The plan was to burst into 2019 fist pumping, screaming “Rah – Rah!” Ready and raring to go, to take on any and all challenges, fix my less than stellar habits and to toss my absolute worst habit, procrastination, out the window. The plan was to make a list of everything I wanted to achieve in 2019; followed by another much longer list outlining all the necessary steps that I needed to take in order to achieve those goals. By now I should have been well on my way to cultivating the good habits needed to kickstart my ambitions, but alas that is not quite the case.
Instead, it has been 3 weeks and a day into the new year and this is my first time blogging, not because I didn’t want to or I couldn’t; but because I am overwhelmed. You know the feeling; the one where you look at your daily To Do List, cringe a bit at the length of it, yet promise yourself, that despite the length you’ll get everything done before you roll into bed at the end of the day.
Well, it has been three weeks and a day into 2019 and I have not been able to complete any of my daily To Do Lists; instead, I keep adding to the list as opposed to completing the tasks already outlined. *Sigh*
The laundry gets done, but then it takes days to get it folded and put away. Or I’ll start working on a case and while focusing on one element of the case, something else, I hadn’t previously thought of, will pop into my head and I’ll spend hours exploring another approach to handling the matter instead of sticking to my original plan of attack because God forbid I could get an idea and not follow it to see where it leads.
I complained to my husband this past weekend that I have not blogged since the year started and his immediate response was, “Why not? You love to blog. Why aren’t you doing it?” I shrugged. Then he smartly added, “Well, you’ve been doing so much. You really haven’t slowed down for a minute.” That’s when it dawned on me that I should focus and what I have done instead of beating myself up for the things I haven’t.
The Christmas decorations had all been taken down and placed back into its storage area well before the first week of the year was completed. As small a task as this may seem you have no idea how proud I am of actually completing it in a timely manner. In past years this daunting task usually takes weeks into the year to get done. Is there anyone else out there like that? I once met a guy, who told me he didn’t take down his fully decorated Christmas tree until June, and the only reason he did was to make room for a new piece of furniture he had purchased. No judgment here, because I am a hell of a procrastinator myself.
I am also proud of the fact that I have been sticking to and committing to my year of yes. At the end of last year, I proclaimed 2019 to be my year of yes, a year in which instead of doubt and too much contemplation and general over thinking I would just say yes to “sane” proposals in an effort to think and act outside of my comfort zone.
So far my year of yes has me adopting a new, healthier lifestyle, going to the Cinema to watch a foreign film entirely in subtitles (which turned out to be one of the most riveting films I have ever seen), and even have me agreeing to go snow tubing, which for a 45-year-old Jamaican female is a big deal.
My year of yes also has me agreeing to invitations to social activities that I would normally have zero interest in, like when my 35-year-old niece, who is all about manifestations and positive thinking, invited me to her Vision Board Making Party. My initial inkling was to flat-out decline the invitation but I reminded myself that it was my year of yes so I gracefully accepted, went and I had a blast. I spent the better part of the first Saturday of 2019 with a bunch of vibrant, proactive, confident ladies, who are all about setting intentions for their lives. It was such an uplifting, exhilarating experience.
It’s so easy for us to focus on what we are not doing, or what we should be doing instead of what we have done. Self-doubt coupled with the notion of “not doing enough” has completely taken over today’s society. We are always striving for bigger and greater things, we always want to do more or be more, I know I am guilty of that, and if we dare fall short of our aspirations, we beat ourselves up, another thing I am guilty of.
Well, this year, I have decided to be nicer to myself. No more drowning myself in guilt for not completing the daily To Do Lists. I will be content with whatever it is that I get done and if for some reason I get absolutely nothing done well tomorrow ushers in another day filled with more opportunities, where I can attempt to make strides or baby steps towards my goals.
Racquel Writes! 