The TOUGHEST New Year's Resolution I've ever made!
Welcome to 2017 ladies! It’s a new year. A fresh start. New beginnings. And if you are like me, you’ve already got a New Year’s resolution in full swing. I’m pretty sure I can’t remember a year that I didn’t have a New Year’s resolution. For a Type A, “every thing has a goal”, entrepreneur like myself, not having a New Year’s resolution is kinda forbidden. I’ve always been the girl who was working towards achieving some goal whether it was personal or business. I start off with a goal, the plan to make it happen, and a course of action. And typically I am FULLY committed. If I’m losing 10 lbs. then I have hit the gym without stopping since Monday. I’ve meal prepped, labeled, and separated out all my meals for the entire week. One year, I had planned to read the entire bible. I had a full print out of how much I was going to read every day. For my business, each year I have set a sales goal for the entire year. I’ve figured out what sales will need to be met for each month and get to the hustle. Is that you? Are you in full swing right now? What’s on your resolution list?
But here’s the catch. Every year, no matter how committed I am to achieving the “goal”, I fail. By the end of the third week, I’m skipping workouts and slacking on the meal prep. Or I’ve missed chapters of reading and I’m so far behind I can’t get caught up. So then I just start skipping over the part in Genesis where it lists all those names of the families and descendants. (You laugh but I know some of you know exactly what I’m talking about!) Or maybe we had a terrible freeze in January so sales plummet. It happens to the best of us. Am I right? But aren’t goals and resolutions good? Aren’t they actually to make you change for the better? Well yes and I think there are definitely people who can make these changes and really improve their quality of life. But I’m not that person. Instead, when I don’t meet my goal. I’m disappointed, badly. And I allow the chatterbox in my head to tell me “I wasn’t dedicated enough.” “Why keep going when you’ve made no progress.” “You didn’t sell “x” amount because you didn’t have the right inventory.” I have allowed my value to be based off of my failures rather than just the person I am today. Is that you? Do you have that little voice in your head that tells you that you can’t do it? And it doesn’t even take resolutions for this little voice to pop up. I hear it daily. Scrolling through Instagram and you see this mom with a full face of make-up and perfectly curled hair and she’s smiling with her adorable little styled child and the quote says “A day of errands. Love him!” and your secretly thinking… “ Wow. She really has it together. She looks cute just to go to Target. I’m just sitting here with a holey white shirt, crooked glasses with a prescription that is way out of date, and a messy bun with hair that hasn’t been washed in 4 days. I really wish I could be like her, but I’m not” (Ps. I just totally described my outfit while I am typing this blog! ;) ) And it’s not the voice that says “I don't care! I am what I am!” it’s the voice that says “I really need to try harder.” Fail. You beat yourself up for not meeting the standard that YOU set for yourself. That’s me, all the time.
This year, I’ve decided that’s not how it’s going to be. This year, I’m making the hardest New Year’s Resolution I’ve ever made and I want to challenge you do it with me. My New Year’s resolution is Grace. To fully give myself Grace to fully accept myself for the wonderful woman that God created me to be. I can tell you right now, it’s gonna be really hard. Quite possibly one of the hardest things I have done because I am so hard on myself. Is that you too? I mean daily I beat myself up over something. Today, my battle was the fact that I wasn’t prepared in inventory for this week. And I tell myself “Well, it was a slow sales week because YOU weren’t prepared.” Fail. But if I’m being really vulnerable, my biggest struggle is my appearance. And the sad part about it, I am almost positive many of you struggle with it as well.
In order to make this change, I have realized one thing I have to do is remove my focus from myself. So my first step in this process is going to be reminding you of how truly amazing you are! My dear sweet reader on the other side of this screen, I want you to know how loved you are. You are not loved because of your successes or your failures, you are loved because you are YOU! You were loved before you were even created. There is this guy named Jesus and I am telling you he LOVES you BIG TIME! Maybe today you didn’t feel like you were good enough, but I want you to know you are. And you need to know that you are BEAUTIFUL! Breath-taking actually. Your smile, it lights up the world. Your personality brings joy. You presence brings happiness. Not just to me, but to lots of other people as well!
Okay, now I want you to think of someone who really means a lot to you. Maybe it’s a family member or a friend. Got that person in mind? Great, now go find their number in your phone and start a text message.
I want you to copy this message to them.
“Hey you! You were on my heart today. I’ve been thinking about you lately and I really wanted you to know how thankful I am that you are in my life. When I think about the glue that holds me together, you are definitely apart of it. I wanted you to know that you are beautiful too! And your friendship is something that I cherish. I’m not sure if you’re making a New Year’s resolution or not, but whether you accomplish it or not, you will always be enough! Love you.”
Okay, now go! Send it. Once your done, copy and paste the link to this blog and send that too. She’ll read the blog as well and hopefully she will pass it along to another friend of hers! I am hoping that we all send each other these messages as affirmation that we are TRULY LOVED and we are all TRULY ENOUGH! And that grace is ours to receive.
For those of you who are setting new goals this year, I am praying that you have the endurance to achieve them. But if you don’t— you are still just as beautiful!
As always, thanks for taking the time to read a little bit of my thoughts. I am just so grateful for the group of women that I have been blessed to be surround by. We may not know each other personally, but just the simple fact that you’re reading this blog I know we are friends!
Blessings,
Tara
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