It is hereby resolved:

I have always thought of my life in terms of school years. Perhaps it's a childhood habit that I never grew out of, or perhaps that's just the reality of a career in education. Whatever the reason, I very rarely find myself making resolutions for the new calendar year. Instead, I greet each new school year with fresh ideas, pledging that this year I will get more sleep (ha ha) or drink less coffee (yeah right) or whatever the case may be.

Since it's August, it's resolution time again, and here's what's on tap for the 2012-2013 school year:

- More quiet time with God
As a single person, I had a pretty consistent routine of reading the Bible and writing in my journal before going to bed. That routine has fallen by the wayside since getting married. Married life is great; now I want to find the "new normal" for when I can have my quiet time. I also want to find a way that works for Aaron and I to have devotional time together, whether it's through Bible study or a book or just praying together.

- More time to write
Believe it or not, I miss blogging. I miss that feeling of coming home with stories to share or crazy observations about life to put out into the internet void. I will probably never blog with the frequency that I did during my grad school summers, but I love writing and want to get back to it.

- More positives, less negatives
One of the things we've talked about a lot in my counseling sessions is the idea of positive self-talk. As I've walked down this road of depression and anxiety, I've learned a lot about how my internal dialogue can have a dramatic impact on my mental health. This year will be every bit as busy and crazy as every other year; I just want to approach the insanity with a different mindset.

- Less clutter
This one's a more concrete goal. It's about my house. It's a mess. It's not always a mess, and some parts of it are messier than others, but if you suddenly stop hearing from us, it might be because the clutter finally took over. I know I'm never going to have a spotless house. But I'd like to feel less encumbered by STUFF.

Speaking of which...

My plan is to share with you some before-and-after pictures of our clutter as a way of holding myself accountable. It's going to be a long-term project. There's definitely too much to tackle in one sitting. But hopefully by the end of the school year things will be in a bit better shape than they are now.

And with that, I must go for now. Perhaps another time I can share tales of our summer adventures hither and yon...