The end of the year and the beginning of the year for me have been a kind of depressing time of life for me lately because I get to the marker of reminding me that once again I did not reach the goals I truly wanted to, nor do I feel like I grew to the extent that I wanted to.
This quarantine has brought on a time of change for me, my family has been trying to exercise more, to become more healthy and fit. I have seen on social media the personal evolutions that many are going through to restore and recenter themselves on things that matter most to them. I made new goals for myself and honestly it has been a really hard process. It's a constant struggle of feeling like I am taking 2 steps forward and then sliding backward over whatever ground I may have gained while hiking the mountain of self-esteem and personal growth.
I imagine many of you are feeling the same, wanting so badly to change to become a better, happier, and healthier version of yourself while at the same time feeling so overwhelmed by life in general. The nightly news is enough alone to give someone anxiety, forget all the added pressure of online schooling, social isolation, and all the many many things in our lives that feel a little broken.
So I am offering some of my thoughts and advice that have brought peace to me as I've reflected over life. We cannot control many things going on around us in life and that can feel very unstable. That is where faith comes in, for now, we just need to trust that our Heavenly Father has things under control. So my first challenge to you is to let go of the things you can not change and find the faith to believe that it's going to be okay.
My next challenge to you, my beautiful girls is to find something that makes you happy. Find something that gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Each of us has things within us that make us feel light in our lives, choose something that makes you feel that light. For example, I'm choosing books I have a list of books I have wanted to read but have not made time for. I am seizing this moment to make my wants matter. I am making time for reading books.
When you have found something that makes you happy, make a goal. Don't underestimate yourself, make a goal that will really stretch you, challenge yourself to rediscover things that you are passionate about in life.
Now, this is what I really want you to remember, it is okay if you do not meet your goal. Something I have come to realize it that goals are NOT for guilt trips. We aren't supposed to make goals and beat ourselves up when we don't reach up to our own expectations. The point behind goals is to reach for a new version of ourselves, a happier version, a healthier version; a version of us that is more confident in the version of us that God sees.
Sometimes the reason we don't meet our goals is that we went farther than imagined, just in a different direction because we let God direct us in our change. The version of us that we can become through our current trials will be stronger because we didn't look at our circumstances as an excuse to stay as we are, we took them as an invitation to stand a little taller and become a little better.
In retrospect don't focus on how far you needed to go to reach your goals instead look at who you became in your reaching. Your ability to grow and change is a great gift, your capability to become is so much more important than the stamp of accomplishment. To accomplish things can bring a great sense of pride, but to become someone closer to what God intended you to be is a masterpiece more beautiful than any checkmark on a to-do list.
I know these times are hard but I love my beautiful young women, I have hopes and dreams for you that give me just a glimpse of what God must-have for each of us. I know you miss being able to see each other at church but even though we are apart, we are not divided. We are one in Christ and he will never leave us comfortless. I know He is here for us especially in our hardest times and on our darkest days. I love you all.
~Carrie
(letter written to my beautiful girls of the Manti 2nd Ward)
This quarantine has brought on a time of change for me, my family has been trying to exercise more, to become more healthy and fit. I have seen on social media the personal evolutions that many are going through to restore and recenter themselves on things that matter most to them. I made new goals for myself and honestly it has been a really hard process. It's a constant struggle of feeling like I am taking 2 steps forward and then sliding backward over whatever ground I may have gained while hiking the mountain of self-esteem and personal growth.
I imagine many of you are feeling the same, wanting so badly to change to become a better, happier, and healthier version of yourself while at the same time feeling so overwhelmed by life in general. The nightly news is enough alone to give someone anxiety, forget all the added pressure of online schooling, social isolation, and all the many many things in our lives that feel a little broken.
So I am offering some of my thoughts and advice that have brought peace to me as I've reflected over life. We cannot control many things going on around us in life and that can feel very unstable. That is where faith comes in, for now, we just need to trust that our Heavenly Father has things under control. So my first challenge to you is to let go of the things you can not change and find the faith to believe that it's going to be okay.
My next challenge to you, my beautiful girls is to find something that makes you happy. Find something that gives you a sense of purpose and fulfillment. Each of us has things within us that make us feel light in our lives, choose something that makes you feel that light. For example, I'm choosing books I have a list of books I have wanted to read but have not made time for. I am seizing this moment to make my wants matter. I am making time for reading books.
When you have found something that makes you happy, make a goal. Don't underestimate yourself, make a goal that will really stretch you, challenge yourself to rediscover things that you are passionate about in life.
Now, this is what I really want you to remember, it is okay if you do not meet your goal. Something I have come to realize it that goals are NOT for guilt trips. We aren't supposed to make goals and beat ourselves up when we don't reach up to our own expectations. The point behind goals is to reach for a new version of ourselves, a happier version, a healthier version; a version of us that is more confident in the version of us that God sees.
Sometimes the reason we don't meet our goals is that we went farther than imagined, just in a different direction because we let God direct us in our change. The version of us that we can become through our current trials will be stronger because we didn't look at our circumstances as an excuse to stay as we are, we took them as an invitation to stand a little taller and become a little better.
In retrospect don't focus on how far you needed to go to reach your goals instead look at who you became in your reaching. Your ability to grow and change is a great gift, your capability to become is so much more important than the stamp of accomplishment. To accomplish things can bring a great sense of pride, but to become someone closer to what God intended you to be is a masterpiece more beautiful than any checkmark on a to-do list.
I know these times are hard but I love my beautiful young women, I have hopes and dreams for you that give me just a glimpse of what God must-have for each of us. I know you miss being able to see each other at church but even though we are apart, we are not divided. We are one in Christ and he will never leave us comfortless. I know He is here for us especially in our hardest times and on our darkest days. I love you all.
~Carrie
(letter written to my beautiful girls of the Manti 2nd Ward)
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