Trying

I've been doing some thinking and planning a lot for the new year. Organizing is one of my favourite things to do, and this time of year begs for it. (Going through the kids' clothing inventory so that THIS doesn't happen again next year has been a fun project.) It's also the time of year when people worldwide begin to make resolutions; to set goals, and face life with a fresh start.

I am big into setting goals. But not just at the New Year. I give myself several fresh starts throughout the year. Beginning of the school year is a biggie, October and April when I am inspired by LDS General Conference talks, in August when I inevitably age each year, and also in January.

As a little girl, our family was exemplar in setting goals. My parents would set five year goals for each of us in different areas: physical, mental, spiritual, social... am I forgetting any? And then we would create either monthly or weekly goals for ourselves as well. I still have several of the drawings of my goals, and my children love seeing what I had to work on when I was their age.


I brought this goal setting determination into our marriage and though it has been a little one-sided, we sit down regularly (or at least annually) to create and determine and reflect on our individual, couple and family goals. Looking back I can see that we set three different types of goals: goals that we were able to achieve; goals that are still hard to reach; and goals that so eloquently speak of a specific time and stage of our lives. They are fun to review. And only slightly discouraging.

While supposedly writing down and reviewing goals will bring achievement (yes, I know acting on them is also a big participant), I find that even in not meeting all of my goals I have become a better person. I'm trying. Sometimes I'm trying my best, some days that's not even remotely possible, but I am almost always "trying." And that gives me the courage to keep setting goals, even when I have failed or given up in the past. I encourage all of us to keep trying this new year and see who we can become in a short twelve months.