I won’t lie, 2013 wasn’t the best year for meeting my resolutions as stated in this post.  But, life changed and I lost focus…for a good reason.  After deciding that I wanted to go on a long vacation (9+ weeks), I made that my number one priority.  It’s not a great excuse at all because most of the food I wanted to eliminate from my life could have easily been done even with the distractions of planning my trip.  But, I didn’t stay focused.

I wanted to eliminate soda, my morning croissant, fast food, cheese, and processed food.  Let’s face it…that was probably destined for disaster from the beginning.  That’s a whole lot of change.  I started out great and even kept my promise of eliminating my morning croissant.  The rest…well…I might have done better than previous years, but I definitely wasn’t successful.

Energy Drains

As the year progressed I made a few more goals that I was able to stay more focused on.  In my post about Emotional Energy Drains, I wanted to get over the constant drain of…

…the housework that seemed to stack up.  I now have a monthly housekeeping.  It’s not a huge amount of help, but it keeps the housework from “sucking the life out of me”.

…the fall yard work.  So, I got out there one weekend and slammed through it.  Now the yard is in pretty good shape for spring.

…the dogs being home alone and causing terror.  This one I didn’t quite solve, although I have a temporary plan in place.  It’s back on the list for 2014.

…completing my 2013 work goals.  Since I’d be gone for the last part of the year, completing my goals was stacking up.  I successfully got them completed and even ahead of the required deadline.

…completing the planning of my trip.  Well obviously that is complete since the trip is complete, but I hunkered down in the couple of weeks leading up to my trip and got the last details complete.  It was nice having a week or so before I left where I didn’t have any huge decisions to make.

Absolute Yeses

And, what about my Absolute Yes List?  I didn’t come up with my list until October, so I knew it would carry-over to 2014 (and likely beyond).  I didn’t have my list handy when I came up with my goals for 2014, but now without a doubt I know what made the list are my “yeses”.  My 2014 list echoes the list completely.  Here are my absolute yeses…

• Health and Fitness
• Debt Free
• Independent Income
• Blogging and Writing
• Photography
• Travel Frequently

The Final Outcome for 2013

While I certainly didn’t fare well with the “foods I wanted to eliminate” I still feel great about my accomplishments for the year.  I feel even better about what’s to come for 2014.  I’ll share my thoughts and goals for that in my next post.

How was 2013 for you?