Fitness, Health and Happiness Goals: A Year in Review, 2016 Edition

December is a fun month. In addition to all of the wonderful celebrations, December carries with it the promise of yet another great year. January is coming, friends. Are you pondering your 2017 fitness, health and happiness goals? I am, too. And since I'm not quite ready to set them in stone just yet, I thought it would be fun to look back on my 2016 fitness, health and happiness goals.

Fitness
1) Do more yoga.
Success. I've been regularly attending the Tuesday morning Power Yoga class at my gym. I've noticed a huge difference both physically and mentally. I've also been playing a lot outside of class. Clearly I'm in love with arm balance poses.

2) Run the Fifth Third Riverbank Run 25K.
Major failure. I definitely did not do this. It remains on the bucket list.

3) Get my ACE Group Fitness certification.

Success. Finally. I spent the entire first half of the year studying for the exam, and the back half of the year praising God that it was over with. It wasn't hard, per se. But I spent a lot of my free time studying for it. I highly recommend the ACE Group Fitness certification. The American Council on Exercise is a great organization that's easy to work with.

Health
1) Get back to prepping meals and snacks.
Success. Not every week is perfectly planned out and/or prepped to perfection, but I'm certainly putting forth the effort. When I build my grocery list, I always try to have at least one make-ahead meal or snack on the list. Sometimes more.

2) Get my eyes checked.
Another major failure. Unless you count the eye test you take when you renew your driver's license. It's been so long! Yikes.

3) Explore essential oils.
Success. This girl is hooked on learning about oils.

Happiness
1) Return to my faith.
I'm still working on this. Faith isn't a perfect journey, and I think that's what makes it so beautiful. We all have our own way of believing in a higher power. It's a journey, one that I won't ever give up on. I have a few guided Bible studies at home, and am slowly working on them. I bought a Bible that can be doodled in, and have been doing that here and there as a method of relaxation:

This is a good time of year to find more time for Him. And, to slow down and do something that replenishes your soul because life is a barrel of #gogogo // #religion #faith #bible #prayer #reflection #biblelettering #biblejournaling

A photo posted by Tara (@adailydoseoffit) on Dec 12, 2016 at 12:48pm PST

2) Take time to relax—with and without my children.
I am constantly addressing my need to slow down. Case and point: Shutting down the blog for a few months. The whole "relax" thing will always be a struggle for me because there will always be a list of things that need to get done or people that need my attention, but I'm learning to recognize my own personal need for space and time in which to breathe. It's important, that whole self care thing. And I need to do more of it.

3) Spend less money on things so I can spend more money on experiences.
Damn you, Target. #thatisall

Question: How did you do on your goals this year? Is there anything on your list that didn't happen? How about an accomplishment you're really proud of?

SaveSave