The 365 Day Project

I am feeling particularly reflective today – it’s the first day of the second half of the new year, and I feel that calls for new beginnings. A time for new resolutions, new hopes and new inspiration. A 365 Day Project. 

For the past five years I’ve spent New Years Day running a holiday camp on the South Coast and in that time of craziness, intensity and being surrounded by people, it’s hard to find time to find a quiet space to reflect, relax and get into a rhythm that’s brought in by the promise of a new year and a fresh start. But today, I feel ready to lay down some resolutions, some things that I want to tick off over the next twelve months and some goals to achieve and I need you to keep me accountable! I’m now going to see Sundays as the beginning rather than the end of my week – a chance for a fresh start and new inspiration. Join me on this journey as I list 20 things to have experienced, achieved and learnt by June 30, 2013.

1. Read my BIBLE 5 days a week – (“don’t Christians read their bible every day?!” – well yeah, that would be ideal, but right now I’mbeing super honest and saying this has been a struggle for me for the past year. So to read it 5 days a week would be super! I’m obviously not going to stop at 5 if I manage to do it 7 times!!)

2. Blog 3 times a week – unsurprisingly, this has also been a struggle, but I’m passionate about writing and therefore passionate about getting back into a rhythm with my posts! I’m going to blog about fulfilling this list, my adventures overseas, and my thoughts about the aid and development sector and student leadership.

3. Go to the GYM 3 times a week – I’ve got the gym membership – now it’s time to get accountable and make my money worth it! I’ve never done this before either, but to be accountable I need to be honest and I need to set some goals. By December 31 2012, I want to have lost 10 kilos, and then another 10 kilos by June 30, 2013. Who’s with me?!

4. Find a mentor – This has been an underlying goal for me for the year, and I’m ready to make it happen. I want someone that can be honest with me, tell me the hard stuff and motivate me as I grow into the woman of God that He designed me for.

5. Host monthly dinners for newbies at church – we’re seriously being blessed with so many new young people at our church, but it’s rare for people our age to have their own place that they can open up to others (bar having Mum & Dad walking around in the background). Navin and I hope this is a way we can begin to serve our community by offering up our home and dinner table as a place for rich conversations and friendship.

6. Learn 24 new dishes – we’ve now been married for 4.5 months and it’s been too easy to stick to my comfortable recipes – spaghetti bolognese, butter chicken and beef stir-fry – it’s time to be adventurous! I’m going to learn how to cook 2 new dishes each month, and blog about them here.

7. Learn a dish featuring DUCK – on Friday night my mother-in-law cooked us duck and it was fabulous. I want to venture out there and cook with meats I’ve never used before. Julie and Julia style, I’m going to learn a difficult dish that features duck, and cook it WELL! As Julia Child would say Bon Appetit! 

8. Read the ENTIRE Bible  – it’s time I finally achieve this challenge that I’ve started and fallen short from so many times. As part of my 1st resolution, I’m going to read through the entire bible in a year. It’s time I ventured out of the New Testament and into the Old Testament world of wars, long genealogies and some beautiful love stories.

9. Find a mentee  – the reverse of resolution 4, I’d like to mentor a younger girl because it was so beneficial for me to have some real, honest and positive mentors in my life as I was finishing high school and going through university. Will be praying about who that person may be!

10. Learn conversational French – really, I should be able to speak conversational French by now – 7 years in primary schools, 4 years in high school and 2 years in university, it’s time I got confident about speaking in French!!!

11. Learn basic Nepali – Nepal is my favourite country I’ve travelled to, and it’s my hope that Navin and I will have the opportunity to travel back there one day, hopefully for an extended period of time. To facilitate this, I want to start learning Nepali! I’ve got the kit so I just need to start! 30 words a month, one for every day 🙂

12. Amp up my blog hits – I started this blog about 2 months ago and have not only been slack about posting but also slack about promoting – it’s time to amp up the blog hits. I want 2000 hits by December 31, 2012 and 5000 hits by June 30 2013. Please keep coming back to read! 😉

13. Go skydiving – I was given this experience for my birthday and I just need to book it in and go! This is definitely going to happen before the end of 2012.

14. Take a photo of myself every day for a year – this one may be a bit egotistical, but I’ve always been intrigued by those Youtube videos of people that have taken photos of themselves every day for an extended period of time. It’s my aim to have the discipline to do this between today and June 30, 2013.

15. Celebrate my 1 year anniversary with Navin somewhere NEW – whether overseas or in Australia, I want to celebrate our first year with new experiences  – a new place, with new food, new tunes but the same friend that I’m going to grow old with 🙂

16. Run the City 2 Surf – Last year I walked it, this year I’m going to run it. I’m determined to get fit and run, jog, power walk all of the City 2 Surf this year. With about 6 weeks to go, it’s time to get training!!! Lucky this fits in with resolution 3 🙂

17. Read a novel a month – ideally, I’d love to read more, but let’s start with something achievable. I’m still yet to find a novel that knocks my socks off more than The Book Thief. I’m ready to be challenged!

18. Read Jane Austen’s anthology – not to be included in resolution 17, I want to read all of Jane’s work this year, coupled with my Jane Austen devotional, I’m going to learn how to be a godly woman from love stories that have transcended centuries.

19. Go on a road trip – I want to pack the car after work and just head off for the weekend! North or South, I want to experience little seaside towns, their quirky markets, delicious food and beautiful scenery.

20. Date night once a month – it’s amazing how quickly the days, and then months go by before you look at each other and say “When did we last go out for dinner and really talk?!” For the next 12 months I want to try a new restaurant, each a different cuisine with Navin. There will definitely be blogs about this too.