Happy New Year!

As 2017 winds to a close, today is a day of reflection. I’m not generally one for New Years resolutions…mainly because I feel like they are too often abandoned just a few weeks into January. If I’m committing to something, I want to be all in, or not at all. So over the years, I can’t say I really remember ever making any specific resolutions.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the idea of making positive changes in our lives. But every day of the year is just as good as any for deciding that you’re going to make a change in your life.

I feel like the last few months I’ve made a lot of mini-resolutions, beginning with deciding that I was going to do something to get myself out of a despair mindset. I reached a point where I was pretty unhealthy and I realized that for my own well-being, and for those closest to me, I had to make some radical changes in regard to my thinking.

It’s been working.

2017 has been a really hard year for me, but as I look back, I am grateful for these challenges and for the change it has forced me to undergo in order to become a better version of me. I’m grateful for the hurt and the anger and not understanding why God was allowing certain things because the resilient giant buried deep inside me was awakened and began to get to work.

It began with deciding to be intentional and live with purpose. One component of this was deciding to join a women’s group that assigns monthly “tasks” working on a different area of our lives. We can tailor each month’s theme to our own lives, but it at least gets us thinking, gets us doing something, and keeps us accountable. It’s been through the monthly challenges that I’ve been able to simplify and declutter different areas of the house, as well as establish systems and routines to make life simpler. Both of which have helped me feel lighter and happier.

I’ve tried to stay intentional about getting outside for a walk almost daily. The fresh air is so good for your mind and body, and getting the exercise is an added bonus. I don’t always feel like going for a walk, but once I’m out there, I’m always happy I am. If you find yourself struggling in different areas of your life, getting intentional about spending at least a little time outside every day is a good place to start.

Another area that I decided I needed to be more intentional about was my knowledge acquisition. I love to learn but I haven’t been challenging myself in this area lately, so I’ve taken up several different courses in different areas of study online to stimulate my joy of academia. I’ve been reading a lot more lately, and hope to increase my intake to one book per week. Imagine how much more enriched my life with be after adding 52 books to my repertoire this year! Reading is a habit of highly successful people and I decided there was much to learn if I motivated myself to do so.

I’m in the process of establishing a different morning routine, from which I’ve already seen positive benefits. Having been a night owl my entire life, and, as such, feeling like I struggle to get out of bed most mornings, this has been a big challenge for me. But, it’s also a habit of highly successful people and some books I’ve read recently have inspired me to give it a go in my own life and see what a difference it makes. I’m hoping for this to become an integral and fundamental component of making 2018 my best year ever. Typically those things which are the most difficult, have the potential to bear the greatest reward. Which brings me to another phrase I’ve been saying to myself a lot lately…

Take the stairs.

I don’t mean the literal stairs. Well, sometimes, yes, that’s a good idea. I actually much prefer stairs over the elevator, but I arrived at this mantra while thinking about life as I chose to take literal stairs.

I had a meeting about a mile and a half away from where I was and I decided to walk. Once I got to where I needed to be, I needed to go to the 14th floor. I could take the elevator; that’s the easy option…especially since I had to also walk back to my car. But I decided to take the stairs. Here’s why:

Most things in life that are worthwhile aren’t easy. I was a bit winded from the walk, as I keep a pretty good clip when I walk. But, in going with the theme of the last few months, I wanted to challenge myself to push my body just a little bit further. I knew the stairs was a healthy option physically, but my greatest motivation in doing so was to be an analogy for my journey in life to be motivated to do the hard things. I don’t always feel like putting in the extra work I need to do, or feel like going for a walk, or feel like learning from my coursework, but all these are good, healthy things that I am benefiting from.

So in this new year, take the stairs–not just literally.

Here’s the thing, we often “know” what we should do, but we just don’t choose to do it. We hassle kids about this with behavior all the time, but we do it just as much as adults, just with different issues than kids.

The right choices are often hard, while being “lazy” seems easier. I see it all the time in my own life as I try to motivate myself to do something…or get frustrated with myself when I procrastinate.

I’m not saying we can’t ever relax or have fun, but I think we have a tendency to eternally procrastinate certain things, especially if they seem hard, or even impossible.

Change doesn’t usually happen overnight. It’s a process.

The key I’ve found to lasting change is consistency. Stay consistent, even if it’s just a little bit every day. Most people get super excited about something and throw all kinds of energy at doing something new (eg New Years resolutions), only to find a few weeks later that their energy and efforts weren’t sustainable. I’ve taken to calling myself the relentless tortoise as a reminder of my commitment to not given up and to keep on keeping on day-in and day-out even when things are hard and there may not be a lot of visible evidence of change. In the end, you’ll get there if you stay consistent.

Happy New Year! I hope 2018 is your best year yet!

Take the stairs. #relentlesstortoise