It's officially 2012 and time for those New Year's Resolutions. Last year, I wrote a post about my goals for the year and enjoyed checking in on it every few months

to remember what I was thinking and feeling the previous January. In the spirit of another year of fun, I decided to do it again.

This year I used the amazing book, The On-Purpose Person, as a guide to set my goals for 2012.The book helps you identify goals in 8 major areas of your life: Spiritual; Financial; Mental/ Intellectual/ Educational; Physical/ Health/Recreational; Relationships; Social/Community; Vocational/Career/Work; and Other. I wrote a post on what being on purpose means as well.

The On Purpose person suggests that you revisit your top wants in each category once a quarter. So, for Q1 of 2012, my goals and top wants are as follows:

Spiritual: My top Spiritual want, since I'm of the Christian faith, is to honor God's commandments.

Financial: My financial goal was and remains to stay out of debt. I try to be reasonable and fiscally responsible every day. I hope to continue this trend through 2012.

Mental/Intellectual/Emotional: I learned a lot in the last few years about what it means to guard your heart. I have a tendency to be a bit naive, and am learning daily to guard my heart in a healthy, positive way. For that reason, my top want in this category is to guard my heart, for from there flows the well of life.

Physical/Health/Recreational: Last year proved a little challenging in the health department because I had a knee injury that lasted about 7 months. It's well now, and my goal here is to be completely healthy through sleeping, exercising, eating well and honoring my body.

Relationships: Last year I read a revolutionary book that I've mentioned a few times called The 5 Love Languages. It was so easy to understand and apply, and this year I want to do my best to keep practicing the five love languages in all my relationships. What is your primary love language?

Social/Community: Last year I also had some revelations about the company you keep. I had befriended a few people that I really shouldn't have. You'd think that wouldn't happen as a grown up the way it can for a high school student. I made a decision to regroup my friendships, and I chose to let some people go. Continuing along that theme, my goal in this department is to re-establish and grow quality friendships.

Vocational/Career/Work: Last year proved to be a little rocky in the work sector and I went through a couple of job changes, though I also had some wonderful amazing experiences along the way. I do hope for stability in this area and aim primarily to grow my leadership skills.

Other: This one repeats my Relationships goal, to practice the 5 love languages in my closest relationships.

I feel ready for a new year and a new beginning. 2011 was full of highs and lows. So much of it was out of my control, which tends to be the way of life. I just hope and pray that 2012 brings with it a sense of security, peace, and stability.

What are your goals for 2012, and how will you meet them? You can!