I’m a goals-type person. I always have been (my mom says that I have been writing and checking things off lists since as long as she can remember) and I probably always will be. The cool thing is that many (not all) of my resolutions/goals/list items have come true over the years. One thing that I noticed recently after reviewing my 2007 goals was that the ones that I didn’t even come close to meeting were either a. ones that I simply weren’t motivated to meet or b. goals that I had set because someone else thought I should.
Example A: Let’s take my weight for instance. I’m not as big as I was at the beginning of 2007 (but then again, I was 8 months pregnant) but I’m also not as slim as I was before I got pregnant. My youngest son is now ten months so I can’t blame the weight on him any more (in my mind that excuse ends at 6 months). Here’s the thing… I just have not had the outside motivation to lose the weight. The two people (my mom and my husband) whose opinions I value the most think that I look great. My husband is great/biased – I have to be having a really bad appearance day for him to think that I don’t look great. I can usually count on my mom to be objective though. (This is the woman who told me that I needed to lose weight three months after the birth of my first son.) However, this time around, she’s like "You look great. You don’t need to lose any weight. All of your curves are in the right places." Thanks Ma! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a weight-obsessed person but the scales (and my favorite jeans) don’t lie. I still need to lose a few more pounds. So, that’s one of my inner motivated goals for 2008 – to be at my pre-baby "fighting weight" before I turn 35 on May 21st.
Example B: Learning to drive is the best example for me of a goal that I haven’t met because it never really was my goal. How, you might ask, can I be from Virginia and not know how to drive? The answer (as un-pc as it is) is that I was constantly with my high school boyfriend who drove me everywhere that I wanted to go. After high school, I moved to Manhattan and have been here every since. Although my husband drives, it is not necessary to drive in Manhattan. That’s one of the things that I love the most about the city. Anyway, for the last couple of years, learning to drive has been on my goal list for the year. Everyone said that I should learn – my husband, my mom, my in-laws, random strangers, etc., etc. Here’s the thing, I’m a reasonably intelligent person (or so I think) but for some reason I have this fear of driving the wrong way down streets, because I have the worst sense of physical direction. My husband always says that my angels work overtime, because I always manage to get to where I need to be (usually due to the kind generosity of helpful strangers). I haven’t really had a good enough reason to conquer this fear until this year. My oldest son will be going to preschool in September ’08 and I want to be able to get to him as quickly as possible if necessary so this summer I will learn to drive. I already have the learner’s permit (I have to make sure that it hasn’t expired!), so it’s just a matter of driving.
Anyway, I’ll follow up with you in May and August and let you know how both goals are going. Meanwhile, have fun setting and meeting your own goals for 2008!