Whales

I woke up this morning after some pretty crazy dreams - I'm talking blue whales up close crazy. One dream interpretation that I read said that I might be dealing with things that were overwhelming me. Do you ever try to go through your dream after you had it? Well, that's what I was doing which led to me NOT being able to go back to sleep. My thoughts turned to me, myself and I and what the heck am I doing here? We're partway into January, the month of new beginnings and what have I done? Not much, things are the same and I haven't really done anything to alter the course of the sameness of my life. I hate new year's resolutions, I always fail miserably at them. But I do really like the thought of changing things - it's the work I hate. I read in a magazine last month that you shouldn't make long term goals like a new year's resolution lays before you, a year is a long time to try and stick with something. But instead you should try and set smaller goals, say, a three month goal and after 3 months do it again so on and so forth.


So, what areas in my life need improvement or change? What are the overwhelming "whales" if you will,  that are plaguing me in the conscience realm?  Can we say just about all of them? There's always room for improvement, right? I began to think about what areas I would compartmentalize my life and I came up with 4: spiritual, physical, emotional and financial. Perhaps I should come up with a goal for each of those areas and attack my personal change that way. Seems doable. So here we go.


SPIRITUAL: I've already begun attacking this goal and this one will last all year - it's to read the bible through this year and to also elaborate my thoughts on the blog while I read.  For the short term spiritual goal I would like to attend a small group study and begin building strong relationships with other women who love the Lord and can help me with my walk and maybe I can help them as well... my first meeting is this coming Wednesday.


PHYSICAL: ((Sigh)) So much work to be done here, it's overwhelming. So where can I start? Where should I start? Where's a place to start that will make a difference that will encourage me to continue? Everyone has an opinion as to the best way to lose weight and get healthy and everyone's opinion always sounds so great to me, in theory, but in reality, it overwhelms me and makes me not want to even try. Here's what I'm going to do... I am going to stop eating so late at night - I never have ice cream at noon, it's always at 9:30 at night - so for the next 3 months I am going to set the goal of not eating past 8pm. This could be difficult for me! We go to church on Saturday nights and we don't get home until almost 8 - ((gulp)). The other step I'm going to take for my physical goal is to exercise at least 3x's a week. We got a Wii Fit for Christmas and I am wondering if this thing really works or just a lot of hype - so I will use Wii Fit at least 3x's a week a minimum of 30 minutes and we'll see where that gets us. 


EMOTIONAL: Ok, I will admit it, I am a negative and critical person a lot of the time. Why I'm that way I have no idea. I think I read somewhere that it has to do with not really liking myself, but I'm not sure. As I lay in bed this morning thinking about this whole negative/critical thing I kept wanting to run away from it but it kept tripping me up, I took that as a message from God that He would like me to work on this. My goal is to speak only positive, uplifting things... I might not have much to say the next few months.


FINANCIAL: It may not seem like finances should be included in the compartments of my life, but our finances hang over my head on a daily basis, so I would say that constitutes some major attention. Honestly, we have made some really poor decisions in the past that have all caught up with us and now prevent us from the things we really want in life. My husband doesn't bring home the biggest paycheck in all the land, but it's not the smallest either. It is what the Lord has provided for us which means that it's more than enough, so why do I always feel like it's not? This week church sent out a budget sheet and I am resolved to work on it sometime in the next day or so and for the next 3 months we are going to stick to that budget if it kills me, and it just might! I am a giver by nature, I love to give gifts, make dinner, decorate the house, go do fun things, all of which cost money, but it's time I gave my family and myself an even greater gift, to step towards financial freedom and the life that we want to live, not the life we have to live. 


There it is, in black and white, if I follow these things change should happen. It's only 3 months, I can do this. Read my bible every day and attend a small group. No eating after 8 pm and exercising at least 3x's a week for 30 minutes. Speaking positive, uplifting words. And sticking to a budget. How long am I doing this for again? God help me, please. 


What are your overwhelming whales? Do you have goals that you've set to capture these whales once and for all? Do you have a system of accountability set up? What is your motivation? If you started on January 1st, it's not the 9th, how are you doing?


I'd love to hear thoughts and encouragement, tips and lessons learned.


Chasing my whales and staying positive in the journey!