My Resolutions For 2013

There won't be any pics in this post. If you scroll through on your Google Reader or Blog Reader only stopping for the pics then you're going to miss this one.

I've been giving resolutions a lot of thought. Every year people make these big resolutions and by the middle of January they are all broken. But what if you resolve to do something all year instead of just something you start January 1st? What if you break down the different areas where you merely want to do something different and take some time to implement those changes?

I have a few areas of things I want to work on making better or different in 2013.

BLOG

1. I will be a better blogger. I need to make more time to post more often and bring more content to the site.
2. I will work on learning a little more HTML to spice things up.
3. I will eventually host sponsors and giveaways so that more people can meet the people I admire.

SHOP

1. I will do less custom work and more ready to ship items.
2. I will work on more of the creative projects that are floating around in my head and my notebook.
3. I will try harder to only work on one project at a time instead of three dozen.
4. I will bring a more diverse range of products that aren't just purses. I am working on dolls, more home decor, quilted items and children's items!
5. I will stop using Etsy and paying their fees. Right now I have high views on my advertised shop at Storenvy but more sales on my Etsy shop. I would like to find out what it is that makes more people at Etsy buy instead of browse like at Storenvy.

PERSONAL

1. I will work on finding a better balance of my time between creating and my family.
2. I will work on making time to take care of myself.
3. I will work on using up more of my monumental fabric stash and trying not to add to it.
4. I will learn new things and skills.
5. I will use my planner and told available to me to help better manage my time.
6. I will try to be more social. This will be VERY hard for me. I am not a social person and I get nervous when I have to leave the house.
7. I will take some classes for new skills and attend the Quilt Guild to help meet people who share my interests.

These are all easier said than done and are definitely NOT things that need or can be done all starting January 1. These are things I can work on during the entire year.

Let's face it, we aren't going to wake up on Tuesday, jump into our workout clothes, go the gym and that will stick for the rest of our lives. We're not going to lose all of that weight by Spring or Summer. We're not going to suddenly make a 180 degree readjustment of our lives in the next 4 days. We're not going to change from the time we ring in the New Year to time we wake up the next morning. And don't say you will, but you're starting January 2, or the following Monday. It won't happen. It may be motivation to help us make changes but we need to do them gradually. These things don't happen overnight. We didn't become the way we are overnight and we need to all realize and accept that we can't change overnight. Baby steps. Work on things throughout the year.

I think this is a much more realistic plan than jumping head first into a complete life-altering change that will likely fail. The odds are against you when you do that. That's why they make movies about people it works for. It gives us hope, but what we don't see is that in reality it took a long time for things to happen to those people on the screen. But that movie would be slow, long and boring and no one would watch it.

We've become products of our instant gratification society. Thanks to big businesses like Wal-Mart, stores are open just about anytime we want to leave the house. Have an uncontrollable urge to buy pop-tarts and yoga pants at midnight...you got it! This is bad. Bad. Bad. We need to stop thinking we deserve it now and learn to be patient. Starting a handmade business and appreciating and buying the handmade items of others has started to teach me that there is quality and beauty in waiting for something to be made and arrive. That it's not an inconvenience to wait. That you don't need an overstuffed refrigerator of food just in case you want something at 2am. Most of that gets thrown out anyway because we never eat it. I am learning to have a new appreciation for things and how to have patience. It's not easy but I think it's important.