The holidays are here and now is the time that many people wake up and begin taking inventory of their year. We start to remember the promises that we’ve made to ourselves, our children or our God and many, many of us start down the lonely road of depression. Depression because we spent another year in a bad relationship or in an unhealthy environment. We’re depressed because we failed to lose the 15 – 20 lbs that we made a resolution on lose last year. We’re kicking ourselves in the behind because we have given someone else another year of our creativity, time and energy even though we said we were going to find another job. The last 45 days of the year are often the hardest days for many to face because we don’t carefully plan the other 320 days.
Let me correct a common misunderstanding. A plan is simply not a list of things that we are going to do on certain days. A plan is an explanation of who, what, when, why and how. Creating a plan for achieving a goal takes work… almost as much work as actually performing the activity. Plans have rules and restrictions. Plans hold us accountable to ourselves and others, yet plans leave room for critique, review and adequate adjustments.
It is not second nature to properly plan for transition. We are typically not taught how to be intentional in our lives. We are a culture of people who were raised off messages such as, “Go with the flow,” “Let Go and Let God,” “If it’s meant to be it will,” and there is relevance to those expressions except when used deceitfully. There is balance to everything so I remind you that yes you should, “Be still and wait on him,” but remember also that faith without works is dead. In all things there is a required action.
You must be the change in your life. You must initiate the new direction. Creating a list of resolutions at the end of each year is a pointless tradition if you are not willing to go the next step and formulate a plan to create those desires. Here is a complementary coaching session. Write down three things you want to achieve/do/or change in the next year. Now what are you willing to do to achieve/do/or change those things? Finally what actions will you perform, when, how, where and why will you do them? Spend some time with this exercise. If you need help consider a life coach. I offer phone consultations for those of you that are not in the Metro-Atlanta area.
People often say “Lord, order my steps”…but like most, I thought I was suppose to ” Be still and wait on God”. Once I became spiritually and emotionally mature I began to know my God in a totally different light. God knows the plans He has for me, but it is up to me to plan accordingly to get to what He will have me be. Point taken, who I am (delivered, healed, free) determines what I will do.
I have a 1 year goal plan that I put together prayerfully. It was difficult at first because fear attempted to creep in, memories of past failure invaded my mind, I struggled so hard with it because I began to doubt if it was all possible. I felt the terror of grief over the possible losses I will have to face. I was shocked that I was feeling that. Ms. Faithful herself! But boy was it real. And after praying about this goal/action plan I felt a sense of relief. Mainly because I prayed, but more importantly I believe God spoke. What ever I put on this Goal/Action plan I deserve and He WILL bless. God told me that He will never allow me to venture so far away from Him, or wherever I may detour and fall, He will be there. No matter what rock I may find myself up under, He will always be with me. He will always find a way to get my attention and let me know He is within. With that, I confidently move towards each goal I have. I longingly look towards the future. I patiently wait on God to speak or move INSIDE of me, all the while I’m climbing the ladder to my Godly purpose on earth. To serve.
When we ask God…”Please, order my steps!” we must know that we are required to move, take steps, by FAITH!
Comment by Jamayca Mize — November 29, 2009 @ 8:40 pm
Thank you for your sincere outreach. My concern is do I dare try to commit myself one more time to lose weight. I have tried so many times, but eventually year, after year, after year another year comes to the end and at the end of the year, if any thing I’ve gain instead. Now I find myself wrapped in fear to try again, any suggestions?
Comment by Jena Brown — November 30, 2009 @ 9:02 am
Greetings Jena,
Thank you for sharing both your comment and your question. Without knowing all of the details that make up the story of your life or the reason for your weight gain (physical, emotional, etc) it is hard to give you an answer. If I were your counselor I would want to explore the reason for the weight gain, your day to day activities and the reasons why weight loss has not happened the way that you’ve wanted it to in the past. Many times eating is an addiction and losing weight requires a life change not simply a fad diet. Are you willing to change the way that you live in order to lose the weight? Are you willing to shop differently, make time for work outs, form a support system, and examine your self-talk? If you answer yes then sure…commit yourself to the weight loss program and make sure that you have a plan. If you know in your heart that you’re not ready to do those things then don’t set yourself up for failure. Maybe your goal should not be to lose weight, but to change the way that you eat or add a certain amount of exercise to your routine. Whatever you do, don’t give up on you.
Comment by admin — November 30, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
Thank you for this great reminder. We ofter set ourselves up to be beat up because we have great intentions that are not backed by a means of execution. The plan provides us structure and a means to measure our progress. The plan may start off one way and may be adjusted later as seen fit in order to achieve the goal. We plan trips, we plan events, we plan on how to win games but we often fail to plan our own lives.
Thank you again Andrea for this reminder and also letting us know that if we can hire a travel agent for a trip, an event planner for an event or a coach for a game that we can also use a life coach for our lives.
Comment by Tarik — December 2, 2009 @ 4:58 am