New Me...Rediscovering the Old Me...Or Both

Well it's time to begin a new year with new beginnings.  I am not a full on believer of new years resolutions, mainly because a year is a really long time and many set too high of expectations for how those resolutions are to play out.  However as an educator I do believe that the start of a new calendar year is a great time to reflect upon the past years and to determine how one might better or improve themselves.  Similar to the beginning of a new school year, where we reflect on the past year to make changes to curriculum and pedagogy in order to improve the achievement of the next group of students.

So after giving it some thought I have decided to focus on three things, and one of those three more so than the other two.

The first area I would like to better myself in is my faith.  I was raised Catholic and still am today.  Church was a fairly big part of my childhood however after going off to college and more so now that I have a "big girl" job, I have been going to church less and less.  Now, I know that being Catholic or any denomination for that matter doesn't solely depend on the attendance of mass, however that is a big part of it, at least to me, and I have not been doing that. So the main way I am going to focus on my faith is by attending mass more often that I have been.  Along with this, I am starting to read "Rediscover Catholicism" by Matthew Kelly.  I just started, but so far it's pretty good and has really made me think about what being Catholic means to me.  That's something I hadn't really thought about before and if I did I couldn't really explain it to anyone else.

What brought on the reflection that I needed to better my faith?  Well honestly, a lot.  But in short, I was kind of feeling a little lost and like I had lost who I am as a person.  Now, some of that may just come with growing up, losing innocence, having responsibilities, celebrating successes, experiencing heartbreak, and all other things life seems to throw at you when you become an adult.  However, I think that even though all of that does change you as a person, I have still lost some of my core beliefs through all of that. I asked myself why that happened and my answer was that I lost some of my faith.

Next, I would like to try and be more financially aware.  I can already tell you that I am not doing so great this first month.  I am becoming more aware of what I am spending my money on by keeping a folder of expenses.  However, I have not limited my spending which is what I thought would happen (that was my high expectation).

Lastly,  I would like to spend time reflecting and bettering my health by doing yoga!  To learn more about this read my last post: Inspiration .

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and to hear what you are focusing on this year!