Welcoming 2013 with JOY!

"Less fear, more love."

My yoga teacher finished class last night with this simple sentence followed by the traditional "Namaste". I walked out of class repeating it to myself in my head thinking about all the crazy things we do out of fear - fear of the unknown, fear of judgment (even from ourselves), fear of failing, fear of disappointing people, fear of not being good enough... I also thought about all the things we do out of love and all the crazy, amazing, cool places love can lead us.

My word for 2013 is joy. I want a life filled with more laughter, more smiles, more kind hellos, more goose-bump-inducing moments of pure happiness - more joy. In 2012 my word was presence  and I focused on slowing down and enjoying moments as they happened. I still need to work on that to make it part of my daily life, but in addition to that, in 2013 I want to see all the beautiful joy in my daily life.

Just like my 2012 goals, I decided on eight themes and then created three goals within each theme.  I love goal setting because the idea of small goals along the way to my bigger life dreams is a great way to keep myself on track. And yes, I do have a Type A personality, thankyouverymuch.

This year's themes are:

• Personal
• Family
• Friends
• Finances
• Professional
• Travel
• Health
• Community

Some of my favorite mini-goals within these themes are:

• Planning & hosting a "Friendsgiving" party in Minnesota next Thanksgiving
• Attend a math conference - NCTM (in Denver!) in April here I come!
• Master handstand to chaturanga in yoga without feeling like I am crashing back down to earth at rapid fire speed
• Go one month without coffee & one month without alcohol (obviously not the same month because HELLO - the goal of goals is to make them challenging yet attainable)

As I started to finish my goals, I realized there was more I wanted to do and more I could do to put myself on track for more joy and less fear, so I decided on having monthly goals as well. These are things I have long wanted to do/try but haven't made into goals due to the fear (told you, it's always there) of not being able to do them for an entire year. So in 2013 - I am starting with just 30 days. Or 28 days days as is the case with February, and you bet I thought about that when I picked it to be no alcohol month.  My months will look like this:

• January – No new clothes/shoes/accesories 
• February – No alcohol
• March – Vegetarian 
• April – No restaurant food 
• May – Farmers market 1x/week
• June – walk/run 2x/week 
• July – Volunteer 1x/week
• August – No coffee
• September – Yoga everyday
• October – Read everyday
• November – No bar food
• December - Random Acts of Kindness

I also have a complete list of my 2013 goals to hang in places like my bedroom, closet door, etc. However, in the recent weeks this discussion of goal-setting has sparked long, intense, crazy-soul-fulfilling conversations with friends and I don't think I will have any problems with accountability this year! In fact, several friends share some of my same goals and/or have goals of their own that I will be checking in with as well. I love it when like-minded people get together and kick things into action.

So with that, here's to making 2013 a year of JOY-filled moments.