How is my resolve holding out?

   As the last week in January comes I find it hard to believe that only a month ago we were winding down from Christmas and getting ready for a new start in 2012.  It made me look back a bit to see how my January has gone.

   Surprisingly a lot of my resolutions are still holding their resolve.  Perhaps because I made them into several small steps I could take every week.  And there are a few that I have not been doing consistently...yet.  I think I can pick them up as I start getting back into a routine.  I am also considering that perhaps some of these goals can be shifted around a bit.  Meaning I can focus on some more each month and some less.  That not only gives them some flexibility, but I think it will also keep me from getting bored or overwhelmed by my lack of progress.  I hope at least.  I am concerned that there is also a possibility that if I don't focus on all of them continually I run the risk of never setting up good habits.  I think I remember that it takes 21 days to make a habit and 3 days to break one, so goals like regular exercise or focusing on my husband more can't really be moved around much, but some things like spending more time with friends can be focused on more some months than others. 

   Not surprisingly I am not accomplishing some of the goals as quickly as I would like.  I do have a whole year to do them, but every week I have a few small steps to complete towards each goal and some of those are not getting done on my time frame.  Perhaps some of them are unrealistic, given the small amount of time I have every week, but some seasons are busier than others, so I keep thinking there is hope for me.  And come July if a lot of things are still left undone I guess I will have a better idea if my expectations are unrealistic or if my time management skills are. 

I'm Just Too Busy

    Funny thing about this time of year is that we tend to look back and evaluate what we've done and think about the things we want to do.  We can call them resolutions or goals, but I think most of us really do have a "resolve" to make something in our life a little better.  Once the hectic atmosphere of Christmas passes I always feel like there are things that I want to do better next year---don't we all?  I know a lot of us hate to make resolutions that we won't keep, but if you're anything like me, you know there are things in your life that need to change.

   Which is why I am back here on my blog.  I have not kept up with it the way I imagined and over the last couple months I have been thinking that I would just let my blog become inactive.  I am just not a blogger I said to myself...I just don't have time for it...and many other excuses I could come up with.

    To be honest it was hard for me to even sit down this morning and write, because I haven't written anything in several months and I feel a bit sheepish.  However, I realized that for the last few months I have just been making excuses.  The truth is we make time for the things that are important to us.  I know as a homeschool mom I am always busy, but I also know that if my best friend calls I will stop and take a few minutes to talk to her.  If one of my kids gets sick I will take them to the doctor.  I routinely take the dogs for a walk and clean my house, and I homeschool.  Even though these things can eat up my time (and A LOT of it) and sometimes make me cranky the truth is they are important to me and I am not too busy to do them.  I have made choices about those things (conscious or unconscious).  

   If I hadn't enjoyed blogging then that would be a different thing, then it wouldn't be quitting.  It would have been an experience.  No different than trying a new food and deciding it's not something you would eat again.  No one feels like a failure for not eating something they didn't like after giving it a try or even two.  However, I do enjoy blogging.  I just felt frustrated that I had great ideas of what to put in my blog and then when I finally sat down to do it at the end of the day I wasn't motivated, or the post I had thought of earlier is no longer to be found in my brain.  I felt like it wasn't as wonderful as I thought.  So, in essence even though I didn't think I was making a conscious decision to quit I was.  Every thing we do in life is by our choice whether we do something or do nothing.  Letting things go by the wayside, whether it's friendships, or hobbies or a blog, is a choice to not do those things. 

    So here I am again, because I enjoy blogging.  I am here again because if we try again then we aren't failing.  If Edison could attempt to make the incandescent lightbulb thousands of times before finally getting the right combination then I have many attempts to fit blogging into my life and find the way that it works for me. 

   For that matter as I start 2012 I have many attempts to "re-try" other things in my life that haven't gone the way I wanted them to this year, and maybe I will finally succeed, or maybe I will have to try again next year, we'll see.