Have your goals taken a detour?

Guess what? So have mine! Let’s see if we can find our goals along the detour and refocus our intentions for 2019!

If you’re looking for answers, I don’t have them. But here are some of my thoughts about my experience this month regarding my goals. And I can assure you that you still have time to work towards those resolutions, be intentional, embrace those words, or whatever you do at the start of the year.

Each day is another opportunity to extend grace to yourself (and others). That includes those goals on a detour. You could see the detour as an extra opportunity to embrace the adventures and goodness in life…

My hubby and I decided to make our New Year’s intentions known, and we started WAY early–on Dec. 30th! We were more prepared to set resolutions than we’ve ever been before in our five years of marriage. There was even a dry erase board involved! 🙂 We spent a glorious afternoon reflecting on 2018 and dreaming about the upcoming year, and being honest and open with one another about what we would realistically like to do. #teamworkmakesthedreamwork

It’s now Feb. 18th, so it’s probably a good time to take out those beautiful lists and remind ourselves about what we said we were going to do…

As I wrote about in my last post, one activity that we launched in to doing was tidying up our house. THAT WAS NOT ONE OF OUR GOALS. Having a snowstorm helped us decide to do this, along with the charming encouragement of Marie Kondo.  I had been stuck in the house for a while leading up to that weekend due to a lingering head cold, so I was sick and tired of being sick and tired–and I was ready for action!

We didn’t intend for tidying up to jump to the top of our list of to do’s in 2019, though it was much overdue. And what about the goals that were actually on our list? Where do you begin? According to Marie Kondo, you begin with clothes. My initial thought is to just DO ALL THE THINGS, ALL at once.

Then, reality sets in.

And then, those piles of “keep” clothes have overstayed their welcome in that corner of the bedroom. But I am SO close to finishing Phase 1!!

Why does it take me ages to finish simple tasks at times, preventing me from working on the real goals? Or, should I see those activities as the pre-goal coursework, or perhaps goals that the universe has revealed to me? 😉 Maybe it’s because emotions (including my confidence when faced with challenges) seem to be affected by our home environment (meaning all our stuff), or vice versa.  I usually don’t recognize how much they are connected until there has been a drastic change in my surroundings or if I’m feeling overwhelmed by life in general. My home environment is something that I can ignore  because of a busy schedule paired with avoidance of clutter–spot cleaning and closing doors–so I can spend my free time reading books or watching Netflix.

That works great. Until it doesn’t.

Of course, there are many other factors and experiences that can influence how we respond to a particular obstacle, including more serious needs, but I’m just giving a few examples that come to mind.

My best intentions can be thwarted, guiding me on a detour in no time at all. These lame snowstorms and thunder ice episodes don’t help with my motivation. Sheesh.

But don’t worry! TODAY is as good as time as any to start (or pick up where you left off).

What is ONE thing that you will commit to doing TODAY?

It can be for your mental or physical health, for your professional development, for your home, for someone you know, or just for fun! I’d love to hear from you! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on one of my real 2019 goals next time.

Lots of love,
Melissa