New Year, Better Me.

Happy New Year's Eve!!

Here is the beginning to my bullet journal, read below for
more details. Not only is it the beginning to my journal,
it's a great visual beginning to my year. 

     I'm so so so very excited for 2017, I cannot wait to see what's in store for the next year. Is it just me, or does anyone else forget about the week between Christmas and New Year's? I do every time. Christmas comes and goes, and then I'm on pins and needles for the new year. I get myself so hyped up, that I just get disappointed to find that I've got to wait one more week. AHH, practicing patience over here... Anyway, as you can prolly tell, I'm stoked for 2017 for a couple reasons. One being that 2016 has been a year full of many changes and realizations for me. Secondly, I've marked out my goals for 2017 and could not be more thrilled. I love setting goals because I look at the progress I've made and see what my next steps are. One way I've chosen to set goals for myself is through a bullet journal. All it is, is a personalized journal logging your own specific goals and really organizing your year to come. At the end of this post is a set-up of mine and some tips to tag along. I loved making this journal because I got to make it my own, and it's a great way to visualize my goals and my entire year. I sat down at a lovely coffee shop in Flagstaff with my family and took a deep look at what my next steps are, and made some very real and reachable goals for myself. But more about that in a sec. Let's stop to look at some of 2016's defining moments. Shall we?
     One of my biggest accomplishments of this entire year has been my reading plan, call The Bible in ONE Year generated by my church. One of my goals for last year was to be more intentional with my reading and to grow my relationship with God through my reading. Oh boy, did I. It has affected every aspect of my life. This reading plan was the first time ever in really any area that I've intentionally stuck with something. I sucked at staying consistent, and I was going to see something through this year. I finished today. I read the last sentence of Revelation and did a little happy dance. I felt so good to say I had seen something all the way through and grew from the experience. I'll be honest there were plenty of days where my reading plan was something I checked of my to-do list, but the majority of my days involved thoughtful conversations, plenty of convictions, and even a heart change in certain areas of my life. I finished my reading today and stopped to process the thought. I had read God's word in an entire year. I never felt so fulfilled. By doing this reading plan it opened my eyes to two things, how undeserving I am and how thankful I am that my God never changes. Throughout the entire story His people waver back and forth from Him, and He still reaches out to them, answers them, and even redeems them. He disciplines His people, but it's because He jealously cares for us. His love is unconditional, His grace undeserving, and His name is eternal. How comforting the thought. That even though I mess up plenty daily, I'm still His chosen people. My stern discipline from Him was this reading plan. I needed something to stick with and something that was spiritually challenging, and by the end of it I'm running to Him. By reading His word, I see that His story isn't over and I'm playing an active role. I am beyond grateful for His word and appreciate it in a whole new way. I encourage you to include God's word in some way this upcoming year, whether it be a verse a day or a reading plan, but make God apart of your daily life. It will truly make such a difference. You don't have to commit yourself to an extensive reading plan like the Bible in a year, but do commit yourself to God with the choices you make, keeping Him the center of them all.
     Okay, Okay... 2017 goals. Yeah I have the fun goals to read at least fifty books, try new recipes, and write fun letters to my pals, but then there are the necessary sometimes uncomfortable goals that require a change in lifestyle. After an extensive recollection of 2016, I feel so confident in my goals and how I'm walking into 2017. The way I set goals is by looking at specific areas in my life (physical, spiritual, professional, academic, etc.) and break it down from there. I'm not going to go into every goal, because this would quickly become a long and deep blog post that none of us need to delve into. Instead I'll explain a few that stand out.
      A lot of my goals have to do with my character and maintaining one that is Christ centered. From doing my reading plan, I realized that now I've read the word, I want to live it out. I want to actively make a game plan to enhance every aspect of my life in everything I do. I want to see the best in everyone, I want to practice generosity, and exercise leadership. My character is a reflection of who I am on the inside, and as much as that's defined by my passions it's equally defined by my personality. So, this year is gonna be my year. It's my goal to thrive in who I know I'm capable of being.
      Another area is my future... like college... yikes. Man, is it stressful. This is going to be my senior year, so I have to get serious about where I want to go and what I ultimately want to do. I'm very excited about college, but honestly it's nerve racking. Well duh, Emma, it's this major switch in your life coming up. But sometimes it feels better just to state the obvious. So, in response to the inevitable, my goal for 2017 is to be more intentional in all I do. I really want to soak up this last year and a half and get everything out of it that I can. I'm going to be better about investing more time into my relationships, encouraging my friends, and being super intentional with my fifth (soon to be sixth) graders. God has purposely placed all these lovely people in my life, and I'd be stupid not to be an active part of their lives in the best way I can.
      The most expected goal for every new year is improving one's health. Last year I got a really good idea of what a healthy lifestyle looks like. As a family, we're taking our health seriously so we can have a lasting energy throughout the day and better mentality about ourselves in the long run. A healthy lifestyle can become addicting and consuming, I've figured that out by becoming kinda consumed myself over this last year. So, my family is coming together and we are going to all support and hold each other accountable when it comes to a healthier lifestyle. I love leading a healthy life, because not only are the physical effects a bonus but more importantly the mental effects are the strongest. When you think about yourself in a healthy and positive way, exerting confidence, then you're bound be happier. I know I have been these most recent months and I'm stoked for building that even more in 2017. A healthy lifestyle requires a good amount of activity balanced by foods that are nourishing to us.  I love the eating healthy and learning to cook in a nutritious way part of shaping up, but the other side, the working out side, requires a little love. I like working out, but do I love waking up early and getting all sweaty (especially when I wake up and I know it would've been a good hair day)? I'm not sure. Let's get honest for a sec. Who seriously loves the part of getting in shape that gets you all sweaty, gross, and beyond sore. Like so sore you can barely move the next day, and why can't we just get the cute workout clothes and skip the skip the "workout" part?  Oh, well then, with 2017 I'm going to learn to love the active side of my health as much as I do the yoga pants. So, to all those out there who's goal is similar to mine, let's agree to throw our hair up and muscle through because we're going to be so much happier by taking care of ourselves. My mom, sister and I have become big fans of Tone it Up. It's super fun, offers great workout schedules for any level of fitness, and a great planned out nutrition plan. I highly recommend taking a look at it and giving it a try.
     I find it so important to make sure I know my priorities and to turn them into a lifestyle. By setting goals, it helps me see where I want to end up and where my priorities need to be. I'm really looking forward to 2017, and making the most of this year. It's going to be spectacular; I know it. How I know it- because with my goals I've prepped myself and now I'm eagerly ready to get started with being the best version of me in every way.
 
BULLET JOURNAL
For 2017, I made me a bullet journal. Besides turning super pretty, I think it's a lovely way to tangibly interact with your goals and keep track of where you're at. You can get so creative with your layouts and what it is you want to track, the options are endless. Below is a layout of my journal and how I set mine up. Hope you can find some inspiration down below.

First of all, you're going to need a journal (mine is a 250 pages) that is unlined so you can get creative in there. You'll also need pens for writing that won't bleed through and a color scheme (only if you want, I'm a tad bit OCD, so I opted for a theme.) On your first page make an index logging where your contents can be found.
Then move on to a yearly spread. to the left is my set up. Um, yes I did write 365 numbers in one sitting, I don't recommend doing so. I do recommend using a ruler to make sure you get even lines, and outline everything in pencil first. With my record of misspelling and and uneven lining, the ruler will become your best friend. the two pages after the yearly over view, I made a list of all your typical holidays plus birthdays for 2017. You can set that up any way you'd like. I set mine up similar to the picture above with twelve boxes lined up, and filled them up with respective holidays rather than numbers. Now we get to the fun part. The goal setting part!

This is my fitness page, logging where I want to be within a year, within each
month and within each week. It includes 60 minutes of activity everyday, and
hiking more regularly! If you choose to include this as one of your pages, make
goals that are fitting to your lifestyle, and ones you know you can reach.

    

I gave each goal page two pages so would have plenty of room to fill them up. My first pages following are my general goals for 2017, then the following pages hold more specific areas concerning my general goals. I have four areas filled with what is important to me for the upcoming year, and have set it up in such a way that's easy to keep track and to log progress. These are the fun pages. I have one for my health, recipe exploring, reading, and spiritual. You can choose these topics or come up with your very own. The next few pages are just what's a priority to you and how you're going to keep track throughout the year. My tip to you is split it up into categories. As you can see with my spiritual page, I have one page devoted to general goals, the the next page is a place to keep track of my progress. I did this set up for most of my layouts, and I'm very excited to see it all come together and be filed out with the year to come.

This section gets my very excited. Here, as you can prolly tell is my place for recording
my reading progress. I've got a cute little set up to keep track of what I've read, and right
next to my bookshelf, is a place to keep track of genres I've read. I'm super excited to fill
this one out!

Now we have reached the set up for each month and week. I loved setting this up because I have a weird love for planners. I love seeing my whole week written and planned out, and love it even more when it's set up in such a beautiful creative way. On one page, following your goal pages, label which month we're dealing with. As you can see I've set up January. Then I made a list of all my monthly specific goals, things that I want done by the end of January. Following that was the weekly set up. You can get super creative with this part. Set up your week in such a way that will fir your lifestyle. For me, setting up boxes would give me enough room to fill it with school assignments, friend dates, church events, and workout schedules. Phew, that's quite the week. I also made a place for important dates, and an area to write any blog or recipe ideas I thought up through out the week.

Bullet journals are such a fun way to stay consistent and on track with your goals. I want to make the most of 2017 and by setting up my journal, I can see all my goals laid out, and eagerly waiting to be reached. I can stay organized and on top of my schedule with such a pretty journal. I hope you find this inspiring and give it try yourself. It's worth it, even though the set up requires time, it's definitely worth it. Because not only are intentional with coming up with goals for yourself, you're becoming intentional on how you're going to meet those goals. This year is going to be our year, so let's own it and soak it all up. Happy New Year everyone!!

XOXO- Em

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