Good Morning Girls!  Well what do you know....today we are going to talk about goals again!  You may or may not remember, but I started out the year saying I was going to share some of the lessons I learned over  the years regarding goals.  It seemed perfectly logical as goal setting has been a constant in my life for years, and it was New Years Resolution time.....the time when those who don't normally set goals even attempt one or two.

I had a list of all of the tips I was going to share.  I was even going to walk you all through the specifics of writing and put into action clear, measurable goals.  I was excited, as goal setting is one of my favorite topics.  I was going to to do all of these things.......

And then...... well...... life got in the way.....as it often does!  Suddenly I found myself trying to cling to my own personal goals in addition to the goals I had in my heart of things to do with and for others.  Many of my goals fell to the wayside, and the ones that I clung to most are still in place.....just not as consistently or predictably as I had hoped.  Not only hoped, but methodically and strategically planned out!

So what do you do when your goals either implode suddenly or slowly fall to the wayside?  There are two reactions you can have.  The first reaction is to dwell on it.  To tell yourself you are a loser and will never get it right.  You can sit around and feel like a failure and compare yourself to everyone else who has or is achieving the same goals that you just failed at again.  You can give up, hate yourself, and forget about making any positive changes in your life.

OR

You can simply LET IT GO........

Aaaaahhhhhhh........Letting go.  It is so very liberating!  What does letting go mean exactly?  Well letting go means you simply shrug your shoulders and say "well that is that is not the way I thought or planned things to go"........and you leave it at that!  You do not include any self criticism, self doubt, or self torture! 

Now letting go does not mean you let go of your goals.  Once the dust settles you can go back to your goals and examine them one by one.  Perhaps the timing on them is off......like training for a marathon when you have 3 young children at home......the goal is not wrong, the training schedule you researched is not wrong, perhaps the timing is simply not right.

Maybe after careful examination you realize you could care less about the goal you had set.  You only set it because you felt like you "should" or because everyone else had set that goal.  The reason it fell to the wayside is because you do not feel passionate....you don't even care about that goal.......let it go........

I know what I am talking about!  I have had to practice this many times over the years!  I used to go with reaction number one....the one where I felt like a loser, a failure, a hopeless mess, whenever I failed at a goal.  I finally got sick of the self loathing and I learned reaction number two.......let it go.......

It's nice to not hate yourself and say mean things to yourself in your head all day......

You think I am perfect....HA!  I have to let it go almost daily.  I didn't work out this morning.....let it go.  I still have not acknowledged one birthday for the Girls in my discussion group even though it was at the top of my priority list.....let it go.  I have had dessert for 5 days in a row even though my goal was a 40 days sugar fast.......let it go.  My blogs are inconsistent.....let it go.  My house is never quite in order.....let it go.  Last night I ended up sitting with my Bible in my lap for 3 hours watching Legends of the Fall instead of opening my Bible.......let it go!  

So when I shrug and say "that's not the way I planned for things to go" does it mean I walk away for good?  No.  I will go back and trouble shoot and try again.  But the less than perfect moment, well.........I.........LET IT GO! 

No, dear Girls, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting (and letting go of) the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling me!- Philippians 3:13-14 NLT (and a little bit of Jen) Translation

Love, grace, and a life of letting go to you all,
Jen