Top Ten Tuesday: New Year’s Resolutions

Posted January 5, 2016 by meezcarrie in Top Ten Tuesday / 51 Comments

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Welcome to the first Top Ten Tuesday of 2016!! Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke and the Bookish for hosting this weekly blog linkup.

This week, we’re talking about resolutions and thankfully the topic was left open-ended. If it had just been book-exclusive, my post would have looked something like “Read. Read. Read. As usual.” So… this way will hopefully be more meaningful 🙂

(Some of my resolutions were taken from a marvelous article from last year by Relevant Magazine called “11 Resolutions Everyone Should Consider Making Next Year“.)

1

What this means: I want to more often put down my phone and my laptop and my book (gasp!) and engage people in conversation that challenges my mind, my heart, and my spirit.

What this doesn’t mean: Wasting time in arguments with people on Facebook. It’s amazing to me how much ignorance can be spewed in that platform.  The only thing THAT challenges is my blood pressure 🙂

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Instead of wishing I had a different house or etc., I need to work with what I’ve got.  That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it.  I’m planning to read Love The Home You Have and The Inspired Room, both by Melissa Michaels, to help me along in this resolution.

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In the article I mentioned earlier, Jesse Carey says, “It’s easy to pray less when we have lots of things to do, but really, life should work in the opposite way. As Martin Luther once said, ‘I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.’ No matter how busy we become, committing to spend more time praying—even if it’s during our commute, when we’re working out or throughout our day—is a key to growing spiritually.” 

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I have a very eclectic taste in music – ranging from Brad Paisley to Train to Michael Buble to Rend Collective… and nearly everything in between. Thanks to Amazon Music, I discovered a lot of new music last year and hope to be even more intentional about it in 2016.

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I tend to go in spurts with this, but in 2016 – like with everything else I’ve mentioned so far – I want to be intentional about carving out time for this every day.  In the past, I’ve gotten overly ambitious in January and burned out quickly but I really like this plan called “Read Through the Bible for Shirkers and Slackers.” I figure I qualify as both 🙂 The reason I like it is that it divides your reading into categories so you’re in a different part of the Bible each day.  This helps especially in the rather tedious books like Leviticus where it’s easy for our motivation to fizzle out. Instead of dreading all however-many chapters in Leviticus, you can tough out the one or two you’re reading that day and then know that the next day you’ll be in history instead.  Or maybe Poetry. You can download your own plan here:  Read Through the Bible for Shirkers and Slackers

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I read 250 books last year, according to Goodreads.  And yet, I have an entire bookcase full of books – not counting my Kindle – that I haven’t found time to read yet.  This needs to change.

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We live in a day and age where our opinions and convictions have polarized us against each other.  Knowing what you believe and being strong in your convictions is important… but so is seeing the situation from someone else’s perspective and through the eyes of history.  There’s a quote that shows up on Facebook periodically – I don’t know who said it but I so very much agree with it.  “Become friends with people who aren’t your age. Hang out with people whose first language isn’t the same as yours. Get to know someone who doesn’t come from your social class. This is how you see the world. This is how you grow.” Challenging my presuppositions doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll change my mind, but it will (hopefully) give me – at the least – a softer heart toward the marginalized and those with whom I disagree.

8

Due to some chronic pain that I’ve been fighting for the past two years, I haven’t been able to have people over for dinner as often as I would have liked.  I also don’t eat with my husband a lot.  While I can’t fix the chronic pain, I can still work toward having one or two close friends over this year for a meal and game night.  And in between, I can try to be intentional about eating dinner with my husband.

9

Confession: I hate water. I really do.  I would much rather have my diet coke.  But this year I want to get healthy.  My brother tells me I need to drink water.  My health coach tells me I need to drink water.  Even my English-as-a-Second-Language student from Korea tells me I need to drink water. LOL.  So… I guess I’ll drink water 🙂

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Oh I so want to do this! I have my eye on a couple of festivals and conferences that will be near-ish to me this year, and I’m hoping that more will pop up on my side of the United States next year.

What resolutions have you made for this year? Let me know!

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51 responses to “Top Ten Tuesday: New Year’s Resolutions”

  4. Broc's Bookcase (@BrocsBookcase)

    I drink so much water at the moment. I always have a 1litre bottle on my desk at work and I have found that it has made me feel much better at work, and really helped my skin too.
    250 books for last year is an amazing amount, I only managed 65. I just don’t seem to have the time that I used to, which is sad. But at least I’m still reading!
    I also put more bookish events on my list. There isn’t all that much that happens near me in the UK, but I’m going to try and go to more, because I really love them.
    Good luck with your resolutions! 🙂

    Reply
  7. midwesternbooknerd

    You have some awesome resolutions that really hit hard with me, both personal and bookish. I think the reading the Bible resolution, praying resolution, and being more present are sooo huge. I wish you all the best as you work to accomplish these goals!

    Reply
  8. SERIESous Book Reviews

    Love your music one! I find it so hard to find new music that I like because my tastes vary so much! I’ll have to try Amazon.

    And drinking water is great! You get used to it after a while and it’s amazing how much better you feel once it becomes a daily habit!

    Reply
  10. Angelspearl

    Wow love your resolutions, particularly no 3 and 5. Like the idea of sharing more meals with the friends you love. we get so caught up in our day to day that we forget what truly matters. All the best for 2016!

    Reply
  12. Jane Whittingham

    Oh water….that’s always on my list of to-dos….

    I’m definitely trying to branch out and explore new perspectives and points of view this year, too. It’s so easy to surround ourselves with people who think and feel in ways that we can relate to, so it’s healthy to try and expand our horizons a bit! 🙂

    Reply
  13. Kristine

    I love your list of resolutions. Though they aren’t for me, I find it inspiring how you are planning to take care of the whole package as opposed to one feature. Good for you. I wish you all the best with achieving each and every resolution of yours. 😀

    Reply
  15. Zed Amadeo

    Attending more reading events is a good one! I discovered a few book/writing related groups in my area but only went to one meetup last year. That could be a good way to get more involved in a new bookish community! I also liked the one about engaging in more conversations that actually matter. For my life that would mean less time being on autopilot and engaging in chit-chat, and more time discussing things that are actually meaningful to me.

    I feel like my goal every time I read a book is to make a dent in my TBR. But just as I finish reading one book, 20 more suddenly appear on my to-read list. It’s like my TBR multiplies when I’m not looking at it, haha.

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  17. charliegirlteachergirl

    These are wonderful goals! I also am resolving to drink more water this year. I have a student who signed up for that task of the beginning of the year with me. He asks and reminds me weekly. Sometimes we have to put a water meter on the board to remind to to drink during the day. Teachers ain’t got time for that!

    Reply
  18. LHauser27

    Hi! Such a good list 🙂 I’m with you on the water! I’m also glad there are still people out there who like face-to-face conversation. I’m with you on that one, too. Happy New Year!
    Leslie

    Reply
  19. Ashley

    Great resolutions! I need to work on my backlist of books as well. I just constantly bought books and then they just sat around, because sometimes I would still check out from the library and then just buy buy buy haha. GOOD LUCK! 😀

    Reply
  20. Jane @ Greenish Bookshelf

    I love how you mixed book goals with life goals. I hope to be better at reading the scriptures this year too. And attending book groups/events is a great idea! Always good to get together with fellow book lovers 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  24. Rissi

    #6, yes indeed! I have far too many books in need of reading! Someday I’d like to attend some sort of book conference, but I don’t know that I ever will. Still, even if it’s just a one-time thing, it’d be fun. Good luck with all of your 2016 goals, Carrie – and as always, thank you for visiting Dreaming Under the Same Moon.

    Reply

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