Sixteen

Day Sixteen:  I don’t know where I’m going, but I know what I’ve lost

On Setting Goals…

I was going to write about a lot of different things today, lots of idea’s, but I figured that this was the sum of all of those idea’s.  Fitness?  There’s a goal at the end.  Organisation?  An ultimate goal.  I could write about a lot of things, but something I’ve found that has been a keeper and successful tool in my life has been setting goals.  Setting attainable goals as well as those Big Girl Dreams that sit in the background, just beyond the horizon. 

Academically it is easy for a student to say “I want an A” or “I want good enough grades for graduate school,” which are both relatively important, but I think I’ve just sunk to the point of setting the attainable “I work to do my best.”  My best doesn’t really look like a goal, but in post-secondary I think it’s important to focus on the journey of getting to that goal as well as the goal itself.  Once I get to my best, I’m just going to set another goal anyway.  Why not set a goal that is ever changing on its own?  Bam, done.

Otherwise, life goals come and go.  I want to grow up and be happy.  I think that is another ever-changing goal, as my happiness changes day-to-day, my idea of happiness, etc. etc.  I think life goals are the kinds of things someone determines on their own.  If someone else decides your life goals I think its time to take a step back.  Think about what you want and really think about that.  I really do think it is important to focus on what’s important to YOU and not anyone else.  Make small, attainable goals leading up to the bigger thing, and bam, done. 

Not saying that every goal is achievable, realistic, sane, or any other expected assumption about not attaining goals, because I’ve hardly reached any of the ones I’ve set, but I think that working towards one thing you know you want and being confident in those decisions benefits you as a person, it is healthy to fail, and it is healthy to move on, and it is healthy to support yourself when things get rough.  Changing goals makes me feel in control of my life.

So what then, what about getting to those goals?  That is a personal thing.  I can’t make you achieve your dreams, you’ve got to go out and do that for yourself.  I’m still coming to trms with the malleability of goals, and how nothing is truly stable and everything is ephemeral and changing and alive.  I just know how important they are to me, and to set small goals like “read for two hours tonight,” despite how trivial it is it gets me closer to the greater goal, and I have to make that happen.

You are the decider of your own life.

I sound silly, but I believe these things, and its fine if you disagree, but that’s how I see things, that’s what is important in my life.  I make lists and talk schedules out and create outlines and intense plans, do all of them come out working properly everytime?  Uh no, not often.  Does it help my anxiety?  Yes.  It’s my system, that’s all I wanted to say.

So this term I have big goals.  Like I want to stay active, learn a lot, do my best, stay connected to the people I love, eat well, and have fun.  Smaller goals of the week:  sleep, see the people I love, make one new meal, listen in class, and drink lots of tea.  Whoever said that New Year’s Resolutions were a myth haven’t met me.  You’re reading my 2013 resolution, big goal, little by little I am getting there.

Sorry if this was as all over the place as I imagine it is.  I don’t edit these if you haven’t noticed, but they help me lay out my thoughts.  Goals man, they’re the shit.

Hugs,

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