Honor Thyself, ASAP!

A girlfriend of mine recently told me, "You always put other people before yourself." And she wasn't smiling when she said it. It definitely was not an homage to my undying benevolence and altruistic nature. It was more of a kind B*&ch slap from a loving friend. She went on to explain that my goals/needs/energy often suffer because I am helping everyone else and if I don't make time for myself, my health might start to suffer. In a nutshell, I am stretched pretty thin most of the time.

Like many people at the beginning of a new year, I resolved to make some changes and wondered if there were others in the same proverbial boat as myself. What do other people declare as their New Year's Resolutions? Did they resolve to lose weight, travel more, drink less, be more active, make more money or spend more time with family? If so, how are they going to get there?

This year, I made several resolutions. The one I am most proud of (and probably the most likely to keep) is to make myself a priority. It's easy to get pulled in all directions as you take care of family/friends/random lost soul. I have a hard time saying "no" when people need me, which can oftentimes interfere with goals I have set for myself.

Resolutions of any nature are sure to fail without a plan. How are you going to lose weight? How are you going to make more money? How exactly am I going to honor myself above everyone else this year?

So what's my plan? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.... Writing down tangible specifics will help preserve focus, but how does one make a vow to oneself to "love and cherish" and "forsake all others"?

Here's my plan:

1) Do one activity each week ALONE that I enjoy (walk on the beach, hike, see a movie, shop, hang out at the library, try a new restaurant, etc etc.)
2) Hit the gym at least 3 times a week.
3) Rejoin my soccer team of 8 years and play every Saturday
4) Take my amazing pup on a park/beach trip every day (makes me exercise, too)
5) Say "no" to any activities I am not super pumped for
6) Take stress out at the gym rather than with ice cream/marathon TV watching/happy hour-ing
7) Stick to my monthly Savings Plan
8) Take one big solo trip this year (this year it's Europe)
9) Take 4 small, solo weekend trips this year.
10) Surround myself with people of similar interests and goals

One last addition to my "honor thyself" plan is to inject a little positivity in my life. We all need reminders of our awesomeness and we all need a little boost here and there. Personally, I like to glance at these every now and then:







That last one is pretty impressive, eh? You won't get the money/relationship/career/body you want by complaining, making excuses, wishing or sitting on your butt! Goals like those are earned!

TRUE STORY.