Resolutions

As I've stumbled around the blogging world this past week, I have noticed that the camps on whether new year's resolutions are worth it or a waste of time are decisively split. I can't say that I disagree with either side. On the one hand, the new year is a perfect time to evaluate where you are and make changes accordingly. On the other, hand we are constantly an in progress work of art, and should be fine-tuning ourselves to be the best on a daily basis. If you're really doing this fine-tuning, then a resolution is kind of needless.

Oy, the arguments are enough to make anyone confused. All week, I waffled back and forth about how I really felt about this subject, and I think I finally found my answer.

The amazing and wonderful Seth Braun came out to Boulder, CO last spring to give a talk about Creative Entrepreneurship. Since Seth was my mentor at the time for my Health Counseling program through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition(IIN), I was so excited to get to learn from him in person. During the talk, he talked about how we have to have an over-arching set of goals and ideals that we are consistently reaching for. These don't have to be specific, they can be vague notions of what we wish to create. These over-arching goals help determine what direction we will focus our thoughts and efforts in for the set time frame. Once this direction has been established, specific goals to reach that final destination can be mapped out. But it is only once we have an end in mind that we can begin to chart that course.

I really feel like this is what I wanted to accomplish with resolutions this year. It wasn't to set a very specific set of goals for myself; it was to make a decision about which direction I plan to take my life for the next 12 months. 

Looking in the direction of my dreams!

I know that in 12 months I want to be ready to transfer from Front Range to Regis University to complete a BS in Accounting. I know that I want to be back in the same shape I was in the summer of 2008, when I had 18% body fat and worked out 6 days a week. I know that I want to be establishing a solid foundation for my future with A, and reconciling my finances to that dream. But those are such broad concepts. There are many ways to go about them.

So what could I do today, this week, this month to achieve these ends? That's where my monthly goals came in to play. What steps will I choose to take to attempt to achieve my desired results? Will those steps result in success or failure? The great thing about setting monthly goals within a bigger set of goals is that if something is not working, I can change it for the next month. I don't always have to do the same things, I just need to keep moving forward in the direction I wish to go.

And in the end, where I am 12 months from now will not be the same place that I am right now, for better or for worse. But at that time, I will be able to look up and see how close I came to meeting those big ideals, and make the crucial decision about if I need to continue in that same direction, or if it is time to change course, and pursue a new set of goals and dreams.