Monday, January 11, 2016

I Wish Every Day Could be Like.....New Year’s Day

Happy New Year! It’s 2016! For starters, I think it’s gonna be great because it’s an even number and I like even numbers. (I’m not crazy-my friend shared the same feeling last night!)

I just love how the New Year brings such a fresh feeling, one of a blank slate and empowerment that THIS will be the year you do all the “things” that make you feel like you’re reaching your full potential. Living life to the fullest. (You know….all those things that started sliding through the cracks about March of last year.)  There’s really NOTHING different about a new year, it’s just advancement on the calendar of time. But for some reason a fresh set of 365 days makes us hopeful, helps us start anew. I’m not a different person than I was on December 31st,  just a more optimistic version. 

So along with the masses, I took my head full of dreams and cheerfully headed to Target with my toddler (who let me tell you-LIVES LIFE TO THE FULLEST EVERY DAY) to get a new planner. A BIGGER planner.  (Mainly because my to-do list each day is now longer as a mommy.) And I just loved the blank pages in the back where I planned to put my 2016 GOALS so I could continually refresh myself of my new and improved lifestyle. So I started penciling in what I wanted those goals to be. I decisively began with four columns: Faith, Personal, Mommy, Marriage. I started with the “big” ones:
  • Complete daily bible study lesson
  • More prayer/quiet time
  • FINISH reading the entire Bible (um, I started this one year mission in 2012!)
  • Volunteer more
  •  Blog more
  • Work out at least twice a week (People, I actually DID THIS last week!)
  • Pray for Greyson more
  • PLAY with Greyson more (Like intentional play time, not just keep him distracted)
  • Pray for my hubby more
  •  Pray WITH my hubby more
  • Go on more dates with hubby
For some reason all this sounded doable, so as I thought of additional goals, I’d add them to the list. Then it started to get out of hand…….
  • More intentional 1:1 time with friends (not to interfere with the increased quiet time, volunteering, and date time with my hubby
  •   Keep a cleaner car (clear out the 72 water bottles and empty squeezables)
  •    Clear my photo stream so I can UPDATE MY PHONE!
  • Stay updated on printing said pictures on my phone (because, one day I’m gonna start scrapbooking again, right?)
  •  Clean out closet & dresser
  • Keep house clean (but not TOO clean, because that would mean I’m not having intentional play time with Greyson)
  •   Clean out office space (to do more blogging in…..duh...)
  • Go to bed earlier (After this list, how the heck do you think I’m gonna do that?!)


Lawd have mercy, I’m already exhausted after just typing my list. So far today, I told my phone to “Remind Me Later” about updating; I ate M&M’s WITH my hot chocolate, and whispered an angry prayer to have more patience with my husband. But I did hit the button on the Roomba and let her sweep the floor, so I have somewhat cleaned the house, right? Geez.

But ya know what…it’s hard to be discouraged. At first, looking at my messy (again) kitchen makes me defeated, and well, tired. But it reminds me that I had homemade beignets with my husband and son this morning. The fact that I can’t update my phone is because there are so many photos of my darling family. I didn’t go to bed early last night because I had a super fun night out with my girlfriends. The reason the office is a mess is because we finally moved back in after a horrible house fire last year and months of renovations. And let’s go big picture…those water bottles in my car… mean I have clean water to drink..

Goals are great-they give us a sense of direction and it feels so accomplishing to meet your goals. BUT-instead of feeling discouraged-or like I’m falling short-I need to focus on being THANKFUL even when I don’t measure up to my expectations. God tends to disguise blessings in failure, shortcomings…..and yes, even messy kitchens.


HAPPY NEW YEAR

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