I gave up making New Years Resolutions several years ago. They always seemed to be an exercise in futility. Like most people, I would start out with a bang and within a week or two; I was slowly creeping back into my old ways. I almost always wasted money buying something that ended up collecting dust. Then there was the emotion of guilt for a little bit, but eventually that passed and I would be right back where I started. Soooo, a few years ago, I made the decision, “No more New Years Resolutions” for me. It has been a good decision on my part, because for me change and moving forward is something we should always be doing as Believers anyhow.
As 2010 was coming to an end I did begin to take inventory on setting a goal I would like to accomplish in 2011, and I chose two that I thought were pretty good. One was for my spiritual wellbeing and the other was for my financial wellbeing. Now, I thought I was ready and had made good choices when in Women’s Bible Study; I was given the challenge of setting 5 goals for the New Year. I’m like, “What!!” Five! No way! “God are you sure about this, or is this something Pat came up with on her own??” The reason my flesh went there was because when we set goals we must keep a record or check in to see how we are doing. And 5 goals (at least 2 had to be spiritual) to me was too great a challenge and I didn’t want to take it on. So for a few days, I tried not to think about it, but in the inner most part of my being there was an unrest of sorts. That’s when I decided to stop fighting and go with the flow. I wonder how many others felt that way when she gave this challenge to all her classes. ~Smile~
Okay, so now I have my goals and a plan to check in with myself each week to see how I did. I chose Friday evening because I’m usually home resting. It is my chill and distress night from my busy week. At first I started out looking at the things I had not accomplished, but then I came to my senses and said to myself, “Self, you are looking at this all wrong.” Yeah, I got that from Patsy Clairmont…she talks to “self” all the time…LOL!!! And I began to weigh all that I had done versus the weeks before and guess what girls? That’s right. I did pretty darn good! Is there room for improvement? Of course, but the bottom line was that I did move forward and that is all that really matters.
I think as women one of the main reasons we fail at our New Years Resolutions or Goals is that we heap on unrealistic expectations and we are too hard on ourselves when it comes to the checks and balances. We have the tendency to look at “what we didn’t do” versus “what we did do”. I broke my 5 goals into 2 spiritual, 2 personal and 1 for others. One of my personal goals is “taking better care of me”. That consists of eating better, more exercise, a weekly facial, manicure, and pedicure. Beefing up my social life by getting out, having more company over, and hanging out with friends. On my Friday check in, I also have to take a look at what was going on during the week so if I didn’t do well, I can pinpoint why not? Well, I must say, “I didn’t do as well as I would have liked on this particular goal.” But as I looked at my overall week, meeting a writing deadline really took the first priority. Once I could pinpoint the “why” there was no need to beat myself up because I could see what was going on. Saturday my girlfriend is taking me out to celebrate my birthday, and next week I have a dinner date with an old friend on Thursday. Wednesday evening I have scheduled time for me to give myself a nice facial and get my hair cut by Friday. God willing I will get to go out as planned and do some of the other things for myself. But if I don’t achieve everything that will be okay too, because if I only accomplish one thing, it will mean that I am still moving forward.
Sisters, if you are starting to peter out already on your New Years Resolutions, I want to encourage you to maybe rethink them as goals and have a check and balances with yourself each week, looking at what you have done, versus what you didn’t!
Don’t give up and keep moving forward girls!!
Love & Hugs
Ponnie
See you tomorrow!
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