Reflection of 2011

In 2011, many things happen to my family and myself. First, I was laid off from my job of six years at the title insurance company. I enjoyed being a at home Mom, with my son, but a realize that 10 years of office experience with no college degree will not get me the job I wanted.  Since the unemployment department allows people to go back to a two year college and has to be a specific degree.  I decided to go back to college. But at the same time, I was able to find a temporary job with Planar Systems in the Reseller Support department.

Then I got busy, working and going college full time. I decided on getting my Associates in Business Management because I would like to have a job with more responsibilities. Then my husband was gone for two weeks on business trip.  Since I was working full time and going to college at nights, I knew what it felt like being a single mom. 

After Spring term, I was offered my old job back and I took it. The reason being is that it had more opportunities to have a permanent job and have benefits. Since being laid off in January and losing great benefits, it is a goal of my husband and I to find better job with great benefits. I have been going to college and working ever since.

But emotionally, it has been a year of discovering who I am and what I want to do. Before this year, I knew what I wanted but never really did anything about it.  I guess turning 30 does that to some people. How I feel about my birthday is a sore subject and it nothing to do with the age thing. Anyhow, I still feel depress during Christmas season.  I do not know what it is, but right after Thanksgiving til mid-January early February, I am a stick in the mud.  It is hard for me to be happy. This year I really tried to focus on making it better.

Other than that I was trying to figure out what I want to do. Every thing from spiritual, emotional, to physical. Every time I hit a low or pray for guidance I get a new idea or way at looking at things. I have been grateful that I have grown more and learn more in this last year than I did in the last 10 years. So I still pray to God that every year will be happier and better than the last.

This Year's Goals

Most people do new year resolutions or live by a word for the year.  Some believe that write down or make a piece of art of your goals will make them come true.  I believe in writing them down but also doing something about it too. This year I am going to post my goals here but also I have next to my bed so I can see them every day, and help me make wise discisions in keeping the goals I want to achive.

I take a couple of weeks to decide on what goals I want to do for the year.  I reflect on the phyical changes, mential health and spritual. I try to make ten different goals, and try to have a few for each area of my life. I have been doing a lot of reading and praying to decide what I need to better myself and care for myself. So I would like to share my goals.

My goals for this year are the following:

~ No Candy, Cookies, Soda or sweeties except special occasions.
~ Excercise for 30 mins a day.
~ Have a baby.
~ Weigh myself every week.
~ Stop biting my nails.
~ Pray every morning, and read a chapter of the Bible.
~ Do something special for a friend or family member every week.
~ Check Google + and Facebook once a day.

So what do you for your goals? Do you do this once a year or a few times a year?

I plan to do if I succeed is to continue with a goal and review and add more goals as need through out the year.

Good luck to your goals.

My Happiness

For the last few months, I have been thinking about my own happiness.  What do I want to do? Is this what I want to do?  Is there more to life?  What would my obituary say about me?  What would my children say in the future about me? These questions mostly came to me when I was laid off earlier this year.  Before hand I was move through life without any sense of what I was doing. It was like I was on auto-pilot but I knew I was not happy.  But I did not have a clue what to do to find my happiness.

Now about eight months later, I have changed a lot, or at least my way of thinking about things happening to me and my family.  I wanted to find out what can make me happy.  I did a lot of reading and research into find happiness or solving a problem that would help me be more happy if it was solved.  Also I did a lot of praying and thinking about what made me unhappy.  Of course, my responsibility to my family came first, I went back to college to get my Associates to get a better job.  A job opportunity open up to where I can help support my family financially. Even though it is less pay than what I was making when I was laid off with no benefits, but this is better than living off employment.  I told myself that is temporary, eventually, I will have a successful business in something I love to do.

In what? I do not know yet, I have many ideas. I am still in the process of trying to find one that will work with my ultimate dream. I will tell you later about that.

I have notice, even though I have not specifically work on my happiness, I did not know that was what I was looking for. I was try to fix many things that had many words to describe them.  But after reading The Happiness Project by Grechten Rubin, I found the one word I have been working on the last eight months and what I was looking for all my life. Happiness. Thank you Grechten for a wonderful book, it looks like I have more to do (in my opinion for my happiness) but you have given me the tools to pursuit and expand my own happiness journey.