My family has had a really rough Cold & Flu season this year. Not sure if we ever officially had the flu, but we had some pretty nasty stuff that lingered...and lingered...and then got bad again...and again. It seemed like we would never get better. The New Year came, and I began thinking of all the things that I would like to do or change for 2014. Overall, 2013 was a very rough year for our family. Sean started law school in the Fall which meant many transitions for our family.
I entered 2014 with high hopes and a sort of giddiness about a fresh start. Not more than a week into 2014, my husband and three children all came down with nasty chest colds, body aches, coughs, tummy aches, headaches, etc. I spent nearly 10 days nursing everyone back to health.
While they were sprawled out on the mattress that I had moved into the living room, I knew some things had to change. I spent a lot of time reflecting over those 10 days. I began looking into some different changes in our diet that might help us combat the ridiculous amount of sickness that we had been experiencing. The Paleo and gluten-free diets where intriguing me mainly because of issues that we have had with our pediatrician and Victoria (I may write about this soon). However, diving in as a newbie on a budget with very picky eaters in the house was quite overwhelming.
The New Year was getting away from me with a house full sick people, and I still didn't have any resolutions for this new year. I usually don't make resolutions, but this year, I felt compelled to set some goals. Being a big vision person that sees the end product and not always the process to get there, my resolutions usually look like: 1.) Switch entire family over to a gluten free diet or 2.) Keep house clean every day....and so on. These types of resolutions in MY life are destined for failure....leaving me feeling like...well, a failure. The first week of a frustrated husband and children because of drastic diet changes would be enough to stop trying or perhaps, the drastic changes would not settle in leaving me falling back into our usual diet just because it is familiar and easy.
This year, I am taking a different approach to affecting and managing change. Here is my plan:
SET SMALL GOALS...think baby steps
Most of us have visions of how we would like to be, how or home should be structured, how we would like to eat, and the list goes on. Yet, many of us never get started because we either don't know how, the task seems too overwhelming, or we don't write it down and eventually forget the direction we would like to go. Small, tiny goals and implementing baby steps helps us to make achievable progress that encourages us to continue. In our culture of instant gratification, slowing the process to see lasting results can be hard to wrap our heads around. This approach helps us to be more like the tortoise and less like the hare. Slow and steady wins the race!
WORK ON IMPLEMENTING THESE GOALS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH
It is important to remember that your small goals do not need to be implemented all on the first day. Write the goals down and place them somewhere you can see them. This is very important! A week or so after writing my goals down, I had a panic that the year was getting away from me and no changes were being made. Yes, it was still only January, but I like forward progress. I glanced up at my list, and to my surprise, three items had been implemented consistently each day and some progress had been made in other areas. My beginning feelings of panic and failure quickly turned into a sense of accomplishment.
ASSESS AND REGROUP
While I have not yet reached the end of the month, I know that this will be a valuable step. At the end of January and each month after, I will assess the progress that I have made in each area. Then I will determine whether I will keep that goal, adjust that goal, or go in a different direction.
Repeat these steps month after month and begin to see some progress as you journey through your own Road in the Wilderness. I would love to hear feedback on how this process works for you!
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