I swear to any and all the higher powers in the Universe that this will be THE LAST post I’ll be writing about new years and resolutions… this year. 😂

Yes I’m still thinking about it. Obviously. Yes I’m still so over thinking about it. But the brain wants what the brain wants and apparently this is what my brain wants right now. 

My hope is that this current musing will bring me resolutions for my grief about resolutions. 

In short, I’m not making any declarations or promises for year long goals or personal improvements. Nope. Not this time Santa Clause. Instead, I’ve signed up for a monthly subscription instead. 

That’s right… The experiment that was in December is going to continue in January but each month the target will change. That means I’ll be setting objectives each month, just like I did in December, and then being mindful all month and evaluating how I’m doing along the way. 

Hopefully this will avoid the shit-show I dealt with last year. 

“Shit show” is pretty overly dramatic considering 99% of humans who make NEw Year’s resolutions probably fail or forget about them by March. So what I failed. It was a nice thought, all that energy and those lofty goals. 

This new month-to-month rental agreement means I can ditch things that are not working and maybe try something else. If I have something that truly sticks, like one or two of my December goals, then I’m probably establishing a good habit I can stick with. 

With that, here’s the December final recap and what’s being dumped and what’s gonna continue in January…

Eating behavior modifications 🍁. No animal protein but fish, turkey, and eggs, no coffee, no alcohol, and reduce the sugar intake. 

Though I couldn’t really stick to the strict letter of the law on this one, I was successfully able to not have any beef or pork or coffee. Midway through December I was able to get away from eggnog which I was using as a substitute for coffee (which is arguably worse and has tons of sugar!). I was also able to stop drinking alcohol with about one week to go in the month thanks to a bunch of stress headaches and migraines. 

That’s continued so far this month (not the headaches—thank goodness—just the no alcohol thing) and so I’m sticking with that. I’m sticking with no beef or pork but adding chicken back into the mix. And as for no coffee, now that I don’t crave that cup, I’ll probably stick with that too but not as a January goal, just as a normal part of my operational procedure. 

These behavior mods, combined with some evening willpower and longer overnight fasting periods, have started working and I’m now making progress with my weight loss goals. In January, I’d like to target 3 pounds. Not daily weight fluctuation, but reliably 3 whole pounds off the baseline. 

With a few noteworthy exceptions, all that ⬆️ covers one my January objectives.❄️

Next up is my December goal of reading 2 to 3 books 🌿.. which I failed because I only got through one. I started several others but didn’t get very far and blame the lack of time dedicated to reading (or listening to audiobooks) in my daily routine. 

It’s true my plan was to listen to books as a substitute for watching stupid shows while on the treadmill. In my defense.. I didn’t watch shows either. I just did more thinking and writing than anything else during my morning workouts. It’s not evident because there weren’t very many actual posts that came from all that writing and thinking. I guess it was just more thinking than anything, but that’s ok. I can’t really fault myself for thinking can I? Ha! 

Anyway, for January I’m keeping the sentiment but changing the objective. Instead of saying I’m going to read “N” number of books, I’m going to commit to reading 1 chapter or amount of time (15-30 minutes) per day. And since you  only just now decided this, I guess it starts today. ☃️

My third and final December goal had to do with new writing and submitting work. 🍂 In essence to write or submit something every work day. 

I wrote a few new things but the submission statistics show I was hugely successful. 💃💃💃 And since I don’t have any pressure or desire to continue to do that, I’m nixing it for January. Less is definitely going to be more this month. Especially considering that the month is almost ⅓ over already. I have a few places lined up, but there’s no rush. 

As for new writing? I’m open for Big Magic. So all you great ideas out there, come get some!! I’m ready and waiting to receive. 😜 Still.. no pressure and no goals. Just Magic! 

So that brings me to what might be new, besides what I stated in my previous post about generally trying harder to be a better human to all the people in my inner circle. The new shiny has to do with cleaning and organization. I’ve set a goal to clean and organize my closet with a stretch goal that extends into my office. 

From the outside, cleaning a closet seems like a small thing that a person can easily do in a weekend. It should never take a month right? Well.. you haven’t seen my closet. Ha! Did I mention I live in a castle? Did I mention I seriously procrastinate some basic tasks? Did I mention I can be a hoarder when it comes to personal keepsakes? 

Yeah that. 

It all adds up to more than a weekend of work. I just need to find the time and prioritize it. I’d much rather do actual work so this one is going to be a challenge. But if there’s one thing I’ve proven with this blog over the past SIX years… it’s that I’m not afraid or ashamed of failure. Mmmmm… at least not afraid. Failure and I are apparently besties. So that’s the third goal for January. ✨

Three is enough, don’t you think? ❄️☃️✨

With that, I think I’m gonna wrap. I’ve got actual work to do today. 

Peace and Love, 

~Miss SugarCookie