welcome 2014

It's the beginning of January and here I am thinking ahead to what 2014 will bring for us and the types of changes that I would like to see in my life. Of course everyone says that they would like to be more healthy, lose weight and be more active in the new year. And after all the treats, social eating and drinking and being indoors so much over the cold month of December, it is no wonder that we all make those promises, but I like to treat new year resolutions more like goals, and I always try to make them more about my inner self, as opposed to the obvious outer changes that I too would like to see.

This year I am looking to make some concrete changes to the way I react when I am stressed out and am looking for the triggers that cause me to get stressed out. I'm certainly not proud to say this, but I have found myself to lose my temper more times than I care to admit this past year, and so, I am looking for ways to be proactive and prevent that from happening.

Recently, I have been looking for ways to take care of myself better. After months of running on auto pilot, I had the realization that I don't take much time for myself in the day. After all, I stay home with 2 little ones and run our house, which is very much a full time job. Living here in an isolated community means that I don't get little breaks or escapes for myself, something I used to do when I lived in Whitehorse. Funny enough, when I lived in Whitehorse, a simple trip to the grocery store, a coffee and an extra long linger in the magazine isle, was sometimes just the little break in my day that

I needed. Even better was a walk or a coffee with a friend.

But now I find myself missing those little breaks, and feeling burnt out at the end of the day. How do I carve out that time for myself? And more importantly, where can I go to get that escape/break from the house? I am looking for ways that I can get out and find those little breaks for myself. Trips into Whitehorse are nice, as are little lunch dates with girlfriends here in town (we do have a restaurant here in town). More walks and snow shoe trips will be in order too.

Another goal for myself as a stay at home mother will be to include more learning opportunities into our time at home. Recently I found myself somewhat panicked when I realized that Noah would be home for 2 weeks from school for the Christmas break. I didn't want him to get bored or miss his friends. So I decided to make a list of projects, crafts, activities that I thought would be fun to try and so far, we have been having so much fun together. I've been thinking that I want to be more intentional about how we incorporate reading aloud time, make believe play, art time and outdoor time into our day to day rhythm.

On the flip side of this, an old friend reminded me on Facebook, that its okay for children to be bored and that they need that time to find things to do, and I was very thankful for that reminder.

And there they are, my 2014 goals. Simple but oh so important. I really feel that we are all ever evolving and that it is so important to step back and ask ourselves if we need to make changes in our life. That's why I like January 1st so much. A chance to be introspective and to start off fresh.

Happy New Year friends.

xox
ps. a few pictures of our outdoor play (check out Winslow's awesome ice slide!) and heart ice cube treasure hunt.