I like to think of myself as the anti-bandwagon-jumper. I don’t hop on trends just because everyone else is doing it. No TikTok dances for this girl. (At least not on camera. Or at least not that I’d actually post for anyone to see.) I disdain fashions that go in and out faster than the tide. Why waste the money? And I absolutely refuse to whip out a list of my new year’s resolutions for all to see. I’ve done that before, and my resolve lasted approximately 93 hours, until it was raining too hard to venture out to the gym, so instead my husband offered me a glass of wine. So much for Dry January.

No need to search my feed for a cheery New Year’s Day post of resolutions. Not gonna happen. Instead, here’s a list of things I want to focus on. (Seriously, these aren’t resolutions.)

Health

No concrete rules here because they never work for me. I’ve made too many over the years – no fried food, no processed foods, no trans fats, no fast food, no, no, no! But I inevitably fell short and lost faith the first time I broke one. Instead, I’m going to focus on making healthier choices.

Stopping by Chick Fil A? I’ll take the market salad with the low-calorie vinaigrette, NOT the #1 with extra CFL sauce and a sweet tea. Stressful day at work? I’m heading to the gym followed by a glass of peppermint tea, NOT heading straight to the couch with that bag of Fritos that’s been calling my name.

If I can make the healthier choice even 75% of the time, I’m way better off than I was before. And that’s a lot easier to accept than giving myself ultimatums.

Happiness

As a mom, manager and momager, it’s baked into my DNA to put other people’s needs ahead of my own. If the plane goes down, there’s no way I’m stopping to put my mask on first – I have to save everyone else. If I don’t, who will? I realize this about myself, and I know that if I stop putting others first, it would probably make me deeply unhappy. But again, it’s about making healthy choices.

There are plenty of things that I must do to keep the ship running. But there are a lot of things I could skip so I can spend more time on what feeds my soul. Instead of watching Dodge Ball with my family for the 50^th time, I could work on my blog. On Saturday morning when everyone else is sleeping in but I’m wide awake, I’ll jump in the Jeep and take a drive to the beach, NOT lie on the couch watching TikTok videos. Or sit out by the pool and paint. Or head over to Home Depot and buy some new plants for my porch. Or take my sweet Great Dane for a pup cup and walk in the park.

I figure even fitting in a few of these things each week will make me a lot happier and hopefully reduce some stress.

Blog

I’ve wanted to start a blog for probably six years. This blog doesn’t count – it’s just random topics that tend to be more professional for my business website (except this one, of course). Rather, I want to start a travel blog to leverage my long history in the travel industry. It will get me out of the house, experiencing the things I love (see: Happiness). My blog is well underway – it’s named, branded, the site is up and I have a few entries – but I keep getting sidetracked by stress. I love working on it, but when things get crazy at work or home, my first reaction is to drop it and focus on that instead. (Again, see: Happiness.)  But every year that passes and my blog isn’t official is a year that just frustrates and disappoints me.

So I’m putting it out there into the universe – by the end of 2023, I will have a well-established travel blog with followers, an email newsletter and a social media plan.

And I’ll be healthier. And less stressed. And happier.

Those are my areas of focus.

And no, these aren’t resolutions. It’s different.