My 2015 Goals: Stress Less & #ReadMore

A new year is upon us, which means that most people are thinking about their plans for the year ahead. While “New Year’s resolutions” may be clichéd, I can’t help but feel reinvigorated every January. The start of the new calendar year provides a convenient time to reassess my game plan, and the small lull of quiet that tends to descend after the frantic holiday season leaves me with a window of time to tackle new projects and goals.

This year, I’m taking the Kobo Reading Challenge and making more room in 2015 to sit down and read. One of my big goals for this year is taking better care of myself, and that includes building in more downtime. Having a little more time to sit down and flip through a book has been very enjoyable! With that, I’d like to share some of my other goals for 2015, along with some corresponding books to help inspire and motivate with each goal.

Kobo’s app has a handy “Collections” feature, which allows you to curate books on any theme you like. Since you can browse for free book previews, this is a really handy way to save a book you want to check out later. I can’t be the only one who will hear about an intriguing read, then think later, “What was the name of that book again?!” So with that, let me share a little more about my personal New Year’s resolutions and what you’ll find in my “2015 Goals” Kobo book collection:

• Eat Your Veggies: One thing I have always struggled with – even at the best of times – is eating enough veggies. I love vegetables, but I either forget to grab them, don’t have time to prep them, or find myself too full to eat all of recommended servings. So far this month, I’ve hit my goal every single day by getting pre-washed, pre-cut bags of veggies to keep on hand along with V-8 Juice. Vegan Cookbooks: 70 Of The Best Ever Delightful Vegetarian Lunch Recipes….Revealed! by Samantha Michaels looks like a fun resource for creative veggie recipes to try this year!
• Out With The Old: Another goal this year is to have a large family garage sale around June or July. 25 Easy Tips for a Profitable Garage Sale offers up advice on prepping for the big day – while having a garage sale is not always a small or easy project, it’s definitely worthwhile.
• Born to Run: One exercise I haven’t done since my knee injury is running. I used to love jogging on the beach, but I haven’t had the confidence to do so after my injury, which is understandable. Fortunately, I’m 100% healed and have a goal of jogging again by March of this year. To prepare, I’m doing daily strength training and cardio to ease back in –
  so Build Your Running Body: A Total-Body Fitness Plan For All Distance Runners, From Milers to Ultramarathoners — Run Farther, Faster, and Injury-Free looks like it could be an awesome resource to me!
• Catch Some Zzzs: In addition to being a longtime insomniac, I’m also an overachieving workaholic who always pushes myself to stay up late finishing projects – then will wake up early the next morning to continue working on them. I can’t run on a sleep deficit forever, so I’m finally drawing a line in the sand and rearranging my schedule to make sleep the top priority that needs to be. Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day: A Doctor’s Guide to Solving Your Sleep Problems by Robert Rosenberg, DO, FCCP, is all about this topic and I’m sure would be an interesting read. I just won’t read it before bed, because I always stay up late if I start a book before I go to sleep! 😉
• Live in The Present: Mindfulness meditation is a practice (Really, state of mind) that I want to continue pursuing this year. From what I’ve gathered, the best way to learn about mindfulness is just to do it – which, really, you could say of so many things. That being said, I find that reading about things I’m working on is a good way to keep my goals on my mind, since day-to-day real life has a way of overshadowing long term needs. Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a book I’ve had on my list for some time as it comes highly recommended.

Kobo has books available on virtually every topic, so no matter what your goals are this year, you’re bound to find something inspiring to read! And if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to make time for reading, Kobo invite you to take the Read More Challenge with this awesome giveaway: One winner will snag a $100 Kobo Gift Card to help them stock their virtual library in 2015. To get more details on the giveaway and enter for your chance to win, check out the widget below:

What are your goals for 2015? Which books do you plan to read?