2016: Getting Ready

23 Comments

The past year was the year of the unexpected. In all aspects of my life, I was bent on simply cultivating and deepening relationships, and becoming an even better mentor for my direct reports at work. I was also going to try to be a good wife. A better friend, a more present family member. I was also going to take better care of myself.

But things progressed at work faster than I could ever have imagined. After a wonderful trip to my personal heaven (Sagada) with my Team (and Mr A of course) to close out the first quarter of the year, I immediately had to leave them to build another one. And that kind of took over my life. Or I used it as an excuse not to really work hard on the hundred and one other things I wanted to carry out in 2015.

The good thing is that we are given a clean slate every single day when we wake up. We can do better, we can be better. We can take the lessons from yesterday, tuck the experience under our belt, and start fresh. And start stronger than before.

So that’s what we’re doing this year, Mr A and I. We want to get pregnant, but we know that we’re probably not ready yet. We’re slobs, overweight, and we can be very selfish too. So this year is all about getting ourselves ready to get pregnant. Maybe it will take more than this year before we get the baby we’re praying for, but we’re going to prepare.

Getting Ready - Newbie Wife and Mr A

Getting Ready – Newbie Wife and Mr A

Health and Fitness is a big theme for our year. Mr A is going to try to cook with a little less fat, and a bit more veggies. We are  also trying to move more. He gave me a Fitbit Charge for Christmas to help get me more interested in getting up and around. I want something we could do together but he doesn’t want to do Zumba with a class. Now I don’t think simply signing up with a gym membership will work for us because I think that we’ll need personal trainers and that can get really expensive. So he came up with the idea to do dance lessons instead. I’m not taking him seriously on that though, not until we get into a studio and actually start dancing! So for starters, we just really need to be more active.

Emergency Fund. I wish I could say that it’s the time for investments, but it isn’t yet for us. A year after getting married, we’ve done an okay job keeping our finances in order. We’ve cut down our debts, and we got a new car. We need more security though, specially if we’re to add a wee little baby to this family of three (we got a puppy in October!).  So this year, we’re going to stick to our guns and save more to setup that cushion around us. We’re going to have to be really creative here. Hmm.

Now those are two major areas that we’re concentrating on for now. Of course there are others, like getting better at keeping the house in order and not just for when my parents come home for the weekend. We also need to get a better flow so we can spend quality time despite having very different shifts and days off work. We also need more specific, actionable, and measurable plans. I’m going to have to do my best to write about that. I know that getting things published somehow helps Mr A and I a bit more accountable.

A few months ago, I voiced out how we perhaps needed to find a new common hobby. Years ago we had Photography; and there’s always the love of food, and movies. But we needed a new one we could bond over, and spend meaningful time together for. Talking about getting ready and aligning our goals for the year feels like IT. So maybe this will really work this time around.

From Mr A and I, Happy New Year! For married folks out there, what are your Couple Goals for this year?