Goals and resolutions: things I generally want to do this year, and stuff I'm looking forward to

the daffodil, the daffodil! one of my harbingers of spring and a good year ahead, found today

I've been having a lot of trouble coming up with goals and "resolutions" for this year. At least, on the blog I am. I've been saying on Twitter and such random "resolutions" like "I need to shoot more at Red Devil Lounge this year" even though that's really not a very good resolution, to say you're going to go out to a bar more, now is it? Also, I was kinda pandering to them because they like me. :P

Last year I had all these rigid goals for myself each month during the first half of the year. I gave up those goals by the time summer rolled around. I just wasn't into it anymore. Achievement has changed in my mind in the last year, and I am no longer trying to suck all the fun and enjoyment out of life by setting myself up to fail each month on the majority of my specific, rigid goals. That said ... I am very goal-driven and there are a lot of things I want to make progress on and move forward with this year. I am prone to fretting and feeling like a "failure" so here are the things I want to work on. Some of these are concrete, specific goals, and others are more general lifestyle changes or progressions with room for figuring out specifics later.

• Run a half marathon. Aiming for the SF Marathon Half the day before my birthday in June.
• Figure out the next step: where are we moving? And then actually do something about that. 
• Grow my business. Figure out where I want that business to go.
• Communicate more thoughtfully and purposefully. Don't say things to fill space, or to act out.
• Be more supportive of my friends. Just because they succeed doesn't mean I fail. 
• Read more books.
• Blog more recipes and keep finding better ways to eat well. 
• Keep crossing places and things off of my San Francisco bucket list. 
• Write in my paper journal every day. Keep track of the everyday, and don't get too esoteric.
• Stay organized using my to-do list, and stop letting paperwork and finances get out of hand.
• Love photography. Don't focus on quantity; focus on quality.
• Go to Germany (this IS happening) and have an amazing Euro vacation for the first time in 4 years.
• Stop posting controversial things on Facebook. This goes along with communicating purposefully.

If I can work on all of the above, I will be a happy person. I very much want to be and to remain a happy person, and so it is definitely in my best interest to work on these things ... life is good. Life is really amazing and incredible and I feel so lucky to wake up each morning and have another day to live and breathe and make something out of. Lets do this, 2013. ♥