18 aims for 2018

Each year I write a bucket list of things I’d like us to tick off as a family. Places to go, books to read, movies to see and things to learn. But, the lovely Hannah tagged me to write about 18 aims for 2018 and I thought it would be a good time to talk about less specific things that I’d like to achieve and do this year.

So here are 18 aims for 2018:

1. Now both the children are at school, and I’ve got into a good work routine, I’d like to go back to the gym regularly. I’m aiming for at least twice a week but hopefully three times a week straight after dropping the children off at school.
2. To achieve this, I need to manage my workload better – or actually, just how I feel about my workload. Often I’ll have a to-do list for the following day and will feel like I have to get home straight after school drop off to crack on. But, in reality, if I get home an hour later, just after 10am, I can still get as much done, the light will be better for photos and it’s still a great time to start work. So, get into a routine and worry less.
3. With a set routine for work and gym I also need to look after myself a bit better. I would love to go to bed by 11pm each night – and not then lay scrolling through my phone for a good half hour. 11pm bedtime and a good night’s sleep is definitely a priority this year.
4. That also means that I need to stop working in the evenings as much. Over Christmas I have loved switching off, watching a movie or reading a book in the evening and this is something I want to continue. I need to have at least one full night off from work a week and the other days I would like to turn my laptop off by 8:30pm each evening.
5. I won’t be working weekends apart from maybe an hour on the laptop after the children have gone to bed. Weekends are our time and now that Dave doesn’t work weekends it’s even more important that I do the same.
6. I would like to eat better this year, eat less overall and eat more of the right things. I feel so much better when I eat more healthily and over Christmas this has really gone out the window.
7. I also need to drink more water and will be aiming to just drink water aside from my tea addiction. This isn’t hard as I’ve given up fizzy drinks since having my braces fitted and I’ve just invested in a hydration tracker water bottle to monitor my water intake too. This is one I’ve been aiming to crack for years so you can tell I’m taking it seriously.
8. I want to get to the point where I am happy with our home. I know, we did so much work last year but the garden makes me sad so needs fixing this year and I would love to put things in motion to have a spare bedroom, somewhere nice for guests to sleep, by the end of the year too. Little Man’s room also needs an overhaul – carpet instead of floorboards to make it cosier and a coat of paint too. I think once he has carpet and the garden is sorted I will be a lot more content. We’re just never happy, are we?
9. I want to get religiously into meal planning. Because Dave now works Monday to Friday he takes lunches to work too and so I need to meal plan both dinner and lunch – and if I don’t put that time in the diary each week the whole food delivery and plan goes to pot. So, I need to make sure I make the time to meal plan each week and I’m even going to go as far as to make a database of meals for both lunch and dinner to give me ideas each week rather than relying on flicking through a cookbook or hoping some family favourites pop into my mind.
10. Reading will be a big aim this year as I really need time away from screens to switch off and wind down. I always have the aim of a book a month but really, I can read a book in a few days if I put my mind to it so I’d like to read two books a month as a minimum in 2018.
11. Seeing more of the UK is important to me this year, as is having time out with my favourite people. So this year I would love to go away at least once a month for the weekend, seeing more of the country, meeting up with friends and spending quality time together.
12. There are things I would like to continue – helping other people wherever I can, putting others before myself, giving to charity and the food bank, donating as much as possible and donating time too where I can.
13. I need to, generally, give less shits. I don’t swear often online but that phrase pretty much sums up this one. There are times over the last year – and longer – where I have been upset and hurt by the actions of others. Where we haven’t been invited to a family gathering, where one of the children hasn’t been invited to a party, where I have been slagged off online, where I’ve thought someone was a friend only to see their true colours at a later date – and the list goes on. But, I have been upset and hurt because that is how I have chosen to feel. I’m human after all. But this year, I am going to just move on quicker, realise it says more about them than me and in the scheme of things it really isn’t important or worth the energy. So this year is about making the moments count – and not worrying as much about the moments that don’t.
14. I want to do regular after school activities with the children again. This started well in September but by Christmas they were just so tired. So this year we’ll be doing our bake of the week each week, swimming on another night, having junk food and a movie or games on a Friday and filling the other two nights with creative things, making, painting, drawing. I can’t wait and will try to think outside the box a little with these activities too.
15. This year I would like to be more creative. I started making different colour flat lays each week with the children last year and it inspired me to think more when taking photos. But, I still revert to literally taking a picture of something rather than styling and staging the photo. I’d like my pictures to tell a story this year and to learn more about photography too.
16. Last year I learnt that many, many people are genuinely lovely, nice, caring people. And there are others who are lovely and nice when they think they will get something out of it – a leg up, an opportunity, something for free. This year I will be spending my time focusing on the genuinely lovely people in my life – and maybe even building friendships with more genuinely lovely people too.
17. I would love to walk to school more this year. I don’t think we have actually walked at all during the first term of the year and so I would like to walk as much as possible for the rest of the school year. I love that time with the children and the exercise is so good for us too.
18. Lastly, this year I need to learn to delegate in all aspects of my life and accept help. We got a cleaner last year which has really helped but I need to also say yes to childcare more, let the grandparents pick the children up from school, give Dave things to do and even teach the children to do more – like put the breakfast things in the dishwasher, feed the cat, put their shoes in the shoe rack etc.

So there we have it. Really, eighteen lifestyle choices, life lessons and tweaks to my character for the coming year. Most of them aren’t really measurable, they can’t be ticked off and are just habits that need to be changed or worked on but they are things that will make me happier, make the year brighter and help 2018 to be an even better year than the one before.

Do you have any resolutions or aims for 2018? I’d love to hear about them to give me even more inspiration.