WELCOMING IN 2008

Bye bye 2007.

And a big warm welcome to 2008.

Our NYE was underwhelming to say the least. We had a family get-together for which I spent hours preparing a gourmet BBQ which was to be followed up with a games night. The food was ok (WH overdid the chicken a bit), nobody was drinking much and half the family was suffering various degrees of colds and other ills. With Moet on offer I weakened and had a glass but was saddened by the fact that – lo and behold – I didn’t even enjoy it. Food wise I could have done better as I found myself nibbling constantly with the pressure of getting everything ready (it wasn’t all done when our guests arrived) and having an extra kid to keep an eye on as BS had a friend come for a sleep-over that night.

Oh well its all in the past now so onwards and upwards from here. I spent yesterday keeping the boys under control, entertaining a stream of casual visitors and trying to get all my chores up to date before I came back to work today. It was a busy day ending in a (very uninspirational) dinner at my mum’s. This found me nibbling too much again – something I need to work on in the coming months.

I no longer make New Years Resolutions as I believe they are doomed to fail so these are the things I want to achieve in 2008. They have been in the back of my mind since Christmas and I’ve been working on them already so technically they don’t qualify as resolutions:

I will be competing in September in the WNBF SA Titles. My goal is to come in leaner with more muscle and I’ll know that I’ve achieved this by what my body composition is and how I look. My main areas to focus on this year are glutes and abs and I believe I can make some good gains in these areas. I have chosen to work with Liz Nelson this year (and I’m delighted that she was willing to take me on as a client) so that I can broaden my knowledge on all things to do with figure prep, healthy eating and lifestyle management.

This year I WILL get my eating under control. With Liz’s help I believe I’m ready to kick Betty the Binger out of my life and finally live with some eating normality. Whilst I may always struggle with emotional eating to some extent, I will learn how to minimise it and in doing so its my goal to embrace clean, healthy eating as a lifestyle choice and not something I feel I should do every now and then (like when I’m feeling fat and blobby LOL).

I am also focussing on being a more positive and balanced person. All too often I slip into my black hole and allow negative, self defeating thoughts to drag me down and justify my bad choices. Well I want that to stop, or at least to happen far less regularly. Once again I’m being realistic as I know that some old habits are pretty hard to break, but its something I will be consciously working on this year.

In 2008 I will share more with my WH. Whilst he will NEVER share my passion for bodybuilding/fitness etc, I know he will be far more accepting of what I’m doing and what means so much to me. I also want to share more fun times with him like going to the movies, going out to dinner (life is too short to be 100% strict with food) and relaxing Friday nights where we have a wine together and discuss whatever takes our fancy.

This year our BS will need our support even more as he settles into the new routine of school and a new set of rules and expectations. Its my intention to NEVER compromise my “family time”. That precious time between getting home from work and BS bathing and going to bed will be spent doing “family things” like talking about school or work days, helping with reading practice, speech practice or organising dinner/ lunches etc.

Career wise I have some very definite goals but they are on the back-burner for now. On this issue I’m taking more of a sit back and wait approach as I’m not ready to take charge just yet. On a day to day basis my goals are to pay more attention to detail and be more proactive as I felt I was slipping in these areas last year. I’m not totally happy where I am but I’m not ready to take the giant leap to what I want.

So that’s my quick round up of what’s important to me in 2008. I never did the whole formal goal setting thing but these things live in my heart and I choose to strive to achieve them in order to become a better person.

May everyone who reads my blog embrace 2008 as a fresh opportunity to move forward and achieve all their goals and ambitions. And lets not forget to have some fun along the way.

Cheers all

Magda