January 2020 has come and gone. It was a long month yet a flash of time when I think about the list of goals I'm working on. I won’t ask you anxiety-inducing questions that I can’t bear to deal with myself. Things that start off with
“how much did you...”
“How many times have you...”
“Did you finish...”
“You should be on step two by now.”
“What’s next on the list?”
During this time of the year, everyone from the coworker in passing to the lady ringing up my groceries has questioned "Any new year resolutions?". The minute that questions hits I feel like I’m at an interview and fumbling to explain a gap on my resume. It feels like if I don’t have one I don’t care about forward movement in my life. I know that mostly the questioning is harmless. it's just that time of year where resolutions reign king. If you do not stay in the game until January 31st it can feel like your year is trashed. Throw it all down the drain. If I’m honest, I don't know if I’ve ever set a resolution for myself that I followed past twenty-one days, which is why I decided to look at things differently.
I have this really bad habit of trying to change myself overnight. I can be extremely critical of my growth and how much hasn't been achieved instead of focusing on the things that I have. With each new calendar year, I would think up a billion things that would make me a better me. A me that would instantly be everything I hadn't been at 6 pm on December 31st. Resolutions seem like things I know I'm going to break. They are very stepping on a crack break your mothers back to me while trying to walk on cobblestone, a setup for failure. With each new year, I felt more and more defeated by not keeping up with certain things.
This past year I began to write more things down. I not only wrote them down but I made the list visible. I put it somewhere that I would see on a daily. It assisted remarkably in me not feeling like I had once again withered away a season of life. What needed work was right before me, literally. When I awoke in the morning the list was there. When I applied my face lotion at night the list placed next to my bed was a reminder to not only work for those things but to pray as I laid down at night. I have found my sweet spot and what works for me. Slowly working my way away from the alarming unhealthy habit of setting all of these resolutions that were never really able to be kept by anyone.
Find your sweet spot,
•Set a few goals for yourself. (think measurable, think reasonable, BUT don’t be too hard on yourself)
•Write them down. Place them somewhere you can see. On a mirror, in your car, maybe even a sticky note in your wallet wrapped around your debit card if saving money is one of your focuses.
•Tell a friend. We all need someone who can be a cheerleader when we win and a piece of sound advice when we are not going after what we sought out to do.
May this year be filled with you taking little steps towards your big goals and may it feel easier to do with each passing day because you have a game plan.