Accountability
Hello, Lemonader’s!
This is the last post of my Goal Post Series and I am grateful you have taken this journey with me! I’ve liked having a theme for the month. Do you? If so, let me know in the comments so I can plan more themed parties for us!
The last piece of the puzzle is Accountability. This is a new one for me, but I have so many goals that I wanted to report to someone so my goals wouldn’t get lost in the melee of my big, beautiful life. At the end of my list of Promises I added one more new category: Giddy-Up Goal Celebrations.
I wanted to be able to celebrate all of my small wins and be encouraged in my journey. I ended up with 4 accountabilities (of course, you can have as many or as little as you like). I have a Podcast Accountability group with two other awesome women that keep me on track with my podcasting goals. We meet via Skype every Tuesday. I have a Book-Writing Accountability team member who we simply email each other every Wednesday on our progress and encourage each other. I have a Speech accountability that I do every Thursday with guess who? Myself! And last, but definitely not least, I “hired” my best friend, Lizzie to check in with me monthly and then quarterly on my entire goal list.
And guess what? She is making me a gold star chart! How cool is that? She is most definitely a mom and wanted to make some sort of chart to show my progress and we giggled about gold stars, but then thought…why the heck not? It will be fun and you can bet I’ll be fighting for each of those earned gold stars!!
Goals are great. Goals written down are in a much higher percentile to actually happen and get accomplished. Goals that you have to report back to someone?? Over 90%, baby! I’m adding this element to rock my Promises this year!
And there you have it…4 blog posts on Dreaming Big, Reflection, Bite-Size Chunks, and Accountability. Now get out there and get ‘er done! I believe in you!
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#Recess #PlayDate #Ideas #SelfLove
5 Ideas for Self-Dates!
It wasn’t until I read the book, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron that I truly embraced self-dates. And to tell you the honest truth, the first one stunk. It was supposed to be for 2 hours and I don’t know why, but I chose to go to the beach and people-watch. I don’t even like the beach. I live 15 minutes away, but I’m more of a mountain girl. I sat on that beach for 2 hours! Doing absolutely nothing! Lame, but lesson learned.
I was so mad about my first date going so horribly wrong that I was determined to make the 2nd one more fun. I planned a trip to Ojai which is about 30 minutes from my home. I went on line and picked two new stores to check out and then had lunch at my favorite vegan restaurant called Hip (highly recommend it!). The first store turned out to be closed, but the second one was an open air bookstore – really! An outdoor bookstore and I bought more Louis Lamour books – it was fabulous!
As of this writing, my 17-year old has now taken herself on her first self-date. She got treats for the movies and watched Wonder Woman at the theater. Dollar treats, bargain day at our local theater – perfect for the teenage budget!
I truly recommend self-dates! The ultimate would be once a week, but if you can pull off once every two weeks or even once a month consider it a huge accomplishment as you will have gone from zero to something! Here are 5 Self-Date Ideas to get you started. Re-instate #Recess for Adults!
The 5 Senses Date
#1 One of my favorite self-dates was last month when I decided to enlist the 5 senses and create a date around it. Touch, Smell, Taste, Sight, and Hearing. Start by making a list of your 3 favorite in each category and then pick your favorite from each one. Here is how mine played out: Touch – my favorite comfy afghan my oldest daughter made for me while dressed in my night shirt and slippers. Smell – wild orange essential oil in a diffuser to remind me of the orange blossoms in the local orange groves. Taste – what else? Sweet Potato Fries from Veggie Grill, of course! Sight – sat in my favorite room of the house and grabbed my favorite book by Josi S Kilpack, The Vicar’s Daughter. Hearing – gonna love this one…I ran the dishwasher. Weird? It is a childhood sound that I love because whenever we went to bed, my mom or dad would start the dishwasher – love that sound! Best date ever!
Traveling Exhibit
#2 This one was simple. I live on a University Campus with a beautiful library. There was a traveling exhibit featuring this area’s local agriculture history. Other than the one gentleman who talked my ear off for about 30 minutes, it was fascinating and I even toured the library for the first time after living here for the last 6 years! Check your local library or museums to see what’s on exhibit now or coming soon.
Something Old, Something New
#3 When I went up to Ojai, I picked my favorite restaurant Hip because I was familiar with it and then coupled it with something new in visiting the outdoor bookstore. The restaurant made me feel warm and comfy and the bookstore made me feel adventurous. Is there something you can couple with something old and familiar and still taste some adventure?
It’s Elementary, My Dear
#4 This one seems silly at first blush, but it is oh so fun once you’re into it. Collect at least 10 magazines and grab your scissors and a piece of poster paper from Michael’s or Target. Cut out anything that you like or strikes your fancy and then paste them with a glue stick on to the poster paper. Proudly hang it up in a prominent place in your home for as long as you can!
Sacred Space
#5 Sometimes you just need a solid time-out. What is your sacred space? A temple, synagogue or church? Perhaps the library or a special place on your favorite hike? There is a choice of a couple of things you can do. One is that you just go sit and be. Take this time to simply be still, quiet, and savor the silence. Two is that before you head out to your sacred space, write down a burning question to take with you. Write it down on a piece of paper and put it in your pocket. Once in your sacred space, open it up and lay it beside you. Don’t overthink this. Don’t make yourself think about it, just knowing it’s there will help. Is there a solution or at least a next step that comes to mind? I will tell you that the times I’ve done this, I either think of a solution or a next step OR I get a feeling of peace that I just need to be patient and that the answer will come in time. Either way, I feel immensely better for having taken this time for myself.
Pick a date, set the time on your calendar, fulfill the date, then come back here and comment to let me know what you’ve done. Others will appreciate hearing back from you and get more ideas – remember, we are all out to help each other!
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Anticipation
The Gift IS The Anticipation
As I have mentioned numerous times before, I am a complete movie nerd. I’m not good at movie trivia or remembering actors or actresses names or what year this or that movie came out, but I can watch them until the cows come home (and secretly I hope they don’t!). The movie industry has me hooked with anticipation.In my phone is a list called “Movie Fun”. At the top of the list are movies coming out that I want to see. I’ve seen the trailer, loved it, and it goes on my list along with the day it hits theaters. Next comes the movies on my wishlist for my home library. If the movie isn’t out on DVD/Blu-Ray quite yet, the day it does come out is listed right next to it with eager anticipation!What is it that gets us hooked? The excitement leading up to our birthdays. The eves of holidays, especially Christmas. The sequel to your favorite book or movie. The sequel to your favorite television series (even if it’s Lost and the ending really didn’t tie up all the loose ends that they had promised).Anticipation is Powerful
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it is almost more exciting than the actual event. Anticipation is powerful. Inevitably, the actual event is much shorter than any waiting I did leading up to it. I literally have a movie on my list right now that doesn’t come out until Summer and it’s already been on there a couple of months! That is a HUGE anticipation period considering the movie will be less than two hours.
I’m spent weeks preparing for Christmas. Even if I counted the full 24 hours of Christmas day instead of the 16 or so hours I will actually be awake, it’s a lot of prep time in comparison to the actual celebration.Anticipation IS our Journey
If all of what I said holds true, than the excitement of anticipation is our journey. What is your current journey that fills you with anticipation? Are you embracing your journey towards your ultimate goal? What is your ultimate goal? How far away is it? Can you see it as a trailer in your mind of your very own movie?The journey can require hard work. Learn to love this work. It is our anticipation journey to be embraced, loved, and smiled at. I believe anticipation is the motivating factor for me trying so many things in my life. I have done so many awesome things. I am collecting experiences. It has been an incredible journey and I can hardly wait to see what’s around the corner for me. I can hardly wait to see where your journey takes you.May your journey be filled with anticipation. Enjoy it, set a goal to achieve, start your journey now. May it be a healthy, happy road less travelled. -
The Mom Gear
The Mom GearGrand Baby Visit October 2016“Can you watch the kids for a few days?”, my eldest daughter asks. We have a wedding to go to and then I can get ready for Riley’s 4th birthday party. I will bring them out to you (about a 3-hour drive) and then you can bring them back for the birthday party. “Of course!”, I say, “That will be fun!”Never mind that they had never stayed the night at my house without mommy before and that my youngest left at home is a Junior in high school. Never mind that I’ve gotten used to actually sleeping through the night and have been spoiled about having most of my time as my own. Never mind that I rarely change poopy diapers or have to keep “mimi’s”, “b-b’s”, and “mina’s” definitions straight.Now, don’t get me wrong…I absolutely adore my grand babies. They are super cute, loaded with energy and say the funniest things I’ve ever heard. They are fascinated by the littlest things, call big rocks volcanoes, know how to make my youngest dog do tricks on the walking bridge by our house, and save roly-poly’s by picking them up and putting them on trees.They finish a huge breakfast eating waffles, bananas, strawberries, and some dry cold cereal to boot and walk away only to be back 15-20 minutes later telling me they are hungry. They dump the entire toy basket out and put it all back at least 5 times a day and that doesn’t count the other two where I put them away for them.After two days I remembered what it was like to have the extra “mom gear”. The Mom Gear is only available to moms of young children when they need it. It’s like a super power that can only be called on when it’s needed. It’s something akin to the mom’s having an extra pair of eyes in the back of their head. It keeps you moving when you’ve been up several times a night to a child needing their “mina-mina” (which is a drink to my 2-year old grandson by the way), their “b-b” which is his pacifier, or his “mimi” which is his blanket that he can’t sleep without.It’s the extra gear you find when you’ve already run 4 loads of laundry that day, but then you forgot to put the 4-year old in a diaper for her nap and she peed during her sleep so you have to do one more load and then scrub the bed. It’s the extra gear that gives you patience when something you have owned for a very long time gets broken from curious little hands and makes you realize that the kids are far more important than whatever it was that broke.I was ever so grateful that as a Gram who had not been in this situation for quite a long time that I still had my “Mom Gear” well intact somewhere in the depths my being. Today, I am grateful to be in the stage of life that I’m in, but I am even more grateful to all of you mom’s like my oldest daughter who possess the “Mom Gear”.You are incredible. You are making a difference in this world with every smile, every load of laundry, ever meal prepared, every errand run, every time you’ve had to call on the strength of God for more patience.
You young moms rock! This is a shout-out to all of you, but a special shout out to my eldest daughter, Erica. You are a beautiful, caring, loving mother. I am so proud of how you are raising these beautiful grand babies of mine. You matter. You rock. I love you, period.Share pics of your babies/grandbabies (mine are shown here) and tell us a little story about your “Mom Gear” in full force and effect!
