New Year New Expectations

I have always dreaded the New Year Resolution season. I always feel so overwhelmed by the thought of committing to a goal or set of goals for a year! I have never been a good goal setter. The best I ever did was on my mission. My husband said the same thing. That got me thinking. Why was it so much easier to set and achieve goals as a missionary? Then it hit me because they were SMART goals! New Year's Resolutions are rarely SMART goals. This year I am not making any New Year's Resolutions instead I am going to set a few SMART goals and work on them for a few months then evaluate and set some more! Totally less overwhelming!



(credit for the image goes to http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/osulliva/phys1554/WeightMatters/plan.html)

One of the things that I look forward to most this year is learning to be constant. I think I have often confused constant with perfect and was prone to feel like a total failure when I missed that first day of reading my scriptures or saying my prayers or whatever the goal task was. It was nearly impossible for me to feel like I could get caught up to "perfect" my course. I am finally realizing that I was totally missing the point! I will never be perfect at all these things I want to be perfect at. The goal is to be constantly moving forward, using the Atonement to make things right and then letting go of the mistakes! This year I am going to embrace this new expectation for myself and celebrate every success and rejoice in every repair made along the way because those repairs show that I am relying on the Lord and using the gift He has given me. I no longer strive to the "perfect" but to be CONSTANT.