Failed 2013 Resolutions...Try Again?

Without even realizing it, I was taking the advice that my husband shared in the last blog. Instead of just asking "Why" to life's challenges, I was trying to move beyond into "How do I move on from here?"

I saw the beginning to 2013 as a great opportunity to refocus and motivate myself. For various reasons, the year before was incredibly challenging for me, but mainly I think it was due to battling with post-partum depression. I had no issues with it after Adria's birth, but in spite of Johanna being a beautiful and healthy baby girl, my hormones played games with my emotions for much of the year. Though I tried to hide it from the public, Adrian had never seen me struggle so much to bring myself out of a funk. The only redeeming aspect was that it helped me to better understand Adrian and his battles with depression.

As I began to see the rainbow through the clouds, I put together a list of New Year's resolutions to guide my thoughts and efforts. I recently found the list in a notebook, followed by pages of notes about interviews and To Do lists for moving. I did not expect to fill the notebook with all that when I wrote the list on January 8, 2013.

Maybe the list was a bit over-ambitious, but I had reason to believe that many of these goals could be achieved with our lifestyle in Virginia. In the end, the last item on the list was really the only one that was achieved...but arguably that was the most important one.

Here's the list of my goals and dreams for last year, along with some explanation.

1. Sell 40 Homes - 5% of Region's total

2. Achieve Senior SMR status

3. Sell out of Cedar Run and move to Chesterfield community

• These first 3 goals all had to do with my job as a new home Sales and Marketing Rep with a large national builder. I had worked for this company for 6 years and in 4 different states. The Richmond region was truly dynamic with great people and was experiencing incredible growth, and I was hoping to be a part of their goal to sell around 800 homes in 2013. I was disappointed to have to leave so suddenly in April when we moved back to DE, but I know they did great!

4. Establish Regular Date Night with Adrian

• As a working mom, my dear husband can sometimes feel like he's not a priority with my work and my girl's needs always taking my attention. Time alone as a couple needs to be planned or it won't happen often. We are getting better at this with lots of family around now to help with babysitting.

5. Run 2 Half-Marathons

• This shouldn't have been too hard, since I ran the Indy 500 half-marathon in May 2012 (six months after Johanna was born) but I never really committed last year. I jogged regularly, but did not do a long, organized run.

6. Write - Housing Market Richmond Examiner

• I knew I wanted to get back into some writing and thought I'd try this route. Back in 2010 I had started a "Working Mom Indianapolis -Examiner," but things in life changed after the first few articles and that's where it ended. Though, I never signed up with Examiner.com, I did start this blog and have enjoyed writing again!

7. Attend Church 2x a month

• As a new home sales rep, I've spent the last seven years working 3 weekends a month. Yes, that gets very old, but it's necessary in this career. However, it made it very difficult for us to get to church regularly, though I did find a few great churches in Indiana and Virginia. With my new job, I do have off two weekends a month, so this has become an easier goal. You don't need church to be a Christian, but I have learned that my heart longs for the fellowship and corporate worship that church should provide.

8. Write a short children's book

• This is still on my list, and I think that I will get to this in 2014. I have so many ideas, it's just getting them on paper and then the work (which I dread) of trying to find a publisher.

9. Get Adria established with bowel program

• I actually feared this resolution the most. My precious little 4 year old, who was very capable in almost every way, could not empty her bowel properly (i.e. she's not able to poo like most of us). It was a stinky problem with no easy solution. We tried many different techniques last year, and we are fairly pleased with the success of our current routine. This is huge, because Adria is now 5 and we don't want her to be embarrassed by stinky diapers in pre-school. Now...my goal is to potty-train her 2 year old little sister by the end of spring. It'll be our first traditional potty training experience, and it scares me almost as much!

While I did fail on achieving most of this list, it doesn't bother me too much. As you know if you've been reading along these last few months, 2013 was another wild year for us with unexpected events and big surprises. Some were difficult and others were incredible. While I think it's important to set realistic goals in life, it's even more important to be flexible when the attainment of those goals gets out of reach.

As we sit on the horizon of 2014, I dare to be encouraged and hopeful for the good things to come this year. And just maybe, I'll get to some of those resolutions that I missed last year.

Did you set any goals or resolutions for this year? Or achieve any from last year? I'd love to hear about them!