2019 Goals: Cheers to a New Year

Happy New Year y’all! I can’t believe it’s 2019! In addition to being a new year, it’s also the final year in this decade. That’s hard to believe. Although I’m sad to put up the Christmas decorations, I do look forward to everything the Lord has in store for 2019. There’s just something so satisfying about a fresh start. So today, I thought I would share my 2019 goals with y’all. I’m not calling them New Year’s Resolutions. In my opinion, there’s something about the word “resolutions” that places a lot of pressure on individuals and makes them feel like they failed if they don’t measure up. The term “goals” is a more positive and grace-filled lens to view New Year’s aspirations. With that said, here goes my 2019 goals!

Become More of a Morning Person

So I used to be such a morning person. In fact, growing up I never understood how one of my good friends was able to sleep until noon on Saturdays. I swam for a year-round club team for several years in middle and high school, and we would practice at 7:00am on weekdays during the summer. Then my senior year of high school I no longer swam year round. Yet I would still go to the Y at 5:30am to swim laps before school in order to be in shape for high school swim season.

It’s safe to say things have changed! I now press snooze multiple times in the morning on weekdays. I barely have enough time to go for a quick run, take a speedy shower and quickly make myself presentable before going to work. It feels like I’m always frantically scrambling around in the mornings. And even on weekends, if I don’t have anywhere to be, I find that I have a bad habit of laying in bed scrolling on my phone for forever before getting out of bed.

I’m ready to change things. I would love to get my weekdays started earlier so that I can go for a run, shower, and get dressed for work at a less frantic pace. In addition, I want to make time to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord in the mornings as well. It would also be nice to be able to work on my blog or do some chores around my apartment in the morning before work.

Be Consistent in Daily Quiet Times with God

I will confess that even as a committed Christian, I still struggle to consistently spend quality time with God every day. Joining BSF this past fall has helped with that some, but I still find myself frequently slipping. Although God’s love for me is not dependent on how often I read my Bible or pray, I still want to be better at doing this daily. Rather, my spending time with Him is a response to His unconditional love for me and will help me know Him better. I also know that becoming more consistent with daily devotionals will help me with some of my other goals.

Start Journaling Regularly

For years I have had a desire to start journaling more regularly rather than every once in awhile. I want to really document what is happening in my life and how God is working in my heart so that in the future I can look back and have a written tangible reminder of His faithfulnesses. I bought “The Devoted Life” Journal for Singles by Natalie Metrejean Lewis, and I want to be consistent about writing in that as well.

Be More Joyful

Although I have definitely grown a lot in my faith in the past couple years, I feel like my inner joy in Christ is still way too easily shaken by external circumstances. So one of my 2019 goals is to be better at taking negative thoughts captive, so that I don’t fall into a downward spiral so easily.

Be More Punctual

I was born five days before my due date, and I like to joke that my entrance into the world is the only time I’ve been early. I feel like I’m constantly either running late or just barely arriving places on time. I’m hoping that working on the “becoming more of a morning person” goal above will also help me with this 2019 goal.

Join a New Small Group at Church

I mentioned in my 2018 in Review post that my Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group has been a huge blessing to me. However, as amazing as BSF is, I still need to find a greater sense of community at my church. I go to a large, multi-campus church in the Raleigh/Durham area. Therefore, involvement in a small group is crucial to being connected. Although I’ve been part of a couple of different small groups through this church over the past couple years, none of them have stayed together due to leaders moving, getting married, etc. This past fall, I took a break from church small groups for various reasons. However, I know I need to get started back with a new one in 2019. I’m praying to find one that will cultivate lifelong friendships.

Become More Efficient and Organized

As I mentioned in my 2018 recap, staring this blog was one of my best decisions of 2018. However, I quickly learned that it is A LOT trying to balance a full-time job, growing a consistent and successful blog, maintaining a social life, and keeping a clean and organized living space. To be completely transparent, at the end of 2018 I felt like I was struggling to keep my head above water. Since I either can’t or don’t want to remove any of the aforementioned things from my plate, I need to become better at juggling them all without feeling overwhelmed. I’m not completely sure how this will look, but here are a few action steps I hope to take:

• Get blog posts written and Instagram posts planned before the day I want them to go live.
• Wash dishes that don’t go through the dishwasher daily
• Clean out my fridge and pantry once a week.
• Go through my miscellaneous paper bins and junk mail once a week.
• Spend a few minutes every day tidying up my apartment.
• Spend less time mindlessly scrolling on social media.

I will keep y’all posted on how I do with these things. With the housekeeping items, the goal is that if I do a few small tasks daily and weekly, it will become less overwhelming to do them all at once, which is when I am most likely to procrastinate!

Spend Less and Save More

I’m definitely better at avoiding impulse buys than I used to be, but I could still stand to shop less and save more. In addition to buying some new clothes & accessories, I also bought a new laptop and DSLR camera in the past year or so. Plus I ended 2018 by buying a new couch, which will be delivered next week. (More to come on that later.) All of these things have been great purchases, but since I’ve bought a lot of things recently I definitely want to shop less this year. I won’t completely quit shopping (gotta be realistic here), but there will definitely be more shopping my closet and putting together outfits to share from items I already own. But don’t worry, I will still do plenty of window shopping to inform y’all of my top picks from various retailers as well as the best sales!

Grow My Blog

I will celebrate my one year blogging anniversary on February 18. While I am super proud of how I’ve grown this blog and my Instagram in the past 10 months or so, I have even bigger goals for 2019. I want to continue to grow my audience and reach more people. Furthermore, I want to increase my affiliate sales and collaborate with more brands too. Of course I never want to lose sight that I began this blog as a creative outlet, but when I realized it could be even more than that I developed some business aspirations for this little corner of the Internet as well.

One way that y’all can help me achieve my goals is by sharing my blog and Instagram with any of your friends and family who you think would enjoy reading and following. I’m also planning to start an email newsletter for the blog this month. If you want to subscribe you can enter your email address in the sign-up form at the top of the homepage! I’m also planning to be more active on Pinterest to help grow my blog as well. From the bottom of my heart, thanks for your continued support!

Happy New Year!

I think I’ve summed up the major goals for 2019 that come to mind as I think ahead to this year. The pictures in this post are from the low-key party my friend Emily hosted for New Year’s. It’s rare that I wear all neutrals, but I really wanted to wear this navy crushed velvet top. I actually bought it at Target in fall 2017, but I’ve linked a few currently available velvet tops and other outfit details here. I’ve included my exact necklace, some similar sparkly Kate Spade studs, and some very similar silver Tory Burch flats that are currently on sale AND an extra 25% off. Don’t forget you can easily shop my looks by following me in the LIKEtoKNOW.it app, or by heading to the Shop My Looks page of this blog!

How did y’all ring in the New Year, and what are some of your goals for 2019?

-xoxo Liz