Lets preface this post by saying that I am horrible at making or keeping new year’s resolutions. So I stopped making them, because for me saying that “oh in the new year I will go to the gym more often, or eat less sugar” doesn’t really do anything. Rather, I am going to set goals for myself. I recently came across a note I had written when I was 20 of all the things I wanted to accomplish by the time I was 30. I am too embarrassed to share this note, because who are we kidding.. some of the things (like have a lab of my own or have travelled to all the continents) are just not going to happen in the next two years. But what this note did do was motivate me to re-evaluate what will be different this year and what are some concrete goals that I can check off. Most of these are career/academic since that is a huge part of my life, but one of them is around this blog. So, here we go 2017!
- Write. This includes starting a blog and writing at least once a week, to stay sane. I find that when I write, I can clear my head more and by getting things out on “paper”, I can make space in my head for all the other important things, like spending time with my family.
- Disconnect. Okay, so following my first goal, weirdly this is also a priority for me. By disconnect I mean that once I come home from work, thats it. My phone will stay on the front console and my laptop will stay shut. Whoever texts, calls or emails after I am home, will just have to wait. It’s so easy to sit in our family room and look around and see that everyone is on their phones. Maybe before that was fine, but now that the little one is running around, its important to think about how she feels if she looks up and sees everyone staring at something else thats not her?
- Self-care. Whether its getting back into practicing yoga a couple of times a week, or booking a much needed massage for myself, I need to prioritize self-care. When we have families, everyone wants something and I specifically find myself torn in a 100 different directions. Visiting my family, spending time with my daughter and husband, working on my thesis, writing clinical reports, household chores: none of these leave time for.. ME! So whether i take 20 minutes to paint my nails, or finish the book i started like a month ago (Yes.. Magnolia Story, I am coming for you), I have to take care of myself.
- Be patient. Last year was good to us – we were blessed with a beautiful, healthy, smart baby girl. But through out it all, i found myself losing patience. I was quick to anger, would lose my calm and lash out. Whether it was the hormones, or the life change that is to have a baby – my lack of patience has definitely led to some not-so-proud moments. So patience with myself, with the baby and more importantly with my husband are going to be something I have to work on this year.
- Dream. I would love to get some sleep and get into REM sleep and dream alot.. but thats not happening! Rather, I mean to “dream” about the future and work on career goals I have for myself. In the program that I am in right now, I have found that last year (while I was on maternity leave) I was a bit disillusioned about it all. I was un-motivated and feeling too much pressure from the faculty and my cohort of students to be perfect at everything. When I went on maternity leave, I got perspective on life and on why I am really doing any of this. Its weird how countless sleepless nights nursing a baby can lead to life epiphanies. So, I am going to take the time to dream about my future with my family and work towards those dreams this year.
So thats it.. goals that I think I can accomplish. What are some of your goals for 2017? Leave me a comment, because I would love to hear from you.
Until next time,
xoxo
Areeba
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