2013: Consistency

Happy New Year!

Wow.  This is the beginning of my 9th year blogging at Where You Can Find Me.  It's kind of unbelievable.

When I started this blog in 2005, I was about to graduate with my bachelor's degree(s) in Language Arts and Spanish Secondary Education.  Here I am, 8 years later, in the thick of yet another university stint, still wondering and hopeful about what the future holds.

2012 was a good year.  Did I rock it, or what?  It was a year of growth, academic as well as spiritual.  It was a year of increased confidence, in God and in myself.  It was a year of gratefulness for all that God has done for me and where He has led me.  It was a year of confirmation that I am where He wants me to be.  Despite the uncertainty of many other things, that knowledge is what I hold on to and what keeps me going.

This year, I my resolution/theme is "I will be consistent."  Consistency is something that I struggle with. (Don't we all?) I find myself committing to something, but not following through with it.  I find myself beginning something and not finishing it.  I find myself talking about wanting to do something, but never taking any steps to accomplish it.  I want to try to change that this year.

To be able to say that you've done something, no matter how small, every day for an entire year, is amazing to me.  It's not that I want to accomplish some grand feat.  I simply want to accomplish something doable that will stand as a testament to commitment.  To putting one foot in front of the other and constantly maintaining a certain state of mind.  The hard part is not doing it.  It's doing it consistently.  Here are a few things that I've thought of that I want to commit myself to doing consistently this year:

1. Every morning when I wake up, I will say "Thank you, Jesus for a brand new day" before I get out of bed.  Maybe a small thing, but I see it as starting every day out with keeping a positive, God-centered frame of mind.

2. Before I check my email, read the news, log on to Facebook or do any other media related thing when I begin my day, I will read my Bible.  I often find myself rushing out the door in the morning, but somehow still having time to check all of the aforementioned things on the Internet.  If I have time to look at Facebook, I have time to read the Word.

3. I will work out for at least 30 minutes for at least 3 days a week.  This one might be a little tougher, but in the big scheme of things, it isn't that bad.  I'm not necessarily trying to lose weight (despite my slight weight gain rants) I just need to take better care of my body and that requires discipline.

4. I've always talked about how I've wanted to garden.  My apartment complex has a community garden plot and I'd like to take advantage of it this year.  Helping something grow takes consistency.  I have to decide what I want to plant.  (As much as I love sunflowers, I'd like to go for veggies this time.)  What about eggplant?  Then I can make home grown eggplant parmesan.

5. I want to write one encouraging note to someone per month.  Either via email or, my personal favorite, via a handwritten card sent through snail mail.  I think it would be a good idea, not just for consistency's sake, but to get out of my own head every once in a while and think of others.

Here's to a brand new year!