In 2018, I’ve made a pact to focus on my health, to keep more consciously saving money, and to pay attention to my mental wellness and happiness.

My first goal in this threefold yearly motto is to be healthier. This involves eating better, being active, and drinking more water. Wearing my fitbit each day helps me to do these things. The app allows me to track my sleep, exercise, and nutrition for any given day, and then compare the past days, weeks, or months. Comparing those times allows me to adjust and try harder to maintain the activity, food intake, and hours of sleep that I must get.

The wealth part of this mantra is not to become rich. I don’t really ever want to be rich. Too much spotlight, and taxes as a rich person must be horrible. But then again, a lot of rich people get away with avoiding taxes... so, maybe? Just kidding. I would only enjoy being comfortably able to afford the cost of living, food, clothes, and the costs of owning a dog or two. Life goals, right there.

The point of this second part is to save money. I tend to spend more than I plan to when I get my biweekly check. My goal is to save a more significant portion of my earnings each week to build up my savings for the future. Hopefully one day I hope to buy a house, because renting for the rest of my life does not sound appealing. Traveling is also a goal in the distant future, so I need to save for that too.

The third part entails my well-being, which includes being emotionally and mentally sound. I’m trying to focus on happiness, but not trying to constantly be happy. There's no way to achieve that. I'm thinking about being content where I am and where I've come from. I’m just talking about being happy with life, as in loving the life I live, and being okay with the not-so-good days.

I want to eliminate the toxic people from my life. They shouldn’t be allowed to stay and hurt me more than they have in the past. People who have decided to leave my past shouldn’t be allowed to waltz back into my life without good reason or genuine desire to do so. I’ve lived without them, though, so more often than not, I decide that I’m done with a certain person and better off without them in my life. Most of the time, these people have made days of my life miserable by the terrible ways they have treated me.

On the other hand, I want to treasure the few good friends that I’ve keep over the past few years. I want to thank them for sticking by me in good times and in bad, and always accepting for who I am and how I act. I know I’m not always the easiest to be friends with, and I’m thankful they’ve put up with my crap over the years. I appreciate their patience and abilities to forgive.

These goals won’t be easy to adhere to, but the challenge drives me. The desire for progress and being content in my every day life will keep me going.

What are you doing differently in 2018?