IT IS ALMOST THE MIDDLE OF APRIL. ONE QUARTER OF THE YEAR IS ALREADY GONE.

Back in January, I set 6 goals for the first quarter/year. This is a blogpost about the current status of those goals: FAIL.

In my Goal Planner by Christy Wright, every month ends with a reflective piece and the following month always begins with a new lesson-of-the-month/planning piece. I love this.

It was so incredibly timely that April’s lesson began with “Staying Motivated.” Christy talks about resetting your expectations first, which I totally needed to do. She wrote,

“I was always trying to press on and live up to the same expectations that I had for myself before I was pregnant. And when I realized I couldn’t go after things with the same energy as usual, I was completely disappointed. I was so focused on doing things the way I had originally planned that I couldn’t adapt to my new season…”

I highlighted this entire paragraph and drew a giant star next to it and labeled it with, “SO ME!”

I felt like Christy had written everything I was experiencing, and what she wrote next was so incredibly encouraging:

“Progress is not a date on the calendar. Nothing magical happens on January 1 that can’t be duplicated on any of the other 364 days of the year…the start of a new year doesn’t actually give you the special ability to accomplish anything you set your mind to. You can do that any day.”

BOOM. That spoke right to my little perfectionist heart.

I had already thrown my hands up in the air regarding those goals I had set in January, and honestly, I didn’t even know if all of those goals were still realistic at this time in my life. And it was as if I was just having a conversation with Christy right then and there because the next couple of paragraphs were titled “Reset, Rewrite, or Remove”:

“…maybe you’re in a crazy season of life right now and [something] just isn’t the main priority — and that’s okay! You have permission to remove that goal from your list altogether. But remember, every day is a new day; maybe in the future you’ll decide to renew your passion for a goal that lost some gusto. That’s okay too! Instead of imposing impossible standards on yourself, give yourself some grace. Plans are a great guide, but don’t let your plans get in the way of your perspective.”

So. Much. Yes.

I found it hilarious and a bit ridiculous that I needed Christy to give me permission to reset, rewrite, or remove any goals I had set in January, but hey! It totally worked and was exactly what I needed.

My therapist has told me multiple times to not be so hard on myself, but it is SO HARD not to be! I need constant little reminders in my life and times of reflection to help me chill the heck out. So…

Reflection of Happenings Thus Far in 2019:

January:

1. The entire family got sick, including our nanny.
2. I had a business trip.
3. Mom came to help for a week.

February:

1. My best friend was in town for a week.
2. My husband and I went on a snowboarding trip sans kids.
3. I went to visit a friend in Dallas.

March:

1. I had a trip to the ER and underwent surgery 2 weeks later.
2. Mom came to help for 2 weeks.
3. My husband and I went on a quadruple date to watch Anastasia the musical.
4. We celebrated our 6-year wedding anniversary.

Upon reflecting on the first quarter of this year, I was able to tell myself, “It’s okay, Tiff. You weren’t sitting around doing nothing. Look at everything that happened on top of the regular days of raising twins, caring for others, working, going to therapy, and going to workout classes twice a week. So what if you didn’t get close to reaching your goals? Pick up where you left off and start again.”

So that’s what I’m doing. I renewed and rewrote my goals, added what to do differently this time around to help myself achieve them, and at the ripe age of 33, I am still learning:

1. It is okay to fail.
2. Forgive yourself.
3. Dust yourself off and persevere.