Ready for 2012

It's not New Year's yet. Not even close, really. But next Monday is my last work day of 2011 and my last day in Alaska until the New Year. So in my mind 2011 is over and done with and I'm ready to start feeling good about 2012.

I've never been big on New Year's Resolutions, but some years they're more necessary or desirable than others. I think 2012 is the ideal year for me to have some serious resolutions. Why, you ask? Because my 2011 was really difficult and strange and my life changed a lot. I finished up one clerkship and started another. So this was the first year I was employed the entire time as a legal professional without being enrolled in school. I also had some major personal changes like buying a house, dealing with a family loss, and changing my lifestyle to fit a recently discovered medical issue. I gained new friends, started a new chapter of my life and started losing weight and getting healthier in all manner of ways. So, for me, 2012 will be an opportunity to build on these positive changes.

Here are my resolutions for 2012:
1. Find a new job: My current position ends in August 2012, so I need to focus a lot of energy on finding a new way to make my mortgage payments when that ends. I also see this as an opportunity to finally get a position that is permanent, challenging, and something resembling the reason I went to law school.

2. Reduce my body fat by 10%: Weight loss is a common resolution. It makes sense- we spend roughly a month eating holiday foods and being lazy in the winter weather. 've been really lax about counting calories and exercising since Thanksgiving. I'm sure by New Year's I will have regained a few of the pounds I lost this past year. But that's not the reason I added this resolution. Since May 2011 I've lost as much as 14 pounds. Now that I've put a few back on, I can safely say I'm a good 10 pounds lighter. But I still have a ways to go before I feel like I'm at a good stopping point. Instead of saying I want to lose 15 more pounds, I would rather focus on body fat percentage. Sure, it will seem like a slower process, but this will help me to refocus on fitness rather than thinness. My ultimate goal is to have roughly 21% body fat, or at least under 25%, which is the average for women. This means lots of lean muscle and general weight loss. How will I achieve this, you ask?

3. Join a gym: I know, I know, so cliché! But it works. Leigh and I love to ski and I love to ride bikes in the warm months, but sometimes playing outside just isn't practical because of dark afternoons or crappy weather. Sometimes you need motivation, nice facilities, or a group class to keep you on track. We already found an awesome gym near our house that we can afford and it offers everything we had both hoped for. It even has a sauna, steam room and massage services. These are creature comforts that we can all benefit from but that I rarely allow for myself. Which brings me to #4.

4. Make Time to Be Good to Myself: I'm a logical person. I don't do anything without a good reason. In my mind, the best reason to do anything is because it's frugal or practical or accomplishes multiple things at a time. This rarely translates to doing something nice for myself. In fact, it usually means I wear my clothes until they have holes in them, don't buy extra things without prompting from Leigh, plan trips on a shoestring budget even if I don't have to, and only get my haircut when I start to resemble a 14 year-old Harry Potter. I'm a 26 year-old professional with a liveable salary. What gives?! Well, I've never given myself permission to spend a little extra on the things that make all the difference. So by joining a gym with extra amenities and enjoying things like getting haircuts and wearing clothes I feel good in, I hope the small additional expenses will add up to a higher quality of life and maybe even a higher salary because of my additional confidence.

5. Give Back: As long as I am focusing on my own quality of life, hopefully I can take some time to focus on others too. Leigh and I have been talking about adopting a Little Sister next year through the BBBS Anchorage program. It would be fun to have a young person to play sports with, take to movies, etc. Plus this program is well-respected and worthy of our support. Another way we've talked about giving back is by taking collections next time we throw a party. We have over 20 people attend our Mad Men party. If we throw a spring party and ask everyone to bring a much-needed item for a local charity (like toiletries for a homeless shelter), we can enjoy the company of our friends and give something back to this community that has welcomed us so quickly.