29+12

1 - conquer my anxiety, or at least win a few battles against it.  considering the craziness the holidays can bring, i felt relatively calm.  i think my anxiety had to take a back seat to my head cold right before christmas as i laid low and tried to get well before the holiday season took over.

2 - be more thoughtful of others, especially around special occasions. i hope that everyone liked my gifts for christmas, i feel pretty good about that what i chose to give (apart from the gift card overload for one brother because no one ever knows what to get him).  having spent the past weekend at a wedding, i feel that those around me knew how important they are, it really was lovely.

3 - continue making visiting family and friends a priority.  as much as i want to visit friends and family who live in different places, i now have a spare room and a sofa bed to welcome guests!  

4 - nail down some sort of short-term career goals.  i have deemed 2011 the year of the life plan.  a year where i hope i find my next path that will provide me with direction towards a goal.  i am still debating about a potential career opportunity and mainly because i am still struggling to answer the question where do i want to be? and what do i want to do?

5 - lay a nest egg to accompany my nest.  not planning international travel makes it a little easier on the budget.  christmas was pricey in some regards, but i am starting 2011 with a small nest egg and some organisation around my finances, although there is certainly a long way to go and a lot for me to learn.

6 - eat more balanced, regular meals. i have not been cooking too often as there have been so many meals to be eaten with friends and family recently, but they have been pretty stellar and i have eaten well, if not made the healthiest choices...  in my post-new years day wedding hangover, i ate wendy's today and as i was dipping a chip in ketchup, i realised that i also had chips with a burger yesterday afternoon for lunch!  whoops.    

7 - sleep an appropriate amount. while battling my pre-hoilday illness, i slept a lot.  i think it helped.  and it was quite lovely not to wake up to an alarm to be in the office during my recent staycation.  i am not one to make new year's resolutions or to believe the new year really begins in january (i still contend that the year turns over and new beginnings happen in the fall), i think that getting my life in order is at the top of my list.  less going out, better sleeping patterns, and making sure that early mornings are not a rarity but a regular occurrence.

8 - maintain my priorities.  i have enjoyed a slower december and like i just said in #7, i am going to get my life better organised in hopes that it will bring clarity of what 2011 will be about.  and more importantly, what i want it to be about.  i guess i have not so much maintained my priorities, but set myself up to nail down some priorities.

9 - keep asking for what i want.  i applied to go to new york in february with unicef for training and the first email that i got on new years day was confirmation that i have been selected to participate!  i suppose that is a pretty good way to kick off the new year.  but what is most important is that i need to do better at figuring out what i want to ask for.  that is what 2011 will be about.  or so i hope!