As the holidays flew by and the new year creeped closer and closer I began scribbling away making goals and setting standards for myself and what I NEEDED to accomplish in the year ahead of me.

2017- The year of ME – yup this is it, I am changing my life.  

Days passed by and New Years day came and went. Failure. The first month of the new year and I can’t even keep a resolution.

Oyyy toss that failure crap out the window – you don’t need a new year to make lifestyle changes and just because that ball drops and the calendar starts over again, doesn’t mean that anything is magically going to change over night. You cannot just fix a lifetime of bad habits just because you wrote them down on paper.

Chop Wood Carry Water, if you haven’t read it, do it.  It is a very quick read with a boatload of information, I promise it is worth it.

I wanted so bad for my resolutions to come true, but I didn’t commit to the work needed to reach them. This book is eye opening.  Some of the chapters and lessons may seem so cheesy, but the bigger picture and the applications you make to your own life are truly life changing (if you let them).

So, I have decided that January was a month of self-realization, and that is okay. 

The lessons I have learned this month have also opened my eyes to how much ‘noise’ is in my life – how many things I do or feel obligated to that are just serving no purpose to me, or I am not utilizing them to their full potential.

While I won’t go into them and bore you with the details of my noise and make my noise yours I will suggest you think about your own noise.

• How many Facebook Groups are you in that you get countless notifications for a day, but aren’t an active part of the group, or just get distracted by it – do they bring value or enjoyment to your life? Are they serving a purpose or just a distraction?
• Is there something you participate in just to please someone else? Are you a part of a fitness group or see a personal trainer, hair stylist, nail tech, etc just because you feel bad if you would back out or end your ‘relationship’?
• Do you get distracted or annoyed at small issues or drama in your workplace that really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things?
• Do you feed into or play the corporate America game working harder and harder caring deeply about your job, when you are just a number to them?
• Are there people in your life who just constantly bring you down? Maybe it is just their energy or mannerisms, or just rub you the wrong way, but you keep them in your life?
• Do other peoples opinions distract you from what you truly want?

I could seriously go on and on, but the point is sit and reflect.  I work two jobs and bust my butt in my free time, but when I sat and looked at what it was that I was doing in some of my free time it was discouraging.  I saw that I was doing things that weren’t serving a purpose in my life weren’t feeding my true desires and dreams. So I am vowing to make changes.  REAL, TRUE life changes.

As I sit here with this brutal illness going around I am thankful for it. Sometimes life throws you these illnesses to force you to take a break and slow down to reflect.

So today – I will make DECISIONS, not resolutions, not goals. “Decisions happen, resolutions don’t”

When you DECIDE to make things happen, you have made the CHOICE to put in the effort. Always remember you are in control.

 

Get it boo!

xox,

J