Are you a fan of setting goals and resolutions for the  New Year or are you the type that just tries to do your best irregardless and don’t like the pressure of resolutions?  Well I am actually a little of both, I love setting goals and resolutions for the New Year because I am a PLANNER in every sense of the word, and it just feels right to have my intentions set out on paper.  But I’ll be honest and say that majority of the time I write those things down and forget about them by February!  Not forget in the sense that I no longer work towards those things, but forgotten as in I don’t dwell on them and they are not a daily thought.  So basically what I am saying is that if I haven’t made some changes into my daily routine driving towards the direction of my goals come February 1, then those resolutions are likely not sticking!  This year I have a lot on my plate and as such I came up with a lot of goals for myself this year and I want to share those with you to not only hold myself accountable but to have something to come back on and view throughout the year.  I have broken those goals up into personal and work related goals and along with that I will tell you a little bit about my “word” for 2019, the funny story of how I arrived at it, and what I hope for it to mean to me in 2019!

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Personal

Write Daily In My Gratitude Journal -

Guys this goal right here is something that has really been on my mind lately.  Having some ritual that allows me a few minutes a day of personal reflection and meditation is something that I truly need in my life right now.  It’s easy for your mind (at least my mind) to drift towards the hardships in life but having an opportunity every single day to point out the good is so important.  After searching long and hard for the perfect gratitude journal to begin everyday with I came across The Five Minute Journal.  This one is great because not only do you begin the day writing down what you are grateful for, but there is also space to write down “what would make today great” and your “daily affirmation”.  At the end of the day there is also space to write down “amazing things that happened today” and “what could have made today better”.  Spending just 3 minutes in the morning and 2 minutes a night I hope will allow me an overall better sense of gratitude and perspective on my days and life as a whole.

Weekly Date Nights -

I think out of all my goals I am most excited to work on this one.  I know that I don’t even have to explain to you all how incredibly hard it is to “date your spouse” once kids come along.  Well take those factors and then add in living with your in laws, starting a joint business, and moving halfway across the country and you are now in the ballpark that my marriage finds itself.  There are way too many days to count that we are exhausted beyond belief by the time that the girls are asleep that we say a simple goodnight and drift off to sleep only to wake up and start the chaos all over again.  Now don’t get me wrong, my in laws have been amazing and given us some opportunities to sneak away together and those have been highly enjoyable times.  So much so that I am making it a goal to do this once a week!  So it could be something as simple as an at home date night or something along the lines of dinner and a movie, or a beach trip.  Whatever it may be I am looking forward to spending quality time alone together at least once a week and strengthening our marriage even more (luckily all the above hardships that I have mentioned have actually strengthened our marriage so we are starting this from a good place 👌).

PLAY With My Girls -

So here is the thing, recently I was sitting on the floor playing cards with the girls (Go Fish is their latest obsession), and I thought to myself - wow I really don’t remember the last time I was sitting on the floor actually playing with them!  When they were younger we did a lot of puzzles and duplo blocks together but now that they are getting older their interests are in playing house/kitchen, coloring, and playing dress up.  These new activities that they are enjoying typically don’t involve me or their dad - insert mom bawling face here!  The fact is, I didn’t really even realize this until that epiphany I had during Go Fish.  Our life post-move has been so extremely chaotic that Arshia and I were content with the fact that the girls were able to entertain themselves.  I’m not yet ready at all to let these girlies out from under my thumb so I am making it a goal to actually get some good quality playtime in with them several times per week.

Read More -

This is actually something that I began working on as of a few months ago.  I used to absolutely love reading and would read several books a month.  Well then along came the two little munchkins and I have not made the time for myself to read as much as I would like to.  I recently took my daughters to the library in our new city for the first time and I was super impressed with what a nice library it was!  Now that we know our way around the library and it is an enjoyable experience for all of us, I plan to be checking out books and reading regularly, hoping to read 2-4 books per month (both for professional education and some fun fiction books as well)!  Here are some of my recent reads, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed: Origin, My Oxford Year, and The Magic of Motherhood.  And I’m super excited to get started reading Becoming - the book by Michelle Obama that my parents got me for Christmas!

Get Outdoors More -

One of the main reasons we moved to California was to be able to get out and enjoy the outdoors and sunshine more.  We definitely hit up lots of beaches, lake, and parks this summer but with the craziness of the last several months we have not been outdoors as much as we would like to.  We have yet to take the girls hiking (to be honest I’m a little concerned of the whining that will ensue), and it is definitely something that I want to get into this year.  Arshia and I are also big fans of skiing/snowboarding and now that we are not too far away from the mountains I want to be able to get out and enjoy that as well.  Hoping to get hiking, skiing, and many more beach trips onto our agendas in 2019!

Work Related

Attention And Lots Of Energy To Growing Our Dental Practice -

At the end of the day, no matter how many creative outlets I pursue, I went to school for over 20 years to become a pediatric dentist and this will always be my main focus.  Being a pediatric dentist is not only a job, but a career that I love, and one that requires a lot of focus and attention not only for my benefit - but for the benefit of my amazing patients.  If you have been following me for a while then you know that we moved last summer to California and subsequently started a family dental practice (my husband and mother in law are also dentists).  A dental practice is just like any other small business and it takes A LOT of work, patience, and effort to grow it from the bottom up.  This practice is like our third child, and we fully intend to have that child big, happy, and thriving by the end of 2019 (but of course not without exhausting work and attention + many sleepless nights)!

Blog And Use Social Media On “My Schedule” -

Admittedly, last year got a little out of hand on my social media accounts, particularly instagam.  From the beginning of 2018 I had so many companies reaching out to me wanting me to promote this and that…. and while I didn’t take every offer (not even close because I was super picky), I took on way more than I ever intended to.  What this left me with was a constant list of deadlines, more stress from said deadlines, and very little time left over to work on the posts and blog content that I was truly passionate about.  I came to the conclusion last month that this is not the way that 2019 would go, I will continue trying out and sharing non toxic beauty and clean eating because this is truly a passion of mine, but I will only do so on my schedule and not a company’s.  This will mean that I will receive very little (if any at all) compensation for my instagram outlet and I am okay with this, its going to bring back the fun, freedom + creativity in posting what I want when I want and that’s what it should always be about!  I also want to start dabbling in posting outfits on Like To Know It (I am that ridiculous person who buys all sorts of clothes and shoes but then lives in leggings and sweatshirts because I am too exhausted + overwhelmed to think about putting together an outfit).  So this way I take my time and have fun putting together outfits and then I have the photos to look back on when I roll out of bed and wonder what to wear!  To facilitate this new idea of mine, I have started a separate instagram account @coloryourlook - if you want to see my outfits you can follow along with me there or on the Like To Know It app (@coloryourlook as well)!

“Present”

This will be my word for 2019.  Such a simple word yet it carries so much weight in this day and age + my season of life.  With so much going on in my life right now, and wearing so many hats on a daily basis, I many times do not succeed in being present in the moment and instead find myself already looking towards the next task on my list.  This is not the first (nor probably the last) time that I have said I want to be more present in my own life happenings, but this time around I truly hope to make some progress by keeping it in mind daily yet giving myself some grace knowing that this is something that is very hard for my personality type.  I came across my word epiphany when my Instagram friend Desiree pointed out this cool post from Gritandvirtue.  Basically it is a looped video of dozens of inspiring words, you take a screenshot on your command and whatever word shows up on the screenshot is supposedly your word for 2019.  I did it just for fun, not knowing if there would be any meaning to it and low and behold I came up with PRESENT!  It was truly perfect and I knew that there would be no better way to sum up my goals for 2019 ✨

What are your goals, resolutions, and wishes for the New Year?  Do you have something big happening this year?  I’d love to know, just leave me a comment below!  Happy 2019 everyone!