Thoughts About Stuff

Monday night is upon me and I find myself snuggled up with my newly acquired Earl Grey tea and adorable yellow mug as I get inspired by contestants on Biggest Loser. Although I enjoy the show, the 2 hour run time leaves me with ample time to focus on other things during commercials and lulls in the show. This evening I have the urge to write and after reviewing my last few posts I decided that I had to write about anything beyond food. I enjoy my trials and successes with my Aluminum Chef challenge for myself, but I need to mix things up now and again.

Goals has been the theme of this week's episode and contestants are setting personal goals and challenging those in their community and America as a whole to set goals and improve their lives with small steps. I can relate to the lack of self control that many of these individuals struggle with except mine is not in the arena of food. I lack self control in other areas of my life such as self improvement, specifically in the spiritual realm.

Overwhelmed. This is the emotion I often feel whenever I attempt to set goals for myself. I start off extremely enthusiastic and ready to take on everything in the world. Lent this year has been a prime example. I felt like I needed to improve my relationship with God and Lent was an ideal jumping off point. Like every other time I set goals, this time I went overboard. I decided to give up several food and beverage items, add daily quite times, fast on Sundays, add more prayer, add more time in the Word, and exercise more.

As I looked forward to the events coming up I began to realize how inconvenient I would be to others if I tried to follow all these rules so I marked off a few. Then Lent began and I did good with no soft drinks, but as they days added up so did the amount of things I needed to accomplish each day. Instead of enjoying reading the Bible and praying I found myself frustrated with the chore ahead of me. I rushed through and got less out of it than before and it suddenly began to dawn on me that this is my pattern. I set too many goals and then when I can't do every single thing on my list I feel disappointed in myself and worthless so I give up on a lot of things.

My approach is what needs to change. I don't have a problem with food because I don't think about it excessively and make it a chore. I eat when I'm hungry and don't count calories or give myself reasons to feel guilty. Finally I am taking a cue from my healthy eating habits and applying it to the remainder of my life. I am happiest when I don't have a set schedule. This freedom allows me to not feel guilty because I don't set myself up for failure. I made a vague goal instead for this Lent to grow closer to God.

I am accomplishing my goal by attending church on Wednesday and Sunday nights every week. I love going to church and look forward to these services. I also am praying when I think about it instead of at a set time. These steps appear small, but they increase my desire to know God better and improve our relationship. They eliminate the mandatory chore feeling from previous attempts.

Now I pray, read the Bible, and attend church when I want to and it happens more increasingly as I am no longer forcing myself to out of obligation. I am so tired of feeling guilty and so I won't do it any more. Henceforth I am going to work on becoming a better person in small achievable steps. I should have known being an avid ready that small goals would work better for me than large ones because the books I read fastest are filled with a multitude of small chapters. When there is an end in sight I can strive forward more easily and with each new success I am more motivated to attempt a new achievement.

I challenge you to pick an area in your life that you want to make better and set a small goal. See what happens; you might just surprise yourself and triumph. I adore good writing and good quotes so I leave you with a few for motivational fodder:

With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. -Eleanor Roosevelt

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. -Thomas Alva Edison

You are never too old to set another goal or dream another dream. -C.S. Lewis

Even if you fall on your face, you are still moving forward. -Victor Kiam