Goals

It's that time of year again. The time I start thinking about goals and lists and resolutions. People always kind of groan about resolutions, don't they? Talking about broken ones and neglected ones. I guess I probably do a bit of that, too. But this year I'm starting to reassess what it means to me to make plans for the coming year.

Last year I wrote down four items:

1. Lose the last 15 lbs. I feel better than I have for years and years, but I want the number on the scale just a wee bit lower.

I didn't lose any weight. I may have gained some. I still want to lose 15 lbs. I still try. But it's not the most important thing. I'm ok. I'm better than ok, actually.

2. Participate in the Toy Society's toy drop.
I didn't do a toy drop. Not yet, anyway. It's on my to-do list, and I have every intention of getting it done in 2011. But, if for some reason it doesn't get done in the next month, I'll be ok with it. I gave in other ways this year, and I did make many, many toys for loved ones and loved ones once removed. 

3. Less wine for me, less candy for Dash.
Nope, not this one, either. Turns out I really like wine and Dash really likes candy. He gets a couple of pieces of something sweet after dinner and I get a few glasses of wine. We're both healthy and happy and managing just fine. It was kind of a stupid resolution to begin with.

4. This. Shh. Don't talk about it. I'm scared. ["This" was to run a 5k]

Now this. This I did. I ran a 5k. And then I ran another. And then two more. I was never fast, and it was never pretty. But I ran four races in a year after never having run in my life. I learned to love the feeling of my legs under me. I learned to love talking to Josh about our times and our training routines. I even learned to love getting up at ungodly hours on race days and getting so nervous waiting for the start that I thought I'd puke. 

So that's it. I threw a bunch of resolutions at the wall and one stuck. The important one. The one (unlikely as it seemed at the time) that really meant something to me. 

So I'm not going to groan about broken resolutions or missed goals. I'm going to celebrate aiming high. I won't always hit my target. I'll likely fall short more than not. But I'm going to keep at it, and I'm going to keep writing it down and I'm going to enjoy trying and failing and seeing what sticks.

So, all that said, here are Liz Engel's goals for 2012:

1. Run a 10k. At least one.

2. Figure out a way to do movie night. Our backyard is too small in the new house, but we have a driveway and a garage & there's just got to be a way to do this on some scale.

3. Go camping again. At least once, more would be better.

4. Enter a jam in the Ventura County Fair.

5. Start reading Harry Potter with Dash.