New Year, New Attitude

I hope. I'm not good at resolutions. I rarely make them and if I do, I rarely keep them for very long. But I'm making two this year.

1) I will lose the weight that I lost 18 months ago and gained back (plus some) during the stress of the last year. I just know that part of my aches and pains are because of the extra poundage I'm carrying around. So...back to the diet I go. I can't afford to do Weight Watchers, but I can do My Fitness Pal which is basically the same thing minus the point system.

2) I can't control Richard's depression or general grumpiness. I can't control the politics of our principal at school or whether or not Roger actually calls the people we need in primary. What I can control is my attitude. There was a great talk today and I really picked up on that part. I can choose to have a positive attitude. I can choose to smile and be friendly and respond positively when people ask me how I'm doing. Instead of saying things like, "I'm here," or "Making it," I can say things like "Doing good" and smile.

I hope that by making these two changes, I can help the rest of my family find the joy in life. I've kinda lost that lately. It's amazing how financial worries can drag so many other things down, but there's more to life than that. As long as I can keep a roof over our heads and the heat and water going, we can manage the rest.

So...those are my resolutions. Seriously lose weight - not just the typical January 1st idea of 85,000 weight loss commercials because it's a "new year, new you" kinda thing. But because I know how much better I felt about myself and how much better I felt physically when I was 30 pounds lighter. I remember starting the school year with the plan to smile more and complain less. Then the year got a hold of me and I didn't stay with the program. This is a chance to start that over. Remember daily that I love these children. There may be days that I don't like them much, but I love them. I need to find a way to show them that - and I can start by smiling.

Happy New Year! And here we go.