At the time everyone is making and breaking New Year’s resolutions, I took the opportunity to make a few of my own (hopefully without the breaking haha).
2019 was a year of changes. Spencer finished his contract in Chicago, and we moved to Arizona to be closer to family. For me, 2019 was a year of forgiving and learning to move on. I wouldn’t change the lessons I learned, however, 2020 is the year to start fresh and bloom where I’m planted.
For my resolutions, I chose one each of spiritual, career, creative, and physical resolutions.
1. Gain 20 piano students by marketing myself through word of mouth and local groups
Okay, 20 students doesn’t sound like a lot, but Spencer and I only just moved to the area which means NO ONE knows us yet. I’ll have to reach out to a few of the local groups in the area. Even more difficult, I’ll have to step out of my comfort zone to bring it up in conversations each day.
It’ll all be worth it, though. In college, I taught piano at a local studio, and I have to admit, I’ve been missing it ever since. That’s why this became my creative goal for this year. I could count this as a career goal, but honestly, it won’t feel like work, and I have so much fun in lessons, I’m going to go with creative for this one.
2. Study the scriptures daily
I’m ashamed to admit, this is a habit I haven’t been as consistent with. Spencer and I always pray before we go to sleep each night, but the scriptural side of my spiritual growth has been lacking. I want to improve this habit because I know my mind always feel clearer, I’ll be strengthening my relationship with God, and my motivation is always improved. Funny how even though I know there are these awesome benefits and I still struggle. It seems like a lot of habits are like that.
This year, I’m working on reading every day, no matter how tired I am or how early I’ll have to wake up the next day. I’ve already started working on this one, and I’m tracking it in my bullet journal. So far, so good!
3. Make $100 online
Last year, I failed to launch a Kickstarter. My motivation took a hit, even though I knew logically that failure is great for teaching me how to change. For some reason, even though I can see that reasoning for many failed projects, I couldn’t get past a block with this failure. I stopped posting to this blog and went completely silent in June of last year. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I looked at my blog stats out of curiosity. I was amazed to find that right when the Kickstarter failed, my blog took off. I couldn’t believe it! While I had given up on my dream, all the work I had put in had started to pay off. If I had just been a little more patient, I could have been in an even better place than I am today. Because of this experience, one of my resolutions this year is to build my blog. And, my failure did teach me a valuable lesson: when I feel like giving up, that’s usually when success is right around the corner.
4. Go hiking weekly
You may sense a pattern here. This year is a year of going back to things I loved. While in college, I went hiking all the time. Every Saturday was time for a new adventure. I took my sedan to many rugged places it probably should have never gone. Those adventures were some of my best memories in college.
Our new place in Arizona is near the mountains and, therefore, tons of hikes. While at the library the first week here, an overzealous librarian handed me an armful of hiking guides for the area, and I left with my arms full and a smile on my face. With the mountains so close, I feel like fate is giving me permission to get out more.
When planning resolutions this year, consider choosing one to focus on all year or, like me, one from each area of your life you want to most work on. Whatever you choose, even if you end up breaking your resolution a few days or weeks later, you’re always going to be further ahead than before. You’ve got this!
What are your resolutions this year?
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