REALIZATION – Chapter 2

Having New Year’s resolutions that never came to fruition was like having an elephant in the room—a really, really big elephant.  For years I chose to ignore the elephant, rather than deal with whatever issues were keeping me from accomplishing my goals.  This year, however, I decided to eat the elephant.  You’ve heard the old joke, I’m sure:  “How do you eat an elephant? –One bite at a time.”

In my first post, I mentioned that I am not going to make any New Year’s resolutions this year; instead, I will write down what I actually accomplish at the end of each day.  It is amazing how one’s outlook can change with a simple adjustment.  I am grateful to have chosen my word of the year:  REALIZATION.  It has made a significant difference in my life these past couple of weeks.  Since my last post, I am pleased to say that I have finished two projects that have been hanging around for months, set up the “mother of all budgets” to manage our family finances, have spent a lot more time serving my fellow man with the sister missionaries from my church (more about this in a later post—stay tuned!), and have lost over 7 pounds!! (I could probably start a whole new blog about this subject alone!)

I have also had some new realizations.   I guess you could call them “A-ha!” moments.  The first is this:  if I don’t get everything accomplished that I have set forth to do that day, it’s OK.  As long as I pick up right where I left off the next day, then I am making progress.  I do not need to beat myself up or feel like a failure for not finishing everything I intended to that day.  Please keep in mind that this last statement is NOT an excuse for procrastination.  It is more a realization about setting realistic expectations for myself in a day and realizing that there is only so much one person can do (or sometimes should do) at one time. 

Another realization I have come to is that through this whole experiment I am learning more about how to prioritize.  This is something I have struggled with in my life:  choosing between “good” and “best”.  It is a process, but I am learning! 

The third realization I want to mention is that I have found myself to be much happier and have felt my life to be more joyous and fulfilling, even in small day-to-day things.  I feel much less stressed (to the delight of my family), and I feel better about myself because I can see that I am actually ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING in my day.

I am finding that eating the elephant tastes good and is extremely satisfying.  Maybe there’s an elephant in your room, too.  Try it—you might like it!

MY NEW YEAR’S REALIZATION

Every New Year’s Day has begun about the same way for me for the past twenty years:  take last year’s list of resolutions, add a few more items onto an already lengthy series of ambitions, re-date the page and hang it on the mirror.  Next comes the pep talk as I gear up to try again:  “This year is going to be different,” I tell myself.  “No, really….it is! I am a different person this year, I can feel it!   This is the year that I will accomplish ALL of the things on my list!”

Is this familiar territory to anyone else, or am I the only person insane enough to live her life like this?

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying that insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  So WHY would I think that starting every New Year in the same fashion will finally change my life?  Truth is, it won’t.  It CAN’T, and it DOESN’T.  I needed a different approach.

I have a friend in Portland who is an incredible inspiration to me.  She is one of those people who accomplishes MUCH with her time.  She is extremely talented in the creative arts (scrapbooking, photography, sewing, etc).  She is a spiritual woman, an amazing mother and homemaker, a phenomenal cook, a successful home-based business owner, and the list goes on and on.  She entertains, she volunteers at church and at school, and she writes several popular blogs.   I think she said that last year she read 54 books (in her copious amounts of spare time, to be sure).  To top things off, she is humble!  I once asked her how in the world she finds the time to do so many extraordinary things.  She said, “I think it is probably that I am easily bored.”

Now, I am not so gullible as to think that’s all there is to her greatness.  Let’s be honest here.  I get easily bored, too.  However, there has always been a television or a bag of potato chips (or both) to take care of that problem for me.  I’m not the kind of person that gets bored and then says to myself “Hey, I’m bored.  I think I’ll go make a quilt,” or “Wow, it sure is boring around here.  I think it’s time I plan a gala for 100 guests.”  I am exaggerating, of course, but therein lies the difference between the likes of me and someone like my friend.  One of us chooses to get things done while the other chooses to think about it for 2 seconds, then watch TV (and/or eat chips).

This New Year’s Day, my friend made the suggestion to her blog readers that they choose a word for the year, as she does; something personal to them that can be a theme on which to base their resolutions.  This was the new approach I needed.  I was positively inspired!

After pondering this challenge for awhile, and after reviewing the way things have gone the past twenty New Years, I found my ultimate word:

 

“REALIZATION”

 

Now, this word has two meanings, both of which are applicable and inspiring in their own ways:  The first definition of realization is “the state of understanding or becoming aware of something.”  The second is “the act of achieving something that was planned or hoped for.”   As I come to the realization about how to change the behaviors that have kept me from achieving my goals these past twenty years, I will ultimately achieve the realization of a level of accomplishment that I, as of yet, have only dreamed about.

Now, I love my lists.  I am the queen of listmaking.  I make my lists of goals to accomplish, and I realize that this is where it has traditionally stopped.  I realize that most days I didn’t usually get much further than that.  Thanks to my new word and my new approach (and, of course, to my friend), however, I also realize that those days must come to an end if I really want things to turn out differently than times past.  I have decided that instead of making a list of “New Year’s Resolutions”,  I am making a list of “New Year’s Realizations.”  This list will be made at the end of each day.  I will list what I have actually accomplished.   I have a feeling that at the end of this year there will be more of my goals realized than all of the past twenty years combined.

I’m off to a good start, I think.  I can already write down a realization for 2011:  “Start a blog” has been on the list for two years running.

 

Please stay tuned…more realizations to come!