"It’s easy to love yourself when your body is changing in the direction that society deems best," said fellow blogger Megan.  I love having goals. I’m a results driven person and having goals allows me to feel like I’m making progress. Self-love, when losing weight or making progress towards a certain aesthetic goal, is easy to talk about. But what happens when you stop making that progress and when your body no longer fits the mold that society deems you to be “fit”. Self-love seems to be the number one term tossed around all of 2017 but do we really know what it means? #selflove involves treating yourself with the same compassion, kindness, concern, and support you would show a good friend. When faced with difficult life struggles, mistakes, and failures its responding with kindness rather than harsh self-judgment. I exercised that to the fullest this year and some days was a harder practice for me and other days I was a warrior armed with self-love and grace.

When I started this fitness journey, my intention was to become a healthier and happier version of myself. However for a period of time, my training was no longer for me, it was to keep up and maintain a certain body image and the pressure I placed on myself to keep this up became all-consuming. It started to become aesthetically driven (the opposite of why I started this journey) and that’s OK…it happens to the best of us. We learn we grow, and we become better versions of ourselves because of these lessons. They mold me into who I am today.

Reconnecting with my creative side in the kitchen, eating more plant-based meals, and getting outside more are also on top of the list! I'm leaving 2017 feeling extremely grateful for all the amazing memories and hard lessons of truth its shown me and walking into 2018 feeling powerful beyond measure. 

My goals for 2018 are broken down into areas that I consider attribute to my overall health: physical goals, relationships, career, spirituality, creativity, and nutrition. Here are a few of my goals for next year. 

Physical + Nutrition Goals

1. Resistant/weight training 4x/week

2. Do a handstand pushup. (since my shoulder injury I haven't been able to do these so I'm looking to get my strength and stability up)

3. Get creative in the kitchen/cook more.

Relationships

1. Call my family more often and tell them "I love you."

2. Date my husband at least twice a month.

3. Take my daughters out on girl dates more often.

4. Quarterly meet-ups with my local fitness/wellness community and friends.

Career

1. Be more consistent about writing blog posts.

2. Get started on that book idea.

New Skills/Creativity

1. Get comfortable with video editing (Hello YOUTUBE)

2. Build a garden in your new backyard.

Other

1. Become financially fit and hire a team who can help: CPA and financial advisors.

2. Become closer to being debt free. 

These are just a few of my goals. What are your goals for 2018? Name one of each below.