New Year’s Resolutions

It’s beyond the middle of the year and I realize that I’ve in no way followed through on my New Year’s resolutions, have you?

Getting my finances in better shape.  Working on my health.  Building our business at the office….  Ok, I do work on our business, all the time, but aside from that…I’ve failed dramatically.  Does anyone ever accomplish what they set out to do in a year?  In 2016 I was working on losing weight and was doing quite well until the Christmas holidays rolled in.  I promised myself that in January I would begin again but that never manifested itself.  I used to be pretty good with my finances but then ‘real life’ set in with it’s myriad of problems and issues and my finances have never been the same  

In 10 years I’ll reach retirement age with little to show for it and when I really think about that I’m not sure how much it matters anyway.  I’m in no worse position than many people my age and better than some.  I have a wonderful husband, my family (for better and worse), an awesome cat who showers me with love and a puppy who, as obnoxious as she is at times, I truly love and enjoy.  I have my faith which sustains me throughout this life I’ve been gifted with.  I have a roof over my head, cool air in the summer and warmth in the winter.  I have a reliable 14 year old car that gets me where I need to be.  I have plenty of food to eat and fresh, clean water to drink.  I have energy to continue working and that’s a good thing since I’m sure I’ll end up being a Wal-Mart greeter when I’m 85, lol!  We struggle, like everyone else, but we have love and that is the greatest blessing of them all.

I will continue to make those New Year’s resolutions as long as I’m able because they help me to focus and I think, in some ways, that has to help at least work towards the goals I’ve set for myself.  What about you, do you accomplish your goals set at the beginning of the year?  Do you even set resolutions?  Everyone’s different but we’re still all so similar too, isn’t it cool?

A New View — Vision Boards

Yesterday my SIL, Elane,  mentioned that she was working on her “vision board” for the year.  Elane is pretty wise and her ideas intrigue me.  I’d heard of vision boards before but never really imagined myself doing one.  I did a search online to see what was involved and what other people had to say about them and was impressed so I looked into free online versions.  There are a few and I did start one.  I was surprised to find that it wasn’t as “easy” as I’d imagined!  Of course I have goals, everyone does right?!  That didn’t stop me from coming up blank-like a deer facing headlights.  Maybe that’s part of the reason vision boards work?

I’d never really spent much time focusing on what my goals were before, why would they be so hard to articulate?!  It occurred to me that I spend a great deal of my time responding to life as it happens, like a rat on a wheel.  Putting out small fires around me all the while not realizing I’m dying of smoke inhalation.  All of the sudden a vision board makes sense. Why just put out fires?  Be like Smokey the Bear, prevent them from happening in the first place!

I spent the better part of the day yesterday working on my vision board.  It really took me that long because the process of creating one helps you to see what it is you really want to accomplish on multiple levels as well as the steps needed to make them happen.  Finances are important but, believe it or not, it wasn’t the first thing on my list.  One of the top things I truly crave is the time to focus on creativity.  I’m always “too busy” and then when I come home at night…too tired.  The program I went with ended up being one I paid for because it had more bells and whistles, one of them being a calendar that reminds me of the steps needed to achieve my goals in a timely fashion.  I’m very excited to see this in action, that I had the time to write this post is proof that I took advantage of making time for being creative this morning 🙂

Are you doing a vision board?  What’s your experience been with them?

Wishing you a wonderful day!

 

The above image was taken from an image search, it’s not my board, mine is online 😉