You have an opportunity before you
Happy New Year! As bleak as you may feel with your husband in prison, it can still become a very happy year. You have a tremendous opportunity in front of you; the opportunity to change your family’s legacy.
For most people, living in mediocrity just sneaks up on them. Like the proverbial frog in the pot—they do not even realize things are not going well for them until it is too late. When your husband went to prison—you had your wake-up call! You are wide awake and very aware of the things in your life that need to be changed.
You have the opportunity of a lifetime.
Know that you can change your family’s destiny for generations to come. It may seem cliché to set a New Year’s Resolution, but it is a great time to get your goals down on paper. I personally think every day is a good day for resolutions. I am very resolute in pursuing my dreams now.
When Ron went to prison, I was living moment to moment. We had both forgotten how to dream. We lived in the moment, check to check, disappointment to disappointment. But when Ron went to prison, we both woke up. We realized that was not the life we wanted to live—and it certainly was not the legacy we wanted to leave for our children. We knew we had to learn to dream again.
Dreaming takes a big dose of HOPE. Without hope, you cannot dream.
Hope is then activated by faith. Without faith, you cannot have hope. Faith breeds hope; hope inspires dreams. My faith is in Jesus; my faith triggered hope for a better future in the Lord; and my hope allowed me to dream and see clearly what I had to do to achieve those dreams. You can learn to dream again, but you have to take the first step of having faith.
Setting resolutions should thus not be taken lightly. This is not having an idea, or trying something different. A resolution is a commitment to actually DO something, complete something, to not let anything stop you from accomplishing what you seek. Think carefully about what you want to achieve.
What are you chasing? I have chased many things in my life. Most of the time, the things I thought were really important weren’t. I discovered the most important race to win is the Dream Chaser race. Let me ask you a very important question. Do you have a dream?
Here is how I set my goals for a new year (my New Year’s Resolutions);
- Write your goals. When I first began to do this, I wrote my goals for the next month. Now, I write my goals for the next 5 years. Decide what your goals are—short term or long term and then write them down.
- Make a list of what you can do to meet your goals. Only things YOU can do should be on this list.
- Choose 4 goals for the next year. Start with one goal to begin in January, then you will add your next goal on April 1st. Your third goal will be added on July 1st, and your final goal for 2019 will be added on October 1st. Chunking them into quarters will make meeting your goals achievable!
- Track your progress. Buy a simple date book from the dollar store and write down what you did toward meeting your goals EVERY DAY. Do not let a day end without doing at least one thing toward your goals.
If you follow my advice, then you will meet 4 goals in one year. You will be well on your way to changing your family’s legacy. Let’s make 2019 the best year yet! You can do it.
I am rooting for you!
Cathy