Here we are, the beginning of a NEW year!  Do you find that to ge encouraging or exhausting?  For many people, January 1st each year is a time to start over.  A FRESH start.  It’s like we consider a calendar year as being broken down into 12 chapters and those 12 chapters become a book with the year as a title “Mama P 2023”.  There is a beginning and an end to each book, but many STORIES occupy those pages.  There is not just one beginning though, we have so MANY beginnings throughout the year.  Just think about it.  Did you start a new job or a new position within a company?  Was there a NEW member brought into the family either by marriage, birth, or adoption?  Maybe even a new significant other for you.  Those are all BEGINNINGS too.  Did you start a new hobby, take up a new sport, change your hairstyle or update your wardrobe?  New attitude?  And then there’s the whole beginning of the year DIET.  Or maybe it was somewhere within those chapters of the year that you decided it was time to get healthier and start taking better care of yourself.  

But it's safe to say that within those chapters, within those beginnings, there were GOALS.  Not a goal person?  Maybe you should start by setting just one goal.  Goals are so important because they give us a PURPOSE, a meaning, something to work towards. The problem is that a lot of times people just give up on those goals.  Especially if they are HIDDEN under the heading of “New Year’s Resolution”.  Am I right, phrasing it that way kind of gives you an “out” because nobody really expects those “resolutions” to last very long.  Why is that?  They can be OVERWHELMING!  We make lofty goals and then consider it a pass or fail event.  And what happens all too soon??? We fail because the bar has been set TOO high - we do that to ourselves!!! That’s why it’s vital to take it one step at a time.  Take small, REACHABLE steps that can build on one another and have FAITH that you CAN do it!!!  Believe in yourself!

When you take a small step and ACHIEVE it, it’s much easier to move on to the next small step and before you know it……you’ve climbed an ENTIRE staircase!  Have you ever climbed a tall flight of stairs and then looked back and it’s mind blowing!  You climbed ALL of those stairs!   Life is the same way.  Goals are the same way.  Take things in your life one small STEP at a time.  Achieve it and move on.  If you don’t achieve it, that doesn’t mean it's a “fail”.  It means that maybe you just need to take a DIFFERENT approach.  It’s like if you have a hurt foot and it’s difficult to climb stairs.  What do you do?  Well, I hold on to the handrail and take it SLOWLY.  What about when you’re trying to walk down stairs that are slippery, maybe covered in snow or ice?  You can either just give up and not go down the stairs, or take a different approach.  Hold onto the handrail and step one foot at a time, maybe even go down SIDEWAYS with your feet instead of straight down.  Taking a different, safer approach, but still reaching that goal!!

Just because something is DIFFICULT doesn’t mean it’s not worth the climb!  Climb away my friends. CLIMB AWAY!  Sometimes that first step can be DAUNTING, but it will be worth it once you reach the top.  So climb away!!!

TAKE that first step my friends!  

Have a beautiful week!