Achieving those Goals

What happens when I don't make my year-end goal?

Once again, I'm fighting perfectionism. With 2017 quickly approaching, it looks like I'm going to be just shy of my 2016 SMART goal to write twenty-four blog posts in a year. The hardest part is that I'm trying to decide what to do about it. Am I going to try to sneak in four more posts? Or am I going to blow it off and beat myself up for not making my goal?

As a perfectionist, I'm battling the fight of perfect. I can't help, but to fight emotions and feelings of the desire for accomplishment and the success of "checking that off my list". Yet as a girl leading a busy life, my perspective is slightly and slowly changing and instead of the "what I didn't do" I want to take a moment to look at what I did do.

I did manage to write eighteen blog posts this year since February 2016. I also committed to paying for my own website and domain. I wrote my first-ever eulogy, thousands of emails, a five-day prayer devotion booklet for my girlfriends, countless carefully crafted Instagram posts, many thank you cards, three presentations, prepared one breakout session, eleven meeting agendas, weeks and weeks of Bible study introductions, and four Evite invitations. (Maybe that last one was a stretch, but I've been writing!) I'm not going to meet my SMART goal for writing, but I do have a lot to look at when I take a step back from staring that goal in the face. It's all about perspective, right?

What about you? What's got you hung up? Do you need a little room for perspective?

I don't want to make excuses for not setting and meeting goals; I want to make excuses for all of us fighting (and losing to!) perfectionism. We ain't perfect here and we wasn't ever gonna be.

 But, what if we were a little nicer to ourselves in celebrating even our smallest victories?

It's the motive and heart behind the goal. Why am I setting this goal? What am I trying to achieve? What can be learned? How can this better benefit those around me? Is this going to make a positive difference?

Those are the real questions that make our goals worth achieving. As I continue to write, I'll keep setting goals, work next year to make my twenty-four and keep working towards that big goal of writing a book one day! The reason why I write in the first place is to encourage and inspire others with God's love. Am I doing that? I sure hope so. 

Let's cheer on on each other as we set goals and work to accomplish them. Let's be there to rally and encourage when they don't match up. Help me to commit to persevere and cheer on the journey, not just the destination and the goals, but the people too!

Cheers y'all!

xoxo

Jes

 

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:14-16  ‭

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Birthday Wishes & Thank Yous!

Yesterday I got to celebrate my birthday all day long! It sure was special. The day wasn't much different than any other, but the outpouring of love and birthday wishes filled my heart full.

I waited forever to celebrate thirty and did that all stinkin' month last year. (It was literally a piano-burning good time!) This year, thirty-one came way to fast! 

As time marches on and my Grampy (93) reminds me often that "today" is the youngest you'll ever be in your lifetime. I can't help but to ponder the awe of birthdays and celebration. Some could take it or leave it, but I love them! I love getting to have my own birthday and love getting to celebrate other's too. Why is that? Why are birthdays such a big deal? 

I think it's because of three things:

1) Birthdays remind us that life is a gift. It's important. It has meaning and purpose! You have meaning and purpose! You are a magnificent and uniquely created YOU and I am me. Life is valuable as we're not guaranteed tomorrow. We have this one life here on earth and it's up to us on what we're going to do with it. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God and each person is unique, valuable and loved and that's worth celebrating!

2) Birthdays allow us to take a moment to be thankful. As we close our eyes to blow out the candles, we need to look around and see the gifts that God has given us - even if our circumstances aren't ideal, there's always something to be thankful for. Let's commit to counting our blessings and remembering what we have.

3) Birthdays give us the opportunity to champion and cheer for those around us. Biggest cheers and best wishes for the birthday kid! We gather, we sing, we party, and we make wishes to celebrate those close to us and relish in the value (and gift!) of life.

Thank you for the birthday wishes, the birthday happies and adventures! I loved hearing you sing, reading your texts, and seeing your FB and IG comments. Thank you for making me feel so special and loved. I love y'all so much. 

Cheers to thirty-one! 
xoxo
Jes  

"Then God said,  “Let us make man in our image,  after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!" Genesis 1:26-27,31

"For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." Psalm 139:13-16

 

Thirty-One.

Thirty-One.

deLinde Kids birthday dinner with Cali friends.

deLinde Kids birthday dinner with Cali friends.

Birthday lunch at George's on the Cove in La Jolla.

Birthday lunch at George's on the Cove in La Jolla.

Cake for breakfast with the Black Knights!

Cake for breakfast with the Black Knights!

Mini birthday surprise with my Thursday night girls!

Mini birthday surprise with my Thursday night girls!

Dear Change, We Don't Always Love You.

Why is change so hard?

May I let that question sit with you for a minute? Tomorrow I’ll have the opportunity to speak to a group of women at the Leadership Education Seminar. My topic is “Turnover & Transition” an eloquent title defined by change as we ask, “How do we lead through the change?”.  

Change is all around us. It’s in our personal life, a new season of life, at home or in the workplace, it’s in our relationships and community; it’s happening. Kids are taking their first steps, friends moving into new homes, graduates are starting college, parents are aging and friends are getting married and/or having babies. As I’ve heard them say in the South, “we’re all in the thick of it together.”

Whether it’s anticipated or unexpected, it’s the new. And we make the choice to either embrace it or resist it. What will you do? What’s changing in your life? What do you wish you could or could not change?

Most of the time my head screams embrace it, but my heart whispers wait, don’t. Other times, I can’t wait for things to change. (I’ll talk more about living in the “wait” in my next post.) Regardless of how the change comes, I’m praying that we’ll have the courage to welcome it. We want to be compassionate about the new, lean into the growth and opportunity with a smile and continue to remember that each season has a reason and a purpose.

Welcome, my friend. Change and new adventure awaits. What will you chose to do with it?

xoxo
Jes

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

 

If we're in a season of change, may we simply readjust our sails.  

If we're in a season of change, may we simply readjust our sails.