A new day. A new week. A new year. We are at a great advantage this January 1, 2018. It’s a Monday, the first day of the week. It’s the first day of the month. It’s even the first day of the year. If there were ever a perfect day for a fresh start, then today would be that day. It’s no secret that I need a fresh start after the year I had in 2017. It was long, stressful, and painful. I grew, I changed, and I was physically broken. Today, I put all that behind me and claim 2018 as my year! This is going to be a good year! I can feel it! I don’t know how it’s going to be good. I don’t know what good things are going to happen. As someone who is recently unemployed, I don’t even know if or where I’m going to work. I’m starting this year with a completely clean slate and I am truly grateful for this fresh opportunity. With a fresh start, I have a chance to make and meet new goals!
In 2018, my goals are:
• To create at least one new thing every day for the entire year.
• To journal at least a brief recap of every day in 2018.
• To start every day with at least a brief workout and Bible study.
• To finally finish writing, and maybe even publish, at least one book this year.
• To walk with Sadie Robertson in her goal to live whole-heartedly.
• To read more.
• To enjoy life more.
• To rest.
• To stay caught up with my shows.
• To take at least one picture with my best friend every month.
• To get at least 8 hours of sleep every single night
I will create at least one new thing every day for the entire year. It can be a new song, a new scene for Malachi Gregory, a new vlog, a new blog post, or maybe a scripture doodle. If you’d like to follow along on this journey with me, then I will be creating a new page to keep track of all the things I create.
I will journal at least a brief recap of every day in 2018. At the end of every year, I like to look back on all the things I’ve done and then write a recap post. It’s a good way to renew my perspective of the past year and make goals for the coming year. Writing a recap post also gives me closure for the year so that I can go into the new year with a clean slate. To keep everything in one place, I will be creating a page for this, if you’d like to keep track of my life with me.
I will start every day with at least a brief workout and Bible study. While I am more confident these days than I have ever been before, I’m still not who I want to be. I am completely out of shape physically. Part of that is because I injured my back in 2017 and I was more or less immobile for six months. I was out of shape long before hurting myself though. I’ve been the same height since I was fifteen. From fifteen to nineteen or twenty, I was always within the same healthy five-pound weight range. That five-pound weight range was right in the middle of the healthiest weight I should be at. It wasn’t too skinny and it wasn’t overweight. Since then, I have gained about fifty pounds and I’m not happy about it. So, if I can lose at least one pound every week this year, then I will be back where I want to be physically. That’s my goal for the year.
My day is almost always smoother if I start my day in the Bible. I do currently walk with the Lord every day. I pray through the good and bad of the day and I try to listen to worship music at least once a day. That’s not always enough though. God wants me to hear directly from Him and the only way to do that is by reading His Word. So, I’m renewing my goal of reading the Bible every day this year, even if it’s only the daily word from the Bible app.
I will finally finish writing, and hopefully publish, at least one book this year. I have been working on writing two different books since 2012. One is an untitled Dystopian novel with a plot and characters that have changed at least a dozen times. The other is a nonfiction book titled, “The Mask; Her Aid.” I plan to accomplish this goal by writing for at least eight hours of every day that I’m not working. For now, I’m not employed, so that may be weeks or months of writing eight hours a day. When I am working, that will be at least eight to sixteen hours a week on my days off. I think, I may make an exception for Sundays, as that is the day of rest, but I haven’t decided yet.
I will walk with Sadie Robertson in her goal to live whole-heartedly. Sadie Robertson posted a New Year Encouragement video on her YouTube channel challenging her viewers to walk with her as she plans to live whole-heartedly in 2018. She shared that synonyms for whole-hearted are committed, positive, devoted, dedicated, unshakeable, total, and unqualified. One of my favorite quotes is that “God doesn’t call the qualified, He calls the qualified.” I’m not qualified to be a writer. I didn’t go to college, so a lot of people seem to think I don’t have the education or experience needed to be a writer. That doesn’t matter though. God has called me to be a writer, so I will be a writer.
I will read more. In 2017, I didn’t read much. I listened to the Jane Austen audiobooks, so at least there’s that. Otherwise, I only started “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The Selection,” and barely finished reading “The Magician’s Nephew.” I love reading, at least enough to reread my favorite books, but I didn’t even do that in 2017. My goal this year is to reread all my favorite books and to read a few new series’.
• The Selection
• The Hunger Games
• Twilight
• Under the Never Sky
• Divergent
• Harry Potter
• The Last Song
• A Walk to Remember
• The Shunning
• Love Comes Softly
• Descendants
• Nancy Drew
• Ever After High and Monster’s High (New)
• A mermaid series I can never remember the name of that my best friend told me to read. (New)
I will enjoy life and rest more. I will also sleep at least 8 hours a night. I have a tendency to stress about anything that doesn’t seem to be going right. I need to stop doing that. I have never faced something that God hasn’t taken care of for me. Therefore, I have no reason to stress about anything. I told my former roommate “I’m not stressing. 2017 was a big ball of stress and 2018 is going to be a soft bed of rest!” That’s my motto for the year! I will rest in the Lord and know He is God. A lot of my stress comes when I’m tired and or hungry. That’s normally when I haven’t slept at least 8 hours. Thus, my goal is to get enough sleep every night.
I will stay caught up with my shows this year. It’s a silly goal, but it’s my goal nonetheless. Every year, I fall behind on my favorite shows, Heartland and Dancing with the Stars. Falling behind always stresses me out, because it means I have to watch several episodes at a time to catch up. This year, I will not fall more than one episode behind on either of these shows or any new shows that I decide to watch.
I will take at least one picture with my best friend every month. This is just a fun goal that she joked about and I decided to make it an actual goal. I see her at least once a week, so it shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish.
Finally, I will finish the shows I’ve started (and still want to watch) in the past.
1. Merlin
2. Sabrina the Teenage Witch
3. Boy Meets World (I’ve Never watched it in order) and Girl Meets World
4. Friends
5. How I Met Your Mother
6. Stranger Things
7. Fuller House
8. Liv and Maddie
9. Austin and Ally
