Tag: goals

The Twelve Days of Christmas: Day 8

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

New Year’s Day can be a time for more celebration. For me this year, it has been a day of rest from my illness. I did manage to take a short walk at my favorite park, and then also caught up on some house tasks. It felt like the sun had come up after a week of darkness. Even accomplishing the simple task of peeling potatoes and putting them in the oven made me smile.

New Year’s has often felt like a holiday just for me because it is all about dreaming for the future and planning what I am going to accomplish. Dream big, right? Make those vision boards! Just. Do. It.

This year, though, I felt myself quiet and slow down, partly because I had to, and partly because I wanted it. I’ve been reading the biography of Dallas Willard and he is the perfect company for slowing down. I have learned so much from this man’s example and his work. Not just about philosophy and theology, but more about living in the kingdom of God in the here and now.

One of my favorite parts of the book comes at the end in this quote:

I’ve had to learn that the important thing is not what I accomplish but the person I become…What God gets out of my life is not what I accomplish; it’s what I become.

Vision boards and goals can be good things. I find myself doing them out of a lot of guilt most of the time, though. I keep thinking I should do them because other people are and being productive depends on being that person who accomplishes the things on her vision boards and goal lists.

What am I becoming when I refer to those things as my measure of success, though? Someone who relies on a checkmark to give her a sense of worth probably won’t be a good friend. I think if I’m constantly using goals and vision boards to help me through life, I am focusing more on life as a grid, a set of equations to work through and finish. I don’t want my life to be a grid, though. I want it to be a garden where people feel welcomed and able to rest. That’s what I want to become.

I will probably set goals and write them down. I will also probably do a theme around my year and think about I want to explore. I do want to let go of the idea that I have to have big accomplishments under my belt at the end of 2025. I’d settle for someone telling me that I helped them rest, instead.

One of my favorite concerts of 2024 was seeing The Gray Havens. At the time, this song had not officially released and Dave Radford shared with us the struggle that he felt in writing it. “Sometimes I fantasized about quitting my job and going work at a gas station.” (He wrote this song instead, which I think was a great decision) I know for myself, it often feels like if I could just make the right goal list or find somewhere else to be, all of my problems would go away. We cannot see what we will grow this year. How thankful we can that God sees and knows every day of our becoming.

Here’s to the becoming! Merry Christmas!

Things I Am Trying in Winter/Spring 2024

I love a good list. Here’s one about things I am trying out in 2024. Actually, it might be better to say I’m trying them out for this season, or maybe for a couple of seasons. I shall report back to you, dear readers, with my findings.

  1. Baking Scones– As you can see from the gorgeous picture above, I have become something of an amateur baker with incredible photography skills recently. I’m kidding. That’s a stock photo. But my last batch of scones did turn out very well. If you want to be added to the list of people I bake for, you can let me know…and move to the city where I live. 🙂
  2. Bowspring– This is a new to me form of movement. It reminds me of yoga and pilates, but the movements are different and sometimes slower than anything I’ve experienced in those two forms. I’m excited to try it out and see how my body feels with it.
  3. Music by the Decade- If you want to win me over, a good playlist is a great way to start. What I’ve been realizing is that I want to have a sense of history when I listen and play. I am going to try out different decades starting…I’m not sure. Maybe far back (Hildegard von Bingen, anyone?), maybe not so far (Celine Dion?). All I know is that I’m definitely looking forward to the swing era, so maybe should start there.
  4. Reading Old Books– I read a lot as a child. So much so that my family would send someone up to the library if I was late for dinner. I have found, though, that some of my knowledge of the Western cannon is incomplete. Scarlet Letter? Never read it. A Brave New World? Nope. Beloved by Toni Morrison? Hadn’t heard of it until a while ago. I don’t have a grand plan to read 20 or more titles from the Penguin Classics list of all lists. I just plan to pick up something that’s considered a classic and see if I like it or not. Review(s) to come!
  5. Hiking with Friends- I tend to be a bit ruminative. Maybe a bit too much sometimes. while a walk in the woods by myself is generally good for me, I’m also trying to make sure I invite people to go with me.
  6. Reading Books From Other Countries– This is something I tried a bit a few years ago, and it was really fun. Basically, I will pick up a poet or a novelist from a country that I’ve never read anything from before. Previous titles in this category have been the 100 year Old Man Who Walked Out A Window And Disappeared (Sweden)
  7. Writing Songs/Poetry- This last one is something I’ve been doing a bit more over the past year. I now own a piano, a ukelele, and a guitar, so I feel it is my responsibility to give my musical children a chance to shine. Last year, I wrote a real banger (as the kids say) called The Pumpkin Song. It was all about a shy girl trying to say hello to a boy she liked but all she could do get out was the nonsense word “shoobeedadoo”…You had to be there. (Yes, it might be autobiographical) If I do write a song or a poem that I really like, I promise to share it here. Beauty is beauty even if I’m the only experiencing it, but it is fun to give it away, too.

Excited to share my hopeful findings and beautiful discoveries. Happy 2024!

Here’s one of my favorite songs for you to listen to. Drop a note before if you’re trying something this winter/spring, too!