Resolutions

I normally scoff at making New Year's resolutions.  I feel like a person should be trying to better him or herself all year, not just at the beginning of a new one.  But this year I had some changes I really wanted to  make, so I made some mental resolutions.  Since those possibly might not count, I decided to write them down.  It will keep me honest, and hopefully more determined to keep them.

1.  Take better care of myself.  This is a grand sweeping statement.  It includes subsets:
           - go to sleep earlier
           - get more exercise
           - say "no" to things more often
           - stop trying to be perfect at everything
           - have more fun and do more stuff I want to do instead of stuff I feel like I have to do

2.  Watch less TV, especially before bed.  READ more, especially before bed.  This has already helped my sleep quality.

3.  Go to Mass more often as a family.  The boys go to Friday morning Mass at school.  I think because of this we stopped going on Saturday as much.  So now we are trying to go more often.

4.  Stop being afraid of change.  More about this one later.

And my continuing resolution that I started sometime last year when I one day heard myself and cringed, to stop yelling at my kids so much.  Ironic that Number 1 Resolution is also a direct result of realizing that when I'm tired, stressed out and have too much on my plate, I take it out on my kids by losing patience and yelling alot more.  So even though this is something I've already been successful at changing just because I became aware of it, I hope to get even better.  

Here is my self-grading of my resolutions so far:

1.  B         The sad fact is that when I get sick, I get more rest,.  So I've been getting much more sleep than normal, saying "no" to lots of things, and "yes" to things I really want to do, like attending my Book Club meeting for the first time in months and months.  I still need to work on that exercise, though.

2.  A          How I love (and have missed) reading before I go to bed!  Actually I read a chapter or two, then I work a crossword puzzle.  It puts me to sleep like a baby.

3.  C          We still can do better with going to Mass.

4.  Hard to say yet, so I'll give myself an Incomplete for now.