This past year and a half has been a year of changes for me. Exhaustion and stress forced me to do something to improve my life. I started with my health and moved onto metal and spiritual health. The thing is I have made changes that have been lasting and I have discovered that I am happier and less stressed. It took me by surprise when I had the Epiphany that I was actually just happy for no reason. That was about 6 weeks ago and the happiness has continued.
I have tried to make changes before and have not succeeded. What was different this time? I believe that this time, it was a whole life approach. I am not just trying to lose weight because I should. I am doing it to get off the meds and be around for the long haul with my grandkids. (family and health) I am taking time to craft daily, mostly sewing/quilting, and I feel more creative and productive. (self worth) I listen to Conference talks and get fed spiritually daily. (spiritual growth) All of these have led to a happier and less stressed life. A whole health approach.
What was different this time. I committed to the change and when I failed at it, I just started over. My best example is the blogging challenge I started in December. It was supposed to be 31 days straight of blogging. It could be just a couple of sentences, just as long as you blogged. I didn't blog everyday. Some days I blogged twice trying to catch up. In the end I blogged a total of 28 times but only on 23 days. Technically this is my 29th post and 24th day. But I decided to try again starting over in the new year. Today is Day 1 Post 1.
The awesome support of my family and friends is also helping. Co workers are cheering me on and comment on the positive changes.
Committing to new things is the only way to succeed at them. But if it's not something you believe in or something you really want to change, it won't happen. You have to really want it to keep starting over when you fall short.
My commitments to change this year are mostly to keep trying and start over when I fall short.
What am I realistically going to work on?
1. Weight and Health - I have lost 80 pounds in the last 20 months. I have at least 40 more to lose. Just like everyone else I have back slid over the holidays. Starting on 1/3. I am going to restrict my starches and drink more water. I am going to figure out how to be more physically active. More on that later.
2. Quilting /crafting: Quilting - I am going to stitch every day. I have been doing it in the morning before work and that seems to make for a better day. For my long arm skills, I am going to try and finish a quilt a month. I would like to say each week but I am not sure I will be able to do that right now. So at least one a month.
3. Training/education: Work - one of my work goals is to learn more about six sigma and there are some training programs I can do on line. I will set aside the time at work to do this.
For my personal life: I am going to learn more about using my long arm. I will start with the videos and try to put what I learn into practice. I hope to save enough money this year to take some in person lessons on using quilt path. If that can't happen then maybe do a virtual class.
I am also going to take sewing machine repair course with my son. Then hopefully we can restore my machines. We would be certified so we could do sewing machine repair as a side hustle.
4. Spiritual: I will continue with listening to conference talks. I would also like to start a challenge that President Nelson issues a few years ago. It is learning more about Christ. I would like to make this my evening ritual. I will use a journal and the topical guide to reference/read scriptures that describe the attributes of Christ.
5. Social Media - I am going to try and blog on my wellness blog daily. I am committing to blogging on my quilting blog weekly. I hope to start posting to instagram on a weekly basis as well, I still haven't quite worked out, how, what and when.
Those are my main commitments this year. There will be side commitments that supplement them, Like the Declutter Challenge, or Queen of UFO's or even the WIPS Be Gone challenge. I am sure I will find more to help me.
What are your commitments?
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