“New Year, New Me!” “This is the year I’m going to make a change!” I would always set out in the new year with a goal or two in mind that would make my life better over the next 365 days. Yet, without fail, a few weeks into the new year, I was left feeling defeated and already throwing in the towel on my goals!
If there’s anything I’ve learned in my thirty-something years of living on Earth, it’s that I can’t control what will happen in the future. Even when I set out with the best intentions, one shift happens and everything changes. From health issues to childbirth, loss of a loved one, career changes, a financial crisis, the list could go on and on. Life happens, and no matter how great we resolve to stick to a goal, there are times when we can’t avoid getting off track. But don’t give up just yet!
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This year, is the first time that I decided to choose a theme, instead of a resolution. My theme for 2024 is GRACE. I want to extend more of it to others, and especially to myself. I am always running with “too many tabs open”...on my computer, on my phone, AND in my head! I have endless notes, and to-do lists, and set goals that are higher than what is reasonable for this season in my life. I’m in a constant rush because it seems like there’s never enough time to do “all the things”. And now that my kids are playing sports and have their own social activities to attend, most times the downtime is non-existent! “Ahhhhhhh!” Can you relate?
If so, I’m with you girl! I challenge you to choose something to focus on this year that is doable and will allow you to have moments where you can give yourself the grace that you would extend to a friend who needed it.
Here are the three ways I’m going to apply grace in 2024:
In motherhood
I have been blessed with four vibrant children under the age of ten, who are on the go all day, every day! They especially need grace every day! There’s a shift that happens at some point between our own childhood and adulthood where we change. We have to grow up and along the way we lose that sense of wonder, and curiosity, trading it in for work schedules and stress. Remember when we could play for hours and hours on end and never get tired? When we did dumb things that we didn’t think about before we acted? The next time I’m irritated when one of my kids does something that makes zero sense…I’m going to extend grace, take a pause, remember what I used to be like as a kid, and redirect instead of losing it. I’m going to let them help me make food, even if it means the measurements are a little bit off.
With my health goals
As I mentioned, I have four kids. In previous pregnancies, I was able to start exercising as soon as I was given clearance by my doctor. I assumed after I delivered my fourth, I’d continue with my business here at Macaroni KID Warminster-Willow Grove after the first week or so (see what I mean about setting goals that are not reasonable?) However this time, I had to recover from an unexpected surgery, and it was and has been HARD. Grace, allows me to not feel down on myself because I am not physically where I thought I’d be by now. And when I slipped back into bad eating habits during the holidays, grace helps me to get back on track and keep going, instead of giving up.
In the day-to-day
I’m going to choose the top three things, not 50, to focus on my to-do list each day. The rest I’ll keep on a running list to get to another time. Over time, this will allow me to have more opportunities to be present with my kids and husband, with fewer distractions. Just in the last two weeks, there were four funerals at my church, four! It was eye-opening to realize how quickly life can change. I never want to regret missed opportunities to focus on my family because I was too busy doing other things.
So whether you decide to keep making resolutions or decide to shift into a yearly theme, don’t forget GRACE. You are exactly where you are supposed to be at this point in your life. Don’t be discouraged when things don’t go the way you were hoping, or when things get hard. You are not alone! Just pick back up where you left off, and keep going!
“I have not failed 10,000 times—I’ve successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work.” -Thomas Edison
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