It’s that time of year again, the time when people make resolutions, or in my case, goals. I’ve never been known to make resolutions, but I do like to make a list of goals for myself for things that I want to accomplish throughout the year. However, the start of a new year is not the only time I make goals for myself – I actually do this at least a few times a year. When I do make my goal list, I like to look at what I have accomplished so far and see if I need to make any adjustments to my current goals or add new ones. I see this as a list that evolves with me and what I feel is important.

Of course though, my list always includes goals that are health-related. Actually, that is what most of my goals have been in the last few years, but this year I am trying something a little different. While I do have some health goals on my list and will continue to work towards those, this year I want to put a little more focus on some goals that are not health-related.

As many of you know, SparkPeople can help you with your health goals, but it can expand to so much more into other areas of your life, which can actually contribute to your overall well-being! So, as I work toward my non-health-related goals, I will be using SparkPeople’s tools and resources to help me reach them.

For now, I am starting out with some smaller goals and will work my way up to some bigger goals. I will be adding these goals on my Other Goals page and to my SparkStreaks page to help me keep track of how well I’m doing with them.

So, what are my non-health-related goals? Well, I currently have two that I am working on (like I said, I am starting small):

1. Read (for pleasure) at least 1 hour per week.
2. Go out at least a couple of days a week and take photos just for fun.

Sure, you must be thinking, well those aren’t typical goals. That’s okay, they don’t have to be - they are specific to my needs and what I want to accomplish this year. These small goals will help me de-stress and have fun all at the same time, which will help with my overall well-being. Also, I miss reading for fun. I spend a lot of time reading things that I need to, but I somehow forget to take the time to read for fun. I have also found a great passion in photography. I continue to grow as an artist as I get more experience with taking photos for others, but I also want to go out and just take photos that are simple, but creative and fun – no other purpose besides enjoying the “me time” that I can get when taking photos.

In addition to those goals, I do have one other goal that I will be adding later on this year (once my finger is completely healed), which is to continue learning to play the guitar. I started that up a while back and as life got busier, I stopped practicing, and of course, then I broke my finger a few months ago.

While these goals are simple, they are still challenging for me since I usually run out of time for myself, aside from working on my health-related goals. Not having that personal time can make a person feel run down and not as happy overall. So while they are non-health-related goals by themselves, they do affect my overall happiness and well-being. If you ask me, it’s completely a win-win set of goals in which I look forward to reaching!


So tell me, how often do you set goals and/or re-evaluate your goals? Will you join me and set up some non-health-related goals this year? If so, let us know what they are!