Simple Resolutions

January has pretty much come and gone and as is tradition, we are to make resolutions. I hadn't made it a priority this New Years and kind of forgot about it. Didn't feel like it was a big deal. But then I realized that changing and resolving to be better is the point of this life, right? And it doesn't have to be anything big. Let's go with simple.

Better late than never.

My (not-so-grand) Resolutions for 2013:

1. Exercise 2-3 times a week
2. Reach $10,000 in savings
3. Apply to PA grad schools

All growing up, I was taught the importance of exercise ever since I can remember. Sincere kudos to my Dad! However my workouts have usually consisted of mainly running. And now I've decided that it's high time to start including strength training to my routine. I know that it is super important to include weight-bearing exercise especially for us women who have osteoporosis running in the family (woop, woop). So here is to vamping up my work out and pumping some iron! Cardio + strength training = best exercise.

For those of you who are familiar with Dave Ramsey, you may have heard of his "baby steps" to financial success. The first one is to get out of debt. Jonathan and I have been so blessed to graduate from college, both debt-free! Thank you to both sets of parents :) The second baby step is to put aside $10,000 worth of emergency savings. That way you are not only secured in case of an emergency, but you can get away with health insurance that has very low premiums. Although the deductible is a bit higher, you have the $10,000 saved and you are basically self-insured! If you aren't planning on having a bunch of medical bills in the near future, this will save you bunches of money on your premiums.

So that is what Jonathan and I are working towards now. $10,000 doesn't sound like too much money in today's terms, but when you are trying to save that amount of money, it is a lot! It will take us a while, but I think we can reach that goal within this year. A special thank you to my parents who gave us the online videos of Dave Ramsey's lectures from his "Total Money Makeover" bestseller! I felt so dumb when it came to grown-up stuff like insurance, premiums, deductibles, 401Ks, mutual funds, etc. But Dave explains it simply, shows you the math and how to save the most money! It was best to learn now so that Jonathan and I can start our lives together making good financial decisions.

P.S. I HIGHLY recommend everyone to either read this book or sign up for Dave Ramsey's online "Financial Peace University" program. It's all the same material. He is so much fun to listen to and it will honestly change your life!

And my final goal for this year is to apply to Physician Assistant graduate school. There are many great programs all over the country so I have been doing a lot of research- and still have much ahead of me. Little nerd like me, I am making a table to compare program length, cost, application deadlines, prerequisites, and other important info. Gosh, I forgot how much work applications take! That's why my goal isn't to get accepted to grad school necessarily (although that would be fantastic), but just to apply. Again, start simple.

I think that is what I have learned most from this past year. It's always the little things that we need to be consistent with in our lives that end up making the biggest difference. Here is a quote that I see multiple times everyday outside my boss's office:

"The secret to success is doing common things uncommonly well."

I don't know who said it, but I think they are right. It would be fantastic if I could invent or discover something revolutionary that would greatly impact humankind. But chances are, that's not going to happen; not that I'm not going to reach for that or dream big. That, I will still do. I think it's important to have faith and push yourself to the limit. Never shortchange yourself. But rather than measure my success on whether I do something extraordinary with my life or not, I would rather strive to be extraordinary. I am sure that I would look back on my life at that point and be much more satisfied with who I came to be and feel like I made my time on this Earth worth it.

I guess what I'm saying is, resolve to be extraordinary this year.