Obligatory New Years Post

Wow.  It's New Years Eve already!  And the day is already almost over... 2014 is literally just hours away.  I'm still waiting for the Christmas Spirit to hit me, let alone my emotional preparedness for NEW YEARS! Geesh.

2013 has been a good year -- the best part is that it's been fairly stable.  My relationships have stayed the same.  My job has stayed the same.  My home has stayed the same (thank God! A year without moving).  Only one friend has moved away in 2013, but she moved for a job promotion and to fulfill one of her lifelong dreams.  I was able to see my family more than I had before, and I was able to gift to them in a much more appropriate manner.  My church bought a building, and it has been so nice to be able to contribute more regularly to tithes/offerings.  Probably the biggest events in 2013 was getting engaged in Feb and then buying my first new car in March.  Those were pretty awesome events.  The weight gain in 2013 wasn't too awesome, but oh well.  2013 had spurts of spiritual growth followed by periods of spiritual laziness -- not my proudest.  But the end of 2013 has produced some passion and some pretty awesome dreams that I will be pursuing in 2014...

~ Complete the ACE CPT home study program and pass my exam by April.
~ Enroll in the Metabolic Effect Nutritional Education class by November
~ Pay off my credit card

I also want to:
~ Be 70% adherant to my BeyondFit Meal Plan until I return to a size 10. This also includes completing weighted workouts 3x/week, and running/cardio/dance workouts at least 1x/week.
~ Begin reading more Christian based literature, including books that enhance my spiritual life and ways of living
~ Read 1 chapter in the Bible 3x/week

2014 is also going to be pretty awesome because I'm GETTING MARRIED! :) :) :) :)  Although I'm stoked for this, I realized last night that this means I will be moving away from a church I LOVE, a Bible Study group that I literally can never find again, a job, and some pretty awesome friends I have... It brought me to tears to just think about this...

So thanks 2013 for some much needed stability... 2014, I'm looking forward to the memories! :)

My Motivational Totem

Sitting in traffic earlier today, I was reflecting upon my mindset exercise which I completed last night. The exercise was intended to explore my motivation and the attributes of my heroes that I wanted to emulate. 

The last piece of the exercise called for my to review "my chosen words/attributes" and to choose one word that spoke to my soul, or to find one word that summed those words up nicely. 

Last night, I was unable to find this one powerful and personal word. 

But as I said, I was sitting in traffic today reflecting on the words and attributes I had chosen and had been inspired by. And all of a sudden, THE WORD came to me. 

My motivational totem word is DEVOTED. 

I chose devoted because it accurately sums up: woman of faith/God, good wife/future mother, strong point of view, compassionate, hard working, goal oriented, and striving for success. 

As soon as that word popped into my head, my heart swelled up and my skin got goosebumps. I knew i had it. 

:) 

Now to get it engraved on a necklace as a constant reminder...