty about it. This year I’m vowing to do just that. Instead of just promising myself to do it and then not following through, I’m going to be blogging about it and hopefully give you all some inspiration about taking time for yourselves too.
My first task: Declutter an area in my house that has been cluttered for far too long.
I don’t know about you all, but my clutter has started to multiply exponentially as of late. I have tons of old papers, old toys, and old chargers to who knows what and basically old everything stuffed in different drawers of my house. My first New Year’s Resolution is to clean out the junk from my drawers and start to be more organized. I tend to bite off more than I can chew when it comes to organization, and then I get so overwhelmed that I usually end up quitting and accepting that I’m not Martha Stewart and resign myself to living amongst the clutter. I challenge myself and you all to clean out a space that you have been putting off for awhile. You know the one piled high with books, papers and every odd and end you can think of. Start the decluttering process now. Feeling more organized always puts me in a better mood and allows me to think more clearly. I love the feeling of accomplishment it gives me too! Are you with me? Let’s start with baby steps and do one thing at a time so at this time next year, we will look back and know that this was the year there were no excuses. I want us all to accomplish whatever we set our minds to this year!
~ Savage
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I definitely need to do this!!! My youngest turned 12 in July, and WOW! I thought toddlers were tough until hormones/aggression entered my world. Somehow everything became how to manage my now unmanageable boy. Sorry to say that my best efforts, actually all I have has been focused on him. And it hasn’t really been very helpful for him on anyone else in the family. Sooo I have to make a very conscious effort shift some of my energy into what has slipped thru the cracks. Organizing paperwork and de cluttering sounds like a good place to start.
I’m in!! : )