Happy Holidays and 2018 Goals

Happy Holidays, everyone! I waited until after Christmas to write this post because I wanted to share my goals for 2018 with my husband, family and friends as I need their support for these things to happen. I am now ready to share these goals with you. My 2018 goals are as follows:

1. Find my way to church again. Many years ago I stopped going to church for personal reasons, one that I am not comfortable sharing here but let me say that some things happened in my life that pulled me away from church. Over the past 6 months, I started to read a devotional almost daily and started talking to Andrew and the kids about church and Jesus. One of our goals for 2018 as a family is to allow church back into our lives. We are so looking forward to this commitment as a family.
2. Stop worrying about every0ne else and focus on family. The twins are starting to get to an age where they are noticing if I am on my computer or phone and have even made comments to Andrew and I about putting our phones away. In the evenings, we will be focusing strictly on family starting in the new year. Life is way too short to worry about the unimportant things and start focusing on what matters the most and that is the people you love. A friend of mine lost a friend of hers earlier this year to cancer and it made me realize that life is really short and you never know when it could be taken away from you anytime. I want to spend this time that I have with my family and focus on the true meaning of love and family. Without my family, I would not be the person I am today. Without love of my husband, my family and my friendships, I would not be the woman I am today. I have had many struggles over the years but because of these people, I am the best version of me that I can be and I want to embrace that and focus on my family more than anything else.
3. Focusing on a healthier me. In 2016-2017, I gave up taking Adderall and for me that was really hard. I had taken it for years and I can honestly say that removing that from my life has been extremely challenging but one of the most rewarding moments in my life. See Adderall for me did make me focus but it also caused anxiety, depression and made me make decisions in previous years that I am not proud of, since I have removed that pill from my life I have found true happiness within myself and I am on the road to the healthiest I have ever been. I was taking it to help me focus, yes, but I also took it because I wanted to not eat and be 100 pounds. Then one day it hit me, I was only hurting myself in the end. If I wanted to live to see my kids grow up, I had to seriously have a come to Jesus talk with myself and my husband. He was very supportive and together I can say I am clean of that pill and very proud of it. I had to step back and realize I am never going to weight 105 pounds again and I can honestly say I am happy about that decision. I also started beachbody, and have introduced shakeology into my daily routine. Andrew and I drink it almost daily and it truly is amazing. I want to continue that commitment of a healthier lifestyle.
4. Continue focusing on giving back. In 2017 one of my goals was to give back and volunteer. I can honestly say I have done that and I am so proud of myself but there is so much more to do. When I decided to compete in the Mrs. Texas 2018 pageant, I knew this would be the best opportunity to start giving back and volunteering again. I can honestly say this has changed my life. I am a different person because of the things I was able to accomplish in 2017. I have found my true passion and that is volunteering. My platform is human trafficking and/or sexual exploitations awareness. My focus is awareness and keeping communities engaged and citizens involved in ending sex trafficking. I have also included a page on ways to give back here.
5. Blogging is a lot of fun for me but it stresses me out too, so instead of taking weeks off and then blogging a bunch one week, I am going to blog on Wednesdays. There will be times that I am going to blog more but I am giving you my commitment that you will see posts then. I will share my experiences, fashion, giving back, the road to pageantry, etc.
6. Be the best version of myself for the upcoming pageant that I am competing in which is in May. No matter what happens at the end of the pageant,  I want to walk away knowing I gave the best version of myself I could.
7. Last but not least, look back at 2018 and be proud of myself for accomplishing all my goals.

I hope you will continue to follow me in 2018. I have appreciated every single person who has followed me, supported me and even questioned me. I value each one of you more than you will ever know and I love you all. I wish each of you the best 2018 and Cheers to a new year!!!

xo,

HO