2013 Aspirations

I’m a little late to the game for New Year’s resolutions. I’m all about making goals throughout the year, whether that be setting a training schedule for a race or making a silly summer bucket list — goals are great things. They keep my mind moving forward, even if my feet are stuck in place. I can’t remember a recent year when I didn’t make a list of “resolutions” for the next round of 365 days, but… looking back at the previous three years, I realized I haven’t checked off any more goals that I have not. I also realized that life rolled on, and that I accomplished a great deal that never made its way onto any published, perfectly-typed, Type A list.

• 10 in 2010
• Hopes & Dreams {2011}
• Twenty Twelve’s To-Do’s

You’d think as a healthy living blogger, my aspirations for 2013 may include running “x” amount of miles, squashing my sugar habit, or eliminating this, that, and the other ingredient for a month or two. That isn’t so. For 2013, I’m not aiming to resolve anything that has a temporary timeline. I do not care how many things I do or do not cross off this list or another. I’ve wasted too much of my life trying to be productive, while missing much of life as it passes by. It’s two thousand THIRTEEN for heaven’s sake!

The goals I came up with are more abstract than they are concrete; they are aspirations that may or may not get completed by December 31, 2013… but, the hope is that they will guide me towards enjoying the life I imagine.

1. Save $1,000.

Even if this seems like a measly goal, as a rookie full-time working gal entering reality of the grown-up world, managing my money is a skill I need to learn sooner than later.

2. Love more.

If I placed my goals in any sort of order, this one would fall last, as it holds the highest value to me. The most abstract of them all (How can one measure such a vague statement?), these two words are where I want to place my focus in the next 12 months. I plan to start with myself, learning to embrace flaws and mistakes. If and when progress is made, and during the process, I want to work on showing my love more to others — through my work, through a phone call, through smiling at a stranger.

3. Go somewhere new.

I have tentative plans to go somewhere new in the fall, but this isn’t solely referring to jet-setting excursions across the country (hint hint). It could mean trying a new restaurant, driving down a new street… going anywhere in this world my eyes have yet to wander.

4. Run a race.

Struck by injury this winter, I didn’t complete “run one race” on my Fall 2012 Bucket List. Now that I’ve had time to swallow the hard pill of my first injury, I’ve adjusted to the idea that maybe the lessons I learned from this experience are greater than the 6.2 miles I would have run. I hope 2013 brings the recovery needed to allow me to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes again.

5. Be grateful, daily.

Related to #2, I recently started a gratitude journal in which it was suggested I write down three things for which I am grateful for every day. I wish to regain the habit, as the healing properties of this simple practice are quite powerful.

6. Ditch the scale.

A message I preach, but don’t practice. I dream of the day when my rational side will overpower the habitual tie to a machine on my bathroom floor that doesn’t measure the beauty of my body, as it was yesterday, today, or tomorrow.

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So, tell me… What are you aspiring to do this year?