When setting out to conquer your goals, it is vital to think about what season of life you are in. Taking this into account is going to make your life easier since you are acknowledging where you stand and how that will factor into your goals.
If you are a mother of three kids, working out is possibly going to look different than when you were single with no kids. When you were single with no kids, it’s possible you went to the gym 3-6 days a week for hours at a time. Then as a mother of three, you go to the gym once/week with your three kids, hopefully to get thirty minutes in; your kids have activities, homework, and need to be fed afterwards. The other days you work out at home. If you have chronic pain, some days you may need to rest more than others factoring in time to do yoga, Qi Gong, or meditate. Fresh out of surgery? You’ll need time to heal, maybe more sleep, and depending on the surgery possibly take it slow.. New baby? You need to factor in healing time, family time, sleep, and nutritious foods, all of which are not totally easy to come by with a newborn.
It is soooo important to take care of yourself and your health, but also not stress yourself out while doing it. When we embrace the season we are in and acknowledge it, we are giving ourselves grace and the healing we need to accomplish things that matter most to us. Part of goal setting is setting S.M.A.R.T. goals ( specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time based). Sometimes, in order to accomplish a goal, a little creativity needs to take place to be able achieve it in a different way. Goal setting is not just about thinking about what it is you want to do, it’s also about coming up with a plan of how you plan to achieve it.
Here are some questions to consider :
What are some of the barriers I might come across?
Is there something going on with me that will make this physically/mentally or emotionally impossible?
Is this goal realistic for the time I have?
How big of a priority is this for me?
Is there a smaller, baby step goal that I can work towards before hitting this larger goal?
How can I modify this goal so that I can still accomplish it or do I need to move it to another time?
Is there another way I can go about accomplishing this goal, other than the traditional methods?
Life is a lot like taking a walk outside in nature. You might come across rivers, fallen trees, thick bushes, tall mountains… but that doesn’t mean you can’t navigate the landscape. You may just have to consider taking a different route that's not going to kill you. Whatever route you take, don’t forget to enjoy the journey and the beauty of it. Honoring the season of life you are in also means to take notice of it and respect it.
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