Tuesday, January 19, 2016

If

If, by Rudyard Kipling


If you can keep your head when all about you   
    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
    But make allowance for their doubting too;   
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   
    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
    And treat those two impostors just the same;   
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
    And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   
    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
    If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   
    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Monday, January 4, 2016

2016 Goals

I sometimes make New Year's resolutions and sometimes don't.  I am one who is adamant about sticking to my resolutions, so if I make one it needs to be accomplishable.  Last year I decided to do monthly goals, as I thought it would give me fodder for the blog.  But that fizzled out quickly once I realized I was waaaay too busy to blog anyway.  So this year instead of doing resolutions or monthly updates, I'm just going to give myself some general goals.



Get my health in order!

I've had so many symptoms and nothing has been diagnosed yet.  I have decided to take control of the situation and be adamant that the doctors find out what's wrong with me!  Whether that means I need to insist upon being referred to specialists, find another primary care physician, or something else entirely, I need to make this happen.  I'm sick and tired of being exhausted all the time and gaining so much weight (20 pounds in 2.5 years...).  Also, I need to go to the dentist!

Create a capsule wardrobe.  

This is something I've been slowly trying to do over the past year or so.  But I want to invest in high-quality pieces that I can have for a long time.  I haven't done this yet because whatever is wrong with my health has been causing me to continuously gain weight and/or be bloated.  So I don't want to invest in expensive clothes until I'm at a size that I can stay at for awhile (hopefully 15-20 pounds lighter!).

Do more yoga.

I'd like to do yoga a couple of times per week.  It is such a great stress-reliever for me.

More local tourism. 

We have explored our local historical park and we made one trip down to the beach last year.  I'd like to do both a few more times this year, as well as explore other local things - be it nature or historical.  There are a couple of museums in Montgomery and Birmingham that we could visit.  We could go to the botanical gardens.  We could explore Atlanta (only a 3 hour drive).  Part of the reason why we haven't done much is because we're trying to be really tight with our money so that we can pay off some debt... which leads me to my next goal...

Pay off some debt.

When we moved to Alabama we had nothing.  Literally.  So we had to buy a bed, all our furniture, a washer and dryer, a car... I know I won't be able to pay it all off in just one year, but I'd like to pay off a few things and make a dent in some of the other bigger balances.

Make time for things that make me happy.

Art journal.  Art in general.  Making music.  Hanging out with friends.  Writing.  Blogging.  Drinking tea.  Playing piano (would help if I owned one... maybe my final goal should be, "Get a piano.").


What are your 2016 resolutions and/or goals?
XO,
Julie

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