New Year - New Intentions

Last year was a wake up call. This year will be all about honing in on the take-a-ways of last year while continuing to make cleaner/healthier swaps and focusing on the things in life that bring us true joy!

Come along on our crazy!

Are you a New Year's Resolution kind of gal? I use to be then swapped to being the New Year's Word kind of person. Now I'm back to GOALS! I love the idea of BIG THREE as your quick and dirty goals. Then, breaking down those three into smaller specifics and getting into checking them off as you go so it seems waaaay less overwhelming. I'll show you what I mean!

BIG THREE & why!

1. Health & Wellness. 2. Time with Family. 3. Minimize Debt.

Last year was rough and I had a major wake up call with multiple viruses, hospital visits (and I don't even know how many doctors visits), gut health restore program and closing my hair studio and shifting my business focus, eventually. This is why health 7 wellness come first because with out it, gosh, there isn't much time or energy for anything else. But, the details to all of that are for another day and another blog post. Promise, we will get there!

What are some staples now when it comes to health and wellness this year?

Moving our bodies more. I ended last year telling myself I would become this Monday, Wednesday, Friday yoga gal and I just can't seem to stick to it. So, I am thinking that by incorporating a small yoga sesh daily, I will be able to stick to it. Consistency is key after all, right?! Next up, is not slacking on our vitamins and supplements that help boost our immune system! One thing we will NEVER go without again, is our Ningxia Red (this one deserves it's own post as well). Only a two ounce shot a day, by itself or mixed in your favorite beverage, and you'll have all the antioxidant power you need plus vitamins and minerals! Then, Vitamin D, B12, a multi vitamin and most importantly Life 9 Probiotic. A great probiotic is key! Your immune system basically lives/revolves around your gut health. Happy gut = happy immune system! Plus without a healthy gut you body is less likely to absorb nutrients from food or supplements. So you may be taking all these things thinking that you're filling the gaps, when in reality you're quite literally flushing them away!

I learned a whole mess about this in the past year and these are some of my favorite supplements. I was even happier to know that they were approved by my nutritionist!

Check them out HERE!

“The best time for new beginnings, is now.”

Time with family seems like a no brainer, am I wrong?!

Yet, we are so quick to pile up our calendars, take that extra shift for overtime to make more money, run a few more errands...whatever it may be. We stop prioritizing ourselves and the ones we love around us and we don't even realize until it's too late. I have struggled with being a workaholic, until my body forced me to slow down. It was the hardest but most eye opening thing I have ever had to do. I realize now how much I prioritized work over the things I loved. (I also love work so that made it even harder.) I have come to realize though, I kept searching for some kind of work life balance. Until, I realized there really is no easy way... unless you create and stick to those boundaries as well as shift your attention to those tasks when needed. For me, a year away from 12 hour shifts, 3 days a week made me realize that the world isn't going to stop spinning if I give my body and mind the break they deserve. More importantly, "someone else's urgency, is not your emergency." I'm pretty sure I read that in a book...so we will just quote it.

This year I plan to be intentional with my days, our plans as a family and work. I am not saying I will find all the balance and all the peace but I do know exactly where I don't want to be again.

We hope to explore more, add a few more chickens to the flock, plan at least one week long vacation for this year and all the hugs, kisses, love and snuggles we can.

Looking at that number as we added it up on paper stung...

The amount of debt is what I'm talking about. So we are again, being intentional. Intentional with our money. We were first, trying to trade in our one vehicle to majorly decrease that expense. But, you know negative equity...for the first time ever. For us, it just didn't seem like the smartest idea to roll money over from a new car to an older car just to decrease the payment by 100+ bucks. So what's next? Well, definitely tackling debt. We chose to go with the snowball method, which you can find in my next blog & the envelope challenge. Plus, we vowed that one week out of the month will be a NO SPEND WEEK! What?! Yeah, one week out of every month we will hold ourselves back from making unnecessary purchases. That may be Amazon, Target trips, Starbucks, (GUILTY AF on those last two) Dunkin, shopping in general. I can NOT wait to see how many times we actually have to stop and think, "Do I really need this?" I am actually insanely excited about it. Here's the catch because I know your asking? What about food, gas, bills and other necessities. Well those are a go, everything else is a NO. Although, we will not be buying food/drinks out during that week. We will have to buckle down, plan and prep for the week.

Are you in? What goals have you put in place for this year? What are your thoughts after reading all of this? I hope this year brings nothing but health, wellness, less stress and more time for the things we all love.

Happy New Year's!