Happy New Year…
Here we are with a new year upon us. A fresh start. A time of kick starting our ambitions. A time to be refreshed and ready to go after anything, right?
For many people this is the case. At the start of a new year, we begin to make our new years resolutions. We begin to look ahead and plan for things that we know are coming during the course of this year.
When it comes to making new years resolutions, some of us stick with the more common like getting fit, eating right, loosing weight, etc. And for the majority, these resolutions are all but gone within the first couple weeks of the new year. Not because we really don’t want these things, but simply just may not have the desire, the discipline or the passion to carry them out for the entire year or make them our new way of life.
Then there are those of us that reach for the stars. We resolve to start a new business. We resolve to get into the ministry. We resolve to go back to school in order to further our careers. Now the previous, more common resolutions I mentioned, I would consider them as superficial. They are more about appearance and the health of our bodies and are easily thrown to the side after a short time with no major consequences. The next ones go a little deeper. They are more ambitious and require more desire and discipline to accomplish.
All of these are good resolutions. They deal with health and wellbeing as well as personal achievements. The thing is, so many of us just go through each day running through the motions with no real perceived purpose. The fact is that it doesn’t need to take a new year to bring a fresh start in life. Every single day that we wake up offers us a new opportunity, a fresh start.
I would say that if asked, the majority of people would say they have some sort of goal in life. Some sort of dream. This could vary from person to person as much as night differs from day. The fact is though, that most of us have a goal or dream in life. The problem is, we either don’t see that the dream or goal is possible if we take steps towards it or we just don’t see it as all that important.
This life is meant to be lived! And that is exactly what I plan to do with mine. I have learned that my procrastination gets me nowhere. I have dreams and goals of my own and they will not come to fruition unless I pursue them with passion and discipline. Everyone out there has the possibility to accomplish anything they set their mind too. You may need to learn something or develop a skill set, but the possibility of accomplishing your goals and dreams is only limited by your belief that you can.
I have fallen into this same belief many times. I have often allowed the opinions of others to persuade me to not go after a goal or dream. I have often not thought to highly of myself or believed in myself again detouring me from chasing something I really wanted. We have but one life. Every new day is a new start. To brush off the things of yesterday. To look back and learn from a mistake and start again. Everything you see every single day was at first a thought or vision in someone’s mind before it came to be.
You have the right to go after your goals and your dreams regardless of what anyone else says or the opinions they may have. They are YOUR dreams. This year, go after those dreams. Go after that goal you have. I would first tell you to do this: write down your dreams and goals, not only for this year, but for the years to come. When you see them on paper, it makes a big impact and that is the first step. The next thing to do would be to develop a plan. The plan does not have to be an elaborate plan, but a plan that will take you one step closer every day to your goal.
Make sure to record your successes and your failures along the way. This will give you something to look back at, to give you encouragement and something to learn from.
I have heard it said that if your dreams don’t scare you, then they aren’t big enough. I am starting to understand this concept. Dream big, reach for the stars.
We started out talking about resolutions. Again, there is nothing wrong with resolutions so long as we stick to them. I would encourage you to think about life long resolutions. Resolutions that go deeper into who you are, who you want to be, how you can be a better person. I am currently reading, Resolved 13 Resolutions for life , by Orrin Woodward. It talks about life long resolutions like character, leadership, purpose, adversity, etc. These will definitely be my resolutions for this year, with hopes of making them part of my everyday life. I believe these life long resolutions will help me with my goals and dreams for this year and beyond.
So, I will ask the question, what will you do with this new year? Do you have goals and dreams? Do you aspire to do something greater or something you are very passionate about? Do you desire to make a living at something other than your normal day to day job? Do you know what your purpose in life is? (We all have a purpose in this life)
Then I would say to you, go do it. Go chase those dreams and let nothing stop you. You have the ability, you have what you need to begin going after whatever it is you want to achieve in this life. Setbacks will happen. Things will be tough at times. You will encounter opposition. These things are merely lessons to be learned or maybe they are a redirection, a better way of getting to your end goal.
The sky is not the limit, your imagination is.
I hope that everyone has a very blessed and happy 2018!
Until next time…
