January Recap and February Goal Setting

January was… kind of a weird month in terms of goal setting and staying on track. I actually spent much of it in Ontario with Lil’ Ziggy, visiting friends and family.

The last time I was there was also for about three weeks, and I couldn’t wait to get back to Alberta by the end of it. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with friends and family, and they loved seeing Lil’ Ziggy both times. It was just so much time to be away from Chris, away from my regular routine, etc.

This time was even worse, because Chris wasn’t there with me at all as he couldn’t get the time off. Then, there was the fact that both Ziggy and I were sick for pretty much the entire time. I was worse off, though, having been sick since the beginning of December! I had this ridiculously over-the-top cough, and both my ears were plugged so I was totally disoriented for much of the trip. I had to sleep sitting up for several days, and cough medicine didn’t seem to touch it. Now we’re back in Alberta, and the cough is still kicking around, but it’s dissipated quite a bit, finally.

But enough about the low points of January, lets get to the good stuff! I actually made progress on (some) of my 2016 goals. Woohoo!

Monetizing my blog

I haven’t technically monetized my blog yet, but I did go through the process to sign up for Amazon Associates. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s a sort of referral program run through Amazon.ca where I provide links to things I use and if someone clicks through and buys something, I get a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s pretty cool!

I sort of put the cart before the horse though, as I still don’t have a business plan. So my February goal for my blog is to write my business plan. I also just need to get writing more (duh!).

Learn to love my body as it is

This one is a little hard to quantify (who can quantify love anyway?). Being sick for two months has made it very difficult to work out, but I was eating as best as I could while at other people’s houses. I also received my fair share of shitty subtle comments about my post-baby weight from more than one family member. A few of the ol’ “you look great, don’t stop”, and even a “have you lost all the baby weight yet?”. Um, yeah, I lost it all and then some. Thanks for confirming that it hasn’t made a difference in my appearance. Some people also think that I should have a flat stomach by now, even though I’ve NEVER had one to begin with. It unfortunately makes me not want to go home again (don’t worry, I still will). For some reason, I just don’t have to deal with that crap out here. But it makes it very hard to love my body when external forces are very blatantly undermining my efforts.

Anyway, my February goal for loving my body is to give myself a few more days to improve this stupid cough, and then start my 30-minute daily workouts again. Another goal is to start peeling and chopping carrot sticks for healthy snacks throughout the day. That’s treating my body with love, but I’m also going to work this month on seeing positive things about me when I look in the mirror.

Learn how to take great pictures with my new lens, and learn to edit photos

I didn’t learn how to edit photos, but I used my camera a LOT on this trip. I still need to work on focusing on the right things, but I already feel like I’m getting better with it. Here are some examples:

 

So my goal for February is to just keep using my camera, keep figuring out this lens, and learn a bit about minor photo edits. I have only been using online programs for resizing and adding text to my photos, but I don’t really know what I’m doing when it comes to making photos sharper.

Become better with money, and learn to say “no”

I think I did fairly well this month with spending. I didn’t buy ANYTHING online, and I only had to buy a couple of things in Ontario. My February goal is to really knuckle down on the impulse spending at grocery stores and other places. It’s really all about asking myself “do I REALLY need this?”. Most of the time, the answer is no. I’m also going to take advantage of free get-out-of-the-house activities around town. There’s an indoor playground near me that is free for babies under a year old, and I think Lil’ Ziggy will really enjoy it now that he’s more mobile.

Learn to be peaceful

I don’t even know why I made this a goal for 2016. I’ve been stressed beyond belief with some personal matters lately, and it caused me quite a lot of anxiety for a while this month. I’m losing sleep over it too. I guess my February goal should be to practice some stress-relief methods. I really wish I could stop thinking about the things that stress me out, but I just can’t turn it off. I would happily accept any and all stress-relief methods that work for you!

What are YOUR goals for February? Are they new from month to month, or are they consistent with your yearly resolutions?