New Year's Goals 2013

Everyone at this time of year thinks of their new year’s resolutions – goals for the upcoming year. I do this every single year and never follow through with any of them. This year will be different, because I will resolve to do things I already work on. I will keep all of my resolutions this year!

This next year, I am continuing what billybuc has started. My goal is to do one act of kindness for each day of the year. I know that will be tough – but I think I can do it. No – I KNOW I can do it! I have already written about some of the ways that I will do that and, hopefully, throughout the year I will write hubs about how this is going.

This next year I want to write more hubs. Even if it’s just one more hub that this past year, I will write more. I want to take part in more challenges. I attempted three or four 30 in 30 challenges in the past year, and completed one. I may or may not complete the second one, but I am still making that effort. If I make it – great – if not, well at least I kept busy. I will also be a part of the apprentice program sometime soon, so I will have the encouragement from fellow writers to keep me going, as well. I am hoping to do at least one hub every week. We'll see how it goes!

I want to read more hubs this year. I follow a great many Hubbers that I try to read at least once a week – or more if they write more. This coming year, I want to find even more wonderful hubs to read and find more wonderful Hubbers to follow. I will look at my favorite Hubbers now and see who they are following. I will take part in the hub hopper more often to discover new writers – and more experienced writers that I haven’t found yet. I will search under topics I like to read about and see what I can find that way.

I want to earn more money online this year. I started all of this as one way to fund my summer school program. I will continue that program in the summer of 2013, and I will still need the money to fund it, so I will research other ways to make money. I found a survey sight that I really like, and I know there are a few blogging sites I could take part in that are monetized. I would like to see if I could fund my summer school program totally from donations and my online earnings.

That brings me to the summer school program – Joy’s Hope Summer Academy. I want to find a permanent building for this so that I don’t have to worry about where I am going to be the following summer. I would like to find someone that can donate a building – or space in a building – so that I can work with kids that wouldn’t have a chance to learn skills they desperately need during the summer. Those kids that don’t qualify for our special education summer school, but who will lose the skills they have learned during the school year if they don’t continue to practice during the summer. I don’t know if I can find a building – but I will find a spot – even if I have to do it in a shelter at the park. These children WILL have their chance to succeed.

I will spend more time with my grandchildren. This one is the easiest of all my resolutions. I love spending time with these three wonderful children. The boys are getting old enough that we can have some grand adventures. My granddaughter is at that delightful stage where she is learning something new every single day – and soon she will be walking. I want to be a part of their lives as often as I can be. I want to visit my grandson in Kansas City at least once a month – and my two local grandbabies at least once a week. And when the two new grandchildren arrive - well - I will visit them as often as I can, as well. I know I can do this. I will just have to make it happen.

I will spend more time with my children. They all have their own lives with their own problems, but I want to be there more for them. Right now I am having some issues – very small issues in the larger scheme of things – with two of my daughters. I want these things to get worked out –or at least have these two be friendly to each other when they are together. I want to be there for each one of them while they try to do the best for their small families – through the changes that are happening now and that will continue into the New Year. I want to spend more time with my daughter in Kansas City and to help her in her search for a house of her own. I would say home, but she and her husband have made every place they have had a home filled with love. I want to be there for my son as he goes out into the world on his own and help him to discover that he can do it all.

I want to spend more time with my sisters and brothers and my dad. We all know how limited our time together really is, and as we get older that time becomes more and more precious. My siblings have always been my best friends, and that continues. I want to go on more adventures with them all and live our lives to the fullest. This past year, I have spent more time with them all then in previous years, and it has been great. This year will be even greater

I want to show my husband just how special he really is to me. I try to do this every day, but sometimes in the hustle and bustle of everyday living, I forget this. I forget that he is always there for me and always loves me no matter how anxious or depressed I become. He encourages me to be my best, while at the same time telling me that I already am the best. When I am feeling my worst and upset at him because he didn’t take out the trash, he goes behind my back to make my day better and make sure that there is some ray of sunshine in my day. It could be as simple as a text during a meeting that says “I love you – you’re the best!” or something as elaborate as having dinner waiting for me when I get home so that I don’t have to cook after a long day at work – even though his day started earlier than mine and is more physically demanding. I have to make sure in the coming year that he knows how special he is to me each and every day.

These are my goals. This year, I will keep every one of these goals . They are things I do anyway; I will just do more of it. All of these things are important to me – to my sanity – to my way of life – and so they will happen.