How are your New Year Resolutions coming along?
If you still remember even one of them, that’s not a bad way to start Monday, July 1, 2019.
January 1st was a day filled with promise and goals and plans for new journeys. Unless you were hung over from the previous night’s celebration, because then your January 1st looked differently.
Like it or not, it’s July 1. We’re halfway through the year, and it’s time to evaluate your progress or your challenges. Maybe the first challenge is remembering those goals.
Many people choose a focus word for the year, something that represents a promise to ourselves, the direction we want to take our life in. I like that idea, because it’s a way to have resolve without making resolutions. However, I can’t boil down all my changes to one word, not even a hyphenated word to get that extra boost. I choose not to stress over something that because by July, Real Life will intrude and push my best efforts aside.
For several years, I consider a phrase that if I accomplished it, then everything else would be set right. That phrase is wisdom gained from a Yogi Tea bag tag:
“Keep Up.”
I like that. It resonates with me. What if we all did that?
Despite that noble thought, my [too-many-to-count-because-it’s-embarrassing] unanswered emails in my inbox shows I’ve struggled in that area. The 30,000+ photos I want to print off my phone is evidence of that challenge in my life. The 50+ boxes I still have to unpack from our February 2017 move prove that I struggle to accomplish a focus phrase.
Focus on other words. Want. Need. Must. Should. These are weak works, maybe words. They don’t help us succeed towards New Year Resolutions or any goals. They’re hopeful and dreamy. One word can replace them all: Will.
It’s time for me to take the price tag off the shirt I bought in 2016. I will wear that shirt, both physically on my body and figuratively in my mind:
This is MY Year
It’s never to late for that sentence to apply to you. Focus on that.
