Happy New Year!
I don’t know where 2018 went; it completely flew by! I feel like the older I get, the faster time moves forward. Sometimes life moves so quickly that I feel like I am not accomplishing my goals that I set for myself as quickly as I’d like. I look back at 2018 and, in many ways, I feel like I am still stuck in the same place I was at this point last year. On the other hand, I have made some progress with those goals, particularly in the past few months. You might remember my post a few months ago, about my “reawakening” after having gotten off track with some of my goals. The past few months have been progressive; I am moving forward, even if I am slow-going.
I know a lot of people roll their eyes at New Year’s Resolutions. I get it; let’s not wait until the new year to set goals. Goals can (and should be) set all throughout the year! For me, I think the new year is a time for reflection, to look back on accomplishments throughout the previous year and think about what I want to accomplish throughout the coming year. Goal setting is constant and on-going. I’m not starting over with the goals I have set for myself, but reflecting and evaluating what is reasonable to accomplish by the year’s end. Let me just say, there’s a lot that I want to accomplish in 2019!!
What better way to start off the new year than with a little inspiration and motivation, am I right? Last night, I attended a broadcast with the inspiring and amazing Rachel Hollis! It was reading her New York Times Bestselling book, “Girl, Wash Your Face” that helped me to get back on track with my goals and dreams. She has a fun and witty way of inspiring and motivating women to reach for the stars; to not make excuses and to not let fear hold us back from accomplishing our dreams. I have a couple of dear friends who are also big Rachel Hollis fans, so we made a girl’s night out of it. What a great way to start off the new year!
There were a couple of takeaways that I left with last night that I wanted to share. They may or may not be applicable to you, but I promise if you read her book, you will find things that are definitely applicable and motivating!
MY TAKEAWAYS
- I need to give myself more credit for the things that I do accomplish. This is big for me; I am so hard on myself and I tend to focus on how slow I am to accomplish my goals, rather than acknowledging the progress I’ve made. For one example: I pulled off an amazing gala last year for The DEANA Foundation (actually, it wasn’t just me but a whole committee of wonderful volunteers), but all I look at are the dollar signs. We fell short of the amount of money I wanted to raise. But, we still raised a good amount of money and were able to award 3 new grants!! Not to mention, we increased our attendance from the previous year and made a lot of valuable connections. That is success! I need to quit selling my successes short. This year I will focus on congratulating myself for a job well done, rather than focusing on my short comings.
- Speaking of focus, Rachel touched on focusing on one thing at a time. Eeek. This is going to be the hardest thing ever. My mind is always overflowing with ideas and projects and goals. I’m a problem solver. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m a dreamer. I am working a sewing business, my non-profit foundation, my blog; I’m writing a book, I have volunteer work at church and most importantly, I have my family to focus on. It is SO hard for me to pick just one thing to focus on. I love that she said we don’t have to throw everything else out, but we need to pick which thing is most important to us in a given season and put our focus and energy into that. If we are continually splitting our attention up between too many things, no one thing will ever succeed. I’m still trying to figure out what this means for me. I don’t want to give anything up, but when I look at my long term goals of where I want to be, my dream of completing my book is a huge puzzle piece that needs to be worked in. Rachel’s challenge was to spend one hour a day on our dream/goal; just one hour, five days a week. It’s a big challenge but one that I will rise to. After reading her book, I picked back up with my writing and set aside time every week to write, but in order to accomplish what I want to this year, I need to up the ante. Five days a week it is. I say that with hesitation because I’m very worried that I won’t be able to keep up, but I am writing it down anyway to keep myself accountable. And I will focus on my successes rather than my failures.
- We are most like the people we hang around; the top 5 people we hang around, to be exact. If we want to be positive and successful and motivated, those are the kind of people that we want to surround ourselves with. This is the kind of community we need to build. I feel very lucky to have a great community of friends, who choose to lift each other up rather than tear each other down with jealousy and insecurity (I know this can be a real problem among women). I feel like I’m on the right track here, and I want to be this kind of person for my friends as well. We can inspire each other!
- Everything doesn’t happen for a reason, but there is something that we can find in each card we are dealt to make ourselves stronger. This topic really resonated with me, after having gone through some really hard things over the past several years. This is the whole premise of my blog: to make lemons out of lemonade. I don’t believe that every single that happens, happens for a reason. Sometimes really crappy things just happen, but we can choose what to become in spite of it all. Do we choose bitterness and fear, anger and sadness? Or do we choose to use those heartaches to learn and grow, to find joy and gratitude, to help other people? That doesn’t mean that there won’t ever be a sad moment. I’m a huge fan of crying these days. It’s okay to let yourself have those moments of grief. It’s healthy to let yourself cry. But at some point we all have to make a choice to move forward. We can’t change the events that happen in our lives; certain pains will never go away but will be carried with us forever. These things become a part of who we are. Who are we going to let these challenges make us become? We are not the only people going through hard things. Everybody has a story. Everybody has heart ache. We can learn from each other, and help one another along the way.
- Be yourself, and don’t apologize! I am really going to embrace this one! All too often, I find myself afraid to share things I am passionate and excited about because I’m afraid of what other people might think. Are they going to think I’m crazy? Here’s Cassandra again, chasing after [fill in the blank]. To heck with what other people think! I am who I am, love me or leave me. People can think whatever they want, but I’m just going to do me. If I love something, I’m going to share it. If I am passionate about something, I am going to tell you about it. If I have a dream, I’m not going to hide it. There’s nothing wrong with being a dreamer. Nobody ever met success by hiding in their shell. Like Rachel’s husband said last night, “There is no fulfillment without change and growth” (something along those lines). I am not going to let my fears of what other people might think hold me back. Or at least I’m going to be working on this. Baby steps 😉
There are many more takeaways that I left with, but these are the main things that struck a chord with me. If you haven’t read Rachel’s book yet, start your new year out right by reading it! Whatever your goal may be, whether it is career oriented or family oriented or personal growth oriented, this book will motivate you to reach for the stars and accomplish whatever thing you put your mind to!
And for those of you who have read her book, did you know she has a new one coming out in March?? I can’t wait to get my hands on that one! You can actually preorder it now and it will ship out as soon as it’s released. She also sends you a bunch of free web coaching videos for preordering. It’s a win-win.
What goals have you set for yourself for the new year? Let’s talk about it! Drop me a comment below.
