What beckons you? I almost never stop to think about my soul, about what nourishes ME and keeps me going.

Is it sitting by yourself at a coffee shop? Or is it walking through a field of wildflowers by yourself? Is it staring hard into the line where the ocean meets the sky? Is it trekking up a mountain, or skiing down it? Is it losing yourself in a good book by a fireplace? Is it practicing penmanship? Is it perfecting a recipe? A small gathering of friends over good food and good drinks? Is it stealing away for some time in the tub with bubbles and Champagne?

At the beginning of 2019, I felt a rush of inspiration to forgo New Year’s resolutions and instead focus on a few different monthly goals (more like ideas than goals). My main goals centered around relationships and activities with my children.

I write this out because #1, for the first time ever, I think I can reasonably achieve these goals at the close of 2019, and #2, I am hoping it helps spark ideas for whomever reads this, in case they need a kick in the pants, the way I did (do).

Relationships

–Monthly Date Night. This involves finding a reliable, regular babysitter (#bigask for my three rambunctious kiddos). Monthly dates are my goal, and I’ll take them however I can get them: a quick lunch out, a leisurely night on the town, four hours to Christmas shop, going to an arcade, etc. 

–Making New Friends. Maybe this sounds creepy, but I wrote down a list of names of people I want to get to know better, and I plan on sporadically sending texts to them to actually make plans to hang out each month: coffee, breakfast, lunch, happy hour, play dates, dinner out, or group dates.

–Intentional Time with My Kids.* I hope to do one-on-one “dates” with each of my three kiddos each month this year. Some ideas off the top of my head include a meal at a hibachi restaurant, a movie, going to the park, playing at a video arcade, enjoying an afternoon at the American Girl shop, heading over to a batting cage, etc. I’m sure that each kid will have a different idea of how they’d like to spend time together, and I’ll make sure their ideas are considered as the months go by. 

Monthly Activities with My Kids

What are you considering for your 2019 New Year’s resolutions? What do you want to look back on in late December 2019 as the goals you achieved this year?

*Disclaimer: I don’t think I can swing ALL these activities, it’s just a list of ideas. I’ll be lucky if we can feasibly afford/be available for one activity each month, but this is the goal!