Last week, I recapped the first two of my focuses for 2020: genuine and grow… today I am wrapping up the other two…

GOOD and GOALS.

GOOD was not only a focus for my blog this year, it was also my word of the year. OOF. I did not know how hard it would be sometimes to find the good and how necessary it was to find a mindset that good was OK, and things don’t have to reach the pinnacles of Great! Amazing! Perfection!! 

My Longest and shortest books of the year…

We continue to find the good in family traditions and time together. I had a chance to reflect on and recommend some good podcasts and good books (that was the link to my 2019 favorites, 2020 recommendations are coming soon!!) The second half of the year I cultivated a strong gratitude practice and we have never been more thankful for the library and simple good things.

And Goals… what a weird, weird year it has been for goals and I am already looking forward to setting new ones for 2021. It has been a year of wondering why and how to set goals in limbo, in scaling back to manageable steps during the chaos of
distance learning, and realizing that I still DID take meaningful steps toward my goals anyway thanks to flexibility with my methods and some really good self reflection in my Powersheets. It is just a few days before the new year and I have completed almost 590 intentional/active miles (definitely will hit that number by the end of the year) and read a little over 120 books on top of birthing a baby, keeping that baby alive with my own body (which has its ups and downs), staying on leadership with my MOPS group during what is obviously a difficult year to plan a group based in fellowship (and that had to completely shift time and plans thanks to so many of our kids doing virtual learning), and trying to celebrate both the big and little things in the weirdest time ever. What strikes me as notable is how much I want to dismiss all those things as not counting or not enough. Some things I’ve said to myself are, “Well, I only read that much because I was up late with a baby and because all the other activities in life got cancelled” or “Well, a ton of those miles don’t REALLY count because they were hiking or walks, not full out running” or “well, those celebrations still weren’t quite what I wanted and definitely not what I would have planned in a different year” or “yeah, but you didn’t even end up working this year thanks to the pandemic so…” and on and on and on of dismissing things that took work and planning and that I am actually pretty proud of if I just get out of own way and quiet that perfectionist voice in my head that still haunts me during times where my mental health is not at its best….

I think all of that I made happen in 2020 actually adds up to a LOT considering we were ALL managing some insanely difficult curveballs and on top of that I was battling the crazy anxiety storm of hormones that come at the end of pregnancy/the first year of post partum life.

And that’s a wrap on 2020… here’s hoping 2021 brings a lot less trauma and a lot more safe social possibilities.