recapping 2018 and making new lists for 2019

Oh, 2018, let's recap.

To say that this was a hard year is an understatement. Once I left my postpartum storm behind, I thought I was in the home stretch of the usual childhood scrapes and bruises. I spent a lot of time at the hospital for both kiddos. What a whirl it has been since the beginning of the year! From asthma attacks, staph infections, croupy coughs, flus A and B strains to a rare blood disorder that my daughter was diagnosed with. I feel even more exhausted just thinking about what a year its been!

So onto this "new"ish blog. Because I do miss blogging!

Life after these past series of storms begin like this: standing in the center of chaos and wondering, "where exactly do I go from here?" I use to think that I needed to go all in; tackle as many tasks to clear the mess faster/repair the damage faster. But with my fickle heart, I would find something in the thick of cleaning up, a memento or a destroyed shard of something that would give me pause or make me binge eat the emotional baggage of memories. Something that would distract me from the original goal and before I know it, the time - or the year - is up.

As I'm the resolution making/list making type of person, I resolve to start with one thing - be it a healthy habit, or daily writing, or a few minutes of meditation - something simple to do and turn it into a habit before moving on to the next goal/task.

I got this neat planner from Blessed is She. Unlike the very first planner I purchased from them about three years ago, this one is smaller and can easily fit in a purse/bag. This one has a section that breaks down intentions and goal setting, with room for notes, to-dos and intentions.

January goals

faith focus

go to church. I've been neglecting our church going duties and as we settled around the warmth of Christmas eve service, I realized how much I do miss going and visiting. I'd like to go more than the "holy days of obligation" we're supposed to go as Catholics - like Ash Wednesday, Easter, Christmas.... there aren't very many days on the calendar but if you're a lax Catholic, you make sure you show up on those holy days.

personal

One of the biggest risks of stroke and heart disease is obesity. As a Preeclampsia survivor, my risk is even greater. I have been saying lets be healthy. Let's lose weight for years without any actual result. My lovely neighborhood has this awesome ladies bootcamp that runs for days a week. I've gone in multiple times throughout the year.....but something always happens in week 3. I don't show up and won't show up again until months later. My first goal is to make it PAST week 3 and finish out a full month. I mean for only $10/month and I can see my neighbors and bring Ro, why am I not going more??

family

it's still blank but I'd like to spend more time with our family doing date nights, game nights and whatever else.

work

last year, I sent out to write and submit a piece to a magazine or literary press/journal each month. I got several rejections and several published pieces in various anthologies. This year, I am going to treat my work as a business. Writing is wonderful but I'd like to get paid - ha!
While I love self publishing my memoir and poetry chapbook, this year, I am going to send out inquiries about my children's book idea. First, I need to research thoroughly, outline and write it.

fun 

As a stay at home mama, I don't get out very much, save for the monthly bookclub night. Continue to cultivate my little tribe of book nerd mamas and hope I find a new friend or two.

Each month there's a certain "theme." January is 'charity.'

So I'm going to have our family contribute to charity, not just monetary but volunteer together. As an immigrant that moved here from the Philippines at 9 years old, I fully remember what life was like in the "Motherland." Though we were among the blessed and never had to worry about food or shelter, poverty was everywhere. You can't escape it and certainly can't ignore it.
I want my children to be charitable. To be grateful. Just by being born in the United States, they are far more blessed than my relatives back home and the millions that live all around the world. By having a well educated father who has a high paying engineer job that can afford a family of four, they are well off more than children outside our neighborhood. Sure we aren't rich - far from it, but jobs come and go and in our current volatile market..... we need to start giving instead of hoarding onto what we have.

Even though I broke down my goals, I actually do have an overall 2019 resolution:

1. Run a 5k
2. Write, edit, query and pitch children's mystery books
3. Submit to two literary magazine/press a month
4. Win a literary award - bonus if you get money.
5. Read 30 books and review all 30.
6. Learn something new each month -- this ties in with a lot of what I broke down from above. 

So 2019, is right around the corner. Have you made your list yet?