New Years Resolutions

I stopped making New Years Resolutions many years ago. They usually involved some form of losing weight,and I have never had much success with that. I have decided that this year I will make a few or set a few goals. They are as follows:

1. I stopped worrying about the numbers of losing weight several years ago. I now go by how my clothes feel and most importantly how I feel. I have found that if I exercise at least 4 or 5 times a week, my clothes feel loose and I feel better. I do have a size I would like to wear or I have some clothes that are snug that I want to be loose again. My fitness resolution is to keep up the 4 or 5 times a week on the elliptical and to be mindful of eating too many sugar laden products. I want to enjoy meals with my family and not feel bad when I splurge on the bad food. After all....tomorrow is another day!

2. I will strive harder to be a better wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, step mother,sister, sister-in-law, aunt, 5th grade teacher, and friend. This is a daunting task for I sometimes feel like a failure at most of the roles I have in this life. I can only try to live life in a peaceful and clean way. I ask forgiveness where I have failed. I so want to be a good example to everyone in my life. I realize that striving to be that good example involves both my physical and spiritual life, and that I must improve things in both these areas. I think that number one takes care of the physical and God and I are working together on the spiritual.

3. During Mardi Gras, I will move into a brand new school. I teach 5th grade at DeQuincy Elementary and a new school has been built(and is very near completion) that will house grades 3rd through 5th. I taught 15 years at a school that was built in the 40's. I inherited two class rooms while I was there. I always said if I could have a clean slate, I would be a more organized teacher. I am getting my wish. The school is beautiful. I have been in my classroom. It will truly be a blank slate. It is modern with the ability to be a technology progressive classroom. I guess my resolution or goal is to organize this classroom into a modern learning environment. I so want to have the joy of teaching back in my life that was taken from me 2 years ago. In all reality I will probably teach for 8 more years. That is a long time to just be going through the motions of a job, especially one where you are on stage everyday in front of children who deserve to be educated in the very best way possible.

4. I would like to be of more service to my fellow human beings. I look at the devastation in Haiti and my heart cries. I know there are just as desperate situations in many other parts of our world. I also know that probably within a 10 mile radius there is a soul in trouble. I don't know what I can do, but I do know my heart not only cries, it hears. I suppose my goal is to listen more carefully and act.

5. I would like to plant a garden. We have had small gardens in the past, but I would like to expand on that. I want to learn how to put things in jars rather than in the freezer. I also like the idea of knowing what has been used to grow the food I put into my body. A garden will provide food for us in much healthier way. A garden needs to be tended to daily, so maybe that will keep me from wasting time on Facebook. My goals: To plant, tend, and harvest a successful garden. To learn how to put up things in jars instead of in the freezer. We do not know what the hurricane season will bring, so having things in jars will relieve some of that worry.

So, there are 5 goals I have. I am sure there are many other things I could improve upon. Life is just one continuous journey of improvement. When we stop trying to improve we become stagnant and do not move forward. We must always try to move forward.