It’s a new year, which means a fresh start, a time to reflect on the past year and evaluate what I want to do differently this year. While 2018 was a great year, I didn’t accomplish as much as I wanted to, didn’t prioritize as well as I could have, and spent a lot of time feeling stressed or guilty about those things. 2019 will be different. I will strive to balance between meeting my goals and giving myself grace, because I’m far from perfect. My goals this year have two themes: self-care and faith, as I need more of both. And while my blog isn’t solely focused on goals anymore, I wanted to put my goals out there for all to see as another way of holding myself accountable (and maybe inspiring you to set some goals as well!)

Before I get to my goals, I wanted to share the word I want to focus on this year: kindness. It’s easy to let my sense of injustice and selfishness get the better of me, and focus on equality rather than on serving others’ needs. This is especially true in my marriage, as it’s easy to be the most unkind to the people closest to me, although I don’t try to be. So this year, I want to focus on kindness in my words, actions and thoughts, regardless of fairness or convenience. I’ve failed already in many ways, but I’m hoping that little by little, with God’s help, I will be a kinder person at the end of the year. If you pick a word of the year you focus on, I would love to know what it is!

My 2019 goals

1. Read 6 books. While this goal is definitely attainable, it will be somewhat challenging since I already read for school. But I realized that I watched A LOT of TV last year and I could have used that time to read. I already have a few books on my list, including The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst, Becoming the Woman of His Dreams by Sharon Jaynes, The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson, and Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. If you have any other good books I should read, let me know!
2. Exercise at least 1 hour per week. For some of you this may seem like a joke, but as a couch potato this is one of my more challenging goals. I just hate exercise. I hate going to the gym, I hate getting sweaty, and it’s boring. But I’m going to try really hard to exercise at least one hour a week because I know it’s good for me and I want to be healthier this year. Dance videos are my favorite way to exercise because it’s fun, and I’ve enjoyed Zumba with Dovydas tutorials. I’m hoping to get a Matt Steffanina routine down because his are pretty intense!
3. Listen to more Christian music. I have a confession. I really don’t like Christian radio because it’s SO cheesy. I just can’t do it. Unfortunately I’ve let that become an excuse for not listening to Christian music very often. And other music isn’t bad, but I’ve missed listening to music that encourages my faith, so I’m going to try to do a better job at listening to Christian music. It will just probably be on spotify 🙂
4. Be more intentional with what I say yes to. I ended last year overwhelmed and exhausted, partly because work was really busy, but partly because I said yes to too many things and didn’t take care of myself well. My husband often encouraged me to get away for a bit and grab coffee, but I brushed him off for the sake of efficiency and getting things done. It’s a curse I will always have, but I want to be more selective this year about what I say yes to. As an extrovert who is constantly experiencing FOMO and being a people-pleaser, saying no is really hard. I hate disappointing people or backing out of commitments, no matter how small. But I’ve realized saying yes to something means saying no to something else, often things like my sanity or time with God or my husband. But this year will be different!
5. Look for ways to bless my husband. Though a simple goal, it’s one I want to be intentional about. For me, this will probably look like compromising more, doing activities he likes that I don’t necessarily, and going out of my way to do things for him.
6. Pray scripture over my husband daily. A wise woman who is the wife of a missionary doctor recently shared about the importance of offensively praying for our husbands, and how we need scripture to do that. She has a list of verses she prays over her husband every month, and she inspired me to do the same. That way I pay attention to what the Holy Spirit says about what my husband needs and I can pray that for him. I’m looking forward to seeing how God will work through those prayers!
7. Memorize one verse per week. I made this a goal because I realized that while I’ve read the Bible several times over, I don’t recall it very easily. I’m hoping that with some scripture memorized I can increase my faith in hard times and encourage others around me.
8. Publish 20 blog posts. I want to be more consistent with my blog, so I set the goal of publishing 20 posts this year! Since I am cutting down on classes a bit this year, I will have some more time to blog 🙂
9. Write in my prayer journal daily. This was a habit I had for years, but last year wasn’t as motivated to write in my prayer journal. I began this habit to help me focus when I pray and keep track of answered prayers. My prayers are often interrupted because I get so distracted, so I’m hoping that writing them down will help me be more disciplined when I pray!
10. Find a way to make another income. This is definitely my scariest goal of the year because I don’t really know where to start, and I don’t want just another part time job. I want to do something that utilizes my talents and creativity and that I can do on my own time. I don’t know what that looks like, but I’m hoping to figure out a side hustle I can start this year that I can do throughout med school and after.

I hope you enjoyed reading my goals and are encouraged to make some for yourself – it’s not too late! This blog has really cute monthly goals printables that I’ve enjoyed using. If you made some goals for yourself this year, I would love to hear about them!