It's Tuesday, May 2nd. I seriously cannot believe we're almost halfway through the year of 2017. This week I'm checking in with myself and giving myself a good kick in the backside.
By this time of the year (if not much much sooner), those optimistically written New Years resolutions are all too easily faded away. I'm as guilty as the next guy. I'm better than I was, but not where I resolved to be.
I'll take "better" and I'll keep working towards "best".
I haven't been able to work out as many times a week as I'd like but I've worked out (minus a couple months, due to major health challenges).
I haven't been in the Word everyday like I aim to but I've read more than I was reading and I've been listening to biblically sound teaching that God continues to use to transform and mold me into the image of Christ.
I haven't been able to devote quite as much focused time and energy into my business as I'd hoped to but I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.
We still have a long ways to go towards our 2017 financial goals but we've dumped a lot towards those goals (amidst major ginormous setbacks).
And life, as per usual, has added in multiple unexpected happenings that consume time and energy (and money) that we weren't planning on.
Laying to rest my beautiful pooch.
A very difficult wisdom tooth extraction and recovery.
Big decisions thrown at us to wrestle through.
Unexpected bills.
An awful hospital stay.
Weeks of recovery.
Huge health care changes to pray (and cry) through.
Preparing for a tiny new puppy to come home.
The list goes on...
By this time of the year (if not much much sooner), those optimistically written New Years resolutions are all too easily faded away. I'm as guilty as the next guy. I'm better than I was, but not where I resolved to be.
I'll take "better" and I'll keep working towards "best".
I haven't been able to work out as many times a week as I'd like but I've worked out (minus a couple months, due to major health challenges).
I haven't been in the Word everyday like I aim to but I've read more than I was reading and I've been listening to biblically sound teaching that God continues to use to transform and mold me into the image of Christ.
I haven't been able to devote quite as much focused time and energy into my business as I'd hoped to but I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I was.
We still have a long ways to go towards our 2017 financial goals but we've dumped a lot towards those goals (amidst major ginormous setbacks).
And life, as per usual, has added in multiple unexpected happenings that consume time and energy (and money) that we weren't planning on.
Laying to rest my beautiful pooch.
A very difficult wisdom tooth extraction and recovery.
Big decisions thrown at us to wrestle through.
Unexpected bills.
An awful hospital stay.
Weeks of recovery.
Huge health care changes to pray (and cry) through.
Preparing for a tiny new puppy to come home.
The list goes on...
It is good and healthy and productive to have goals, to aim high, to continually better ourselves and work hard.
But we need to give ourselves some grace too. Life is crazy and unexpected and full and overwhelming.
There will always be dishes and laundry and bathrooms that need cleaning.
There will always be bills to pay and phone calls to make.
There will always be appointments to keep and those over-packed days in our weeks.
There will always be business messages to send and reply to and keep up on.
There will always be disappointments and discouragements.
I'm a perfectionist at my core. That can be a good thing but it can also be a very damaging and hindering characteristic. It means my expectations are too high for myself and too high for those closest to me. It causes constant disappointment in myself and irritation with others.
So I am working at letting go of perfectionism, at lowering my blood pressure when the house is a mess (even though my hubby says it isn't), at not letting fear of doing things imperfectly paralyze me from doing things at all, at giving myself grace to not do all of life perfectly all of the time.
Because heck, that's impossible. I am a human. (Yes, I literally have to remind myself of that.)
I'm thankful for God's grace, for my husband's love, for the encouragement of my tribe surrounding me.
2017 has had so many struggles but it has also had so many victories. It is shaping up to be another "best year yet" and I'm so excited for what God has in store.
Happy Tuesday, lovelies. Keep sparkling, keep striving, keep shining, keep keeping it real!
But we need to give ourselves some grace too. Life is crazy and unexpected and full and overwhelming.
There will always be dishes and laundry and bathrooms that need cleaning.
There will always be bills to pay and phone calls to make.
There will always be appointments to keep and those over-packed days in our weeks.
There will always be business messages to send and reply to and keep up on.
There will always be disappointments and discouragements.
I'm a perfectionist at my core. That can be a good thing but it can also be a very damaging and hindering characteristic. It means my expectations are too high for myself and too high for those closest to me. It causes constant disappointment in myself and irritation with others.
So I am working at letting go of perfectionism, at lowering my blood pressure when the house is a mess (even though my hubby says it isn't), at not letting fear of doing things imperfectly paralyze me from doing things at all, at giving myself grace to not do all of life perfectly all of the time.
Because heck, that's impossible. I am a human. (Yes, I literally have to remind myself of that.)
I'm thankful for God's grace, for my husband's love, for the encouragement of my tribe surrounding me.
2017 has had so many struggles but it has also had so many victories. It is shaping up to be another "best year yet" and I'm so excited for what God has in store.
Happy Tuesday, lovelies. Keep sparkling, keep striving, keep shining, keep keeping it real!
