My Goals for 2014

In true procrastinator fashion, I'm only now posting about my resolutions for 2014. How about some cookies to make up for my lateness? Peanut butter or oatmeal chocolate chip? :)

So...2014! Holy goodness, I can't believe it's already here. I look toward this shiny new year with both wide-eyed excitement and nail-biting trepidation. The baby is due in four weeks! My book will be out this fall! Justin and I want to build a house—and we may collapse from sleep deprivation!

Hmm. Maybe I should scrap all of my goals and focus instead on getting enough Zzz's. That is a worthy resolution in it of itself, methinks!

Anyway, I'm usually horrendous about setting goals and then working toward said goals, but maybe 2014 will be my chance to turn over a new leaf. If anything, I've tried to choose resolutions that are within my control and more ethereal in nature in that they're not things I can tick off a checklist (ie, exercise everyday, drink a green smoothie in the morning, etc.) but more like general life philosophies. Am I making sense at all? Has my baby usurped all control of my brain? Well, we better get to my goals before she overtakes more of my mind matter!

Goal #1

Be gentle with myself. 

2014 will be a year of great changes for me, namely becoming a mom and reconfiguring my life to this new role. I know that I will inevitably cry and wail and whine when the going gets tough but within these moments I want to be gentle with myself. More patient. More forgiving of my mistakes. And I don't want my guilt complex to grow out of control—because I know I'll be hard on myself for not writing everyday or for consuming mass quantities of pastries and Coke. You know what? It'll be okay if I get behind on things because HELLO NEWBORN! Plus, pastries and Coke are perfectly wonderful ways of coping.

Goal #2

Have radical self-respect. 

'Radical Self-Respect' is a slogan that is frequently mentioned on a feminist Facebook group that I'm a part of. Basically, it means standing up for yourself and your beliefs instead of staying silent and regretting it later—something that I've struggled with my entire life. Case in point: I have a really hard time saying no to things. More often than not, I say yes to stuff even though I don't really have the time, the bandwidth, or on rare occasion the interest in what I'm agreeing to. And then I feel overloaded and guilty and I drown myself in cookies (see Goal #3). So enough of that! In 2014, I aim to listen more to my gut instead of saying and doing things because I want so badly to be liked. Will this be hard? Yes! But will it make my life more sane? Yes to that too!

Goal #3

Eat fewer cookies.

I'll be honest: I've eaten my weight in cookies since getting pregnant. I swear this baby will come out screaming for thin mints and do-si-dos. And so, I must resist the siren call of the cookie. I banish you, Chocolate Chip! I banish you too, Delicious Brownie, close cousin of the evil cookie! Don't give me those sad eyes of yours!

(I seriously doubt I'll be able to reach this last goal. Alas.) 

And there you have it. Three goals for the new year. I'm rather intrigued to see how well I do with them... Anyway, what are some of your resolutions for 2014? Do share, please!