Don't be alarmed, we're just already halfway through January...
I always get so pumped up at the start of the year while making resolutions. In my excitement, I create a list of about 50 things I am going to do differently to be everything I've always wanted to be by December (yikes). It happened again this month - but I caught myself this time! - and I forced myself to whittle it down to just 3 goals.
If you already saw my YouTube video, you'll already know what those goals are:
I put a lot of detail in the video as to why I chose the goals that I did, but not a lot of detail into how I'm going to accomplish them. Here's what I'm thinking:
Goal 1: Become physically stronger
Like I detail in the video, if I'm going to continue caring for Damian without literally breaking my back, I've got to build some muscle. Brock, my professional bodybuilding husband, says nothing is going to be a more effective way of doing this than lifting weights, but I told him there is no way I'll be able to do a full workout by myself multiple times a week if I don't have a video to keep me on pace and show me what I'm supposed to be doing.
Is anyone else like this??
Turns out I have the ability to edit a video, and Brock has been training others and creating effective workouts for over a decade (it's what he did professionally before getting into stunts and acting and it's a serious passion of his*), so at some point this month we're going to make me a workout video to follow (Brock says it will last me for 6 weeks until we have to create a new video with a different/harder routine).
If anyone is interested in starting at a super super super beginner-level workout with me, let me know! I might be willing to upload the video to YouTube if it means someone else is working out with me... maybe.
* by the way, if you were wondering how a serious athlete and a seriously-not-interested-in-ever-being-an-athlete-ever got married, I still have no idea how it happened. Ask Brock.
Goal 2: Spend fun time together as a family
I think the biggest contributor to all the burnout I experienced throughout 2024 was not because I was doing too much, but because there was an important part of my life that I wasn't making enough time for. If you couldn't tell, I love holidays! I love celebrating them with my family. I love decorating the house to get the whole family in the spirit of the season (whichever season that is). Most of all I love making memories with my family during the holidays, or any day! And I wasn't making time to do that very often. That's a huge part of why my cup was empty off-and-on throughout the year. Granted, it's not all my fault - Brock works 6 days a week. But it would've been nice to make those small moments we have, all three of us together, a little more fun, memorable, and precious.
This morning I randomly came across a talk given in 1990 called "Happiness is homemade" (which sounds like a phrase that needs to be cross-stitched on something) about, of all things, prioritizing quality family time. At one point the speaker said "happiness is made by appointment." That stuck out to me.
Happiness is made by appointment.
I do think that spontaneous moments can be incredibly memorable and happy, but you certainly can't bank on them to happen. Happiness is a choice. Happiness is planned. Especially when life has its ups and downs, you can't leave happiness up to chance or to circumstances you can't control. Happiness needs to get put on the calendar - sometimes literally - and then prioritized.
On that note, I'm committing this year to make our home a place to celebrate and enjoy time with each other - not just store the contents of our garage when we are doing the fundraisers that we love so much! Something I want to do in these last couple weeks of January is make our living room a more inviting setting for our family since it's where we spend the majority of our time together (besides the kitchen). I've had plans for ages to fit out the otherwise-blank TV wall with dangling cables (the wall that the couch faces) with shelves that we can make home-y and seasonally interchangeable - and I've had much of what I need to build it for ages as well. Well it's just gotta get done and I'm gonna get it done now!
Goal 3: Fundraising smarter, not harder
I'm always pushing to fundraise smarter, so what's new this year? I'll be continuing to make adjustments based off what I learned last year and expanding on the efforts we did that were the most successful. And that means...
More holiday celebrations and more art!
Many of you suggested this to me while we were doing our Halloween and Christmas events and I 1000% agree: I would love to be able to sell themed products at these events! The elephant mama and baby art prints we did after our 4th of July parade was much more successful than I could have imagined and I absolutely love that these products could be shipped to you! You shouldn't need to live in Santa Clarita, CA to party with us and it made me so happy that this was yet another way we could connect with you!
A bonus to creating a living room to decorate (this month!) will be being able to test out these new holiday products and style them in a way that serves our campaign and my goal to enjoy fun times as a family, so it's a win-win!
Another task on my to-do list was to give our website a refresh. Ta-da! If you're reading this, you're seeing it! The past few weeks I've been working hard to update the entire website with all-new pages, new colors, and a new logo! (The logo has actually been a work in progress since November, but I finally finished it!)
I can already see the new shirts, the stickers, and... what else?? (I would love your input on this!)
Let's Get to Work!
I typically use January to try to set up the rest of the year for success, and this January is no different. Checking the website refresh off this month's to-do list is a big win and I cannot wait to get that living room ready for some fun. The $1.81 million we have left to raise is not going to raise itself - and I think we can raise it by making our lives a little more joyful, don't you?
<3
