Resolution Overload

Have you made a new year's "resolution?"   Or have you made a bunch of them?  When I woke up at 5 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep because I was so excited about the day that I planned for myself,  I realized I have probably overdone it on the resolution thing.

Let me give you some background.   A year ago this week, as most of you know, I started a new job.  Everything was new and excited and I plunged in to work, completely ignoring my health and a lot of things in my family because everyone but Dominyk was back in Minnesota.  There was so much to learn that I slept little, got very excited worked all the time.  I had decided not to replace an open position and do two jobs for a while.   Then in February, one of my direct reports had to leave his position, and I decided not to replace him either.  So I did two jobs from February until July first... meaning that I had way more people reporting to me than the 3 that I thought I would have when I took the job .  In July, another couple of people quit, so for a couple months I had so many people reporting to me that I couldn't even meet with them all to provide adequate supervision.

Fortunately I hired two amazing people to take the positions, one starting July 1 and the other on August 29th and they have been perfect for their jobs.  I couldn't be more excited about where they are taking the organization.

But at that point my health was completely shot.  I had been at a stable, but very high weight, for many years and I added 25 pounds to that, making me heavier than I had ever been.  My back pain was off the charts and my blood sugars and heart rates were really off.  I hadn't been to the doctor yet for these things in Minnesota and I was slowly killing myself.

September first Salinda, Gabby and Carlos, moved in and a couple weeks later we started doing child care for a six year old and a two year old that I could not even keep up with.   Suddenly my health became a huge issue because I couldn't keep him safe.

As responsibilities at work started to become less, I found it harder to decide what to do next, leaving me taking on things that I should have delegated, and not knowing what to do next.   This was such a contrast from the year before, that I was having trouble getting my bearings.

Thanks to a clarifying conversation with my beloved boss, (not said sarcastically), I have figured out what I need to do.   Between that, and discovering bullet journaling and infographics, as I explained in a blog post a couple days ago, I now have so much to do that I am not sure I will ever get it done.

You see, the key for me is tracking.   I do my best as a person and as a professional when I write it down and when I cross it off.   I started doing this when I worked at Bethany with my goals for the year and it worked wonders in keeping me motivated.

So, after that long explanation, here's what it comes down to:   I realize that I have too many resolutions, too many things I want to change, and two many ideas.  BUT, I would rather have too many than none.  I would rather be over zealous and get a few things done, than sitting doing nothing but playing candy crush and binge watching Netflix.

So if you're like me, don't stop yourself from believing and moving forward.  There area  zillion ways to improve yourself, plenty of goals to reach, and really, the sky is the limit.

The secret for me is that when I do not accomplish everything, I try not to beat myself up about it and instead I realize that I have gotten more done with resolutions (or goals, or plans, or checklists, or bullet journals, whatever your plan is) than I would have without them.

So, with that thought, I'm off to write some words to a the sequel of the novel I wrote in November, before heading into the next thing.

2016 kicked my butt.   But watch out 2017!  You're in big trouble!