Fresh Start Monday

Yay! I’m back on schedule! I’m starting the next two weeks of my Life Zones today. I really like the idea of a fresh start on a regular basis, because it really helps me to stay motivated to work on these things. Newness is invigorating and “they” say that we all have the tendency to lose motivation after working on something for a period of time. So why not use everything in my arsenal to keep up my motivation? Of course, I do intend to continue working on the changes I implemented before, so I’m definitely not abandoning those things. But, by bringing in new things, I feel my motivation kicked up all the way around. This is something I’ve learned from my Worship Pastor – keep things fresh and new to keep them alive. We need fresh air, water, and food everyday for our bodies to keep them alive, plants need fresh air, water, and soil on a regular basis to keep them alive. I need fresh pursuits on a regular basis to keep my motivation alive. Does that mean my motivation will never wane? Of course not; I’ll still have those days when I’m tired or not feeling well physically or emotionally, and I’ll still need to make myself do things sometimes that I simply don’t feel like doing. I can already foresee a major challenge to my motivation in the next couple of weeks – Shawn is going out of town for a few days this week and a few days next week. That means I will have to do more, will be more tired, and more overwhelmed. I will have to figure out how to juggle Todd’s and Sadey’s schedule with Korrynn’s school schedule, and I still need to do everything that I need to do. But I’m up for the challenge. (And I’d better mean it if I’m going to say it, so I don’t say it lightly!) I plan to stay on the wagon, and if I fall off, I’m going to get back on!

So that being said, here’s my Life Zone challenges for the next two weeks:

Personal – I’ve found that with the school schedule I have less time in the morning for computer time, which translates into less blogging time. So I’m going to start getting up at 6:00 every morning to give me adequate time. That also means I need to go to bed sooner (This is a biggie for me because I like staying up late, though lately I haven’t been able to. So I fall asleep on the couch or recliner when I could be upstairs in bed. It’s the idea of going to bed “early” that I have to get my head around.)

Relational – Making daily one-on-one time with my husband a priority. We are currently taking The Marriage Course, so we have some extra motivation in this area. When Shawn is out of town this means that we’ll need to talk on the phone without distractions.

Physical – Jogging 2 miles 2 days a week via the Wii. I decided that this is one goal that I really need to keep working on. I haven’t come close to making this a regular part of my life yet.

Home – Making sure that there are no dirty dishes left in the sink before I go to bed.

Social – Finding ways to perform my volunteer duties more efficiently. I still need to work on this because the new school schedule has been an obstacle here.

Financial – Working more closely with Shawn on the budget, setting short-term goals (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) for our money rather than just tracking our spending through the budget spread sheet. (I’ll go more in depth on this in another post.)

So there you have it. I challenge you to set your own goals and let me know how it’s going. I’d love to get a discussion going and to build a support network. This blog has helped me feel less alone in my daily challenges, and I my prayer is that it does the same for others as well.