The start of a new year is just days away (thank heavens! Bye 2020!)
I've sent my kids to gymnastics camp at Hill's Gymnastics in Gaithersburg today, just to have some time to myself to sit, regroup, recharge and plan. I wanted to reflect a bit on 2020 and think a bit about my own goals for 2021.
We've certainly seen this year that not everything is in our control. I guess that's always been the case, but man has 2020 emphasized the point!
A few of my personal victories this year include:
- Acting upon long standing wishes and dreams that I always said would bring me joy! Look, they aren't all earth shattering, but that feeling of joy - that fluttering overwhelming sense of YAY! that comes over you when you have a moment of pure joy is truly like nothing else! Chickens - I have been looking at adorable, quirky silkie chickens for so long. Thanks COVID - you finally pushed me to get my chickens! Those little fluff butts bring such joy to the kids and I, and now we've even started getting eggs! A very cool experience. I also have been talking about building a DIY mega tree forever - year after year I watch the Great Christmas Light Fight on TV and I talk about how I'm going to build myself a mega tree. One thing that I really don't want to ever be is "all talk." So, this year, only a week before Christmas, I finally did it - a 20 ft mega tree! It is glorious, and again, has brought me so much joy!
- Another category of personal victory has come from really taking a hard look at what's most important to me in my life. I am the kind of person who loves to have my hand in a million things - I love variety, I love going and doing, and I love a good challenge. There is, I'm learning, a limit to what one person can do in a day/week/month/year, and there are consequences to going over that limit! When I exceed that natural upper limit on my capacity bad things happen! My health suffers, my productivity suffers, and my family suffers, too. So, I have learned that I really need to force myself to evaluate and prioritize on a very regular basis - it used to be every 6 months, but I'm moving to an every 2 month self-evaluation cycle. My mental and physical health have got to be a priority for me, and the health and happiness of my family has got to always be a priority for me - this means building in plenty of unstructured play and snuggle time, time to just be with my husband and kids, etc. I did manage to use our COVID related travel and activity restrictions to focus a bit more on me - I've lost 60 pounds since March and have taken control of my physical health in ways that will benefit me and my family for years to come. I'm a work in progress in terms of reigning in my tendency to over commit myself, so that will go on the goals list for 2021!
I've also come up with some personal goals for the new year:
- Be thoughtful and realistic about my commitments (as noted above)
- Plan and work ahead (2020 has felt like a bit of a hamster wheel and I'd love to get ahead of it in many ways this year)
- Plan and execute a monthly date night with my husband (pretty sure this was a goal last year, too, but it didn't actually happen. Maybe with the plan ahead goal I will get it done!)
- Have more adventures with my children, together and one on one. Family time is great, but I have been missing quality time with each of my kids individually and really want to focus on that this year.
- Plan and execute monthly volunteer activities, with the family when possible.
- Choose action over wishing/dreaming when it could spark JOY!
Publishing Macaroni Kid has brought me great joy this year. I love writing local content and sharing family fun and ideas for events and activities with local families. I also love working with local businesses. My goal has always been to strengthen our community and build relationships - to build a village, really, where we can support one another and make life a little easier and more joyful! I'd love to build a team of local Macaroni Kid ambassadors to help make this Macaroni Kid Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac village the best that it can be for all of us. If you're interested in writing content, or have any experience or interest in growing social media or sharing content, please reach out to me at nicolec@macaronikid.com. I'd love your help, your feedback and ideas!
I wish each of you a healthy, happy, safe and above all joyful new year!
Sincerely,
Nicole Cerquitella
your Macaroni Kid Publisher
