Fish or Cut Bait (Weekly Challengers, 1/21/2008)
Happy Birthday, Mom!
What things have you started in the past that you’ve never completed? Was there a habit you were going to change, a project you let slide, perhaps a subject you wanted to know more about but never got around to exploring. You probably have dozens of things you’ve let fall by the wayside. I know I do.
Certainly, you’ve outgrown some of those things, or your interests have changed and you’ve moved on. But some of those semi-forgotten ideas linger on in the back of your mind, popping up now and then to give you a twinge of guilt or regret.
Take some time this week to sit down and list all those things that still crop up once in a while. Then take a hard look at them. Do they still interest you? Do you have the time, money and energy to pursue them right now? Are they important enough to move up on your mental priority list?
If the answer to the above questions is “no,” then let them go. You don’t need them cluttering up your mind and stealing your energy. But if they still interest you, then make a conscious decision about what to do with them. You can resurrect them and start to act on them. Or you can leave them on the back burner until you have more space in your life to pursue them fully. The choice is yours.
But no matter what you do, this simple exercise will help to clear out some of that guilt and regret that hangs around us all.
Until next week, may the Muse live happily in your heart, and may passion bloom in your soul,
Lynn
January 21st, 2008 at 2:54 am
This is a great idea, I discovered it by accident, used it, forgot about it and now will reapply it.
In 2004. 2005 and 2006, I set a goal of taking the Nataion Japanese Language Profiency Test, Level 3. I never took it. I felt such guilt because I said I was going to take the exam, then just never signed up for it. I realized when I was setting my goals for 2007 - the national test wasn’t my idea. It was my friends dream and she was trying to drag me along with her. I told my husband that I wanted to work on reading and speaking and asked his opinion about the exam. He asked me what good would taking the exam give me? I realized I would spend time studying to pass the exam - my friends goal - instead of spending it on my personal goal. After I realized why I set the goal - it was easy to let go.
I am going to go thru the list of goals I set for this year, to make sure they are really what I want. I am a people pleaser so this will be difficult for me. Thank you for reminding me, it I don’t do something, there is a reason for it and not to obsess about it.
Natsuko
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:47 am
Natsuko, thank you for your comments! It’s so easy for other peoples’ goals, whether for themselves or for us, to become intertwined with our own goals. It can be so hard to figure out what we want, separate and entire from everyone else’s wishes and dreams and ideas for us. (My grammar is getting all confused here. Too many pronouns. Bear with it, please.) Especially if you’re a people pleaser. Do you have a way of testing your goals to make sure they’re your own?