when the new year comes along i like to take some time to think. i don't rush into anything, i like to see how it feels for a bit. see how it sits with me. dream. think about what is in my heart for this year. to set some goals for myself.
sometimes the goals seem to 'roll-over' from year to year. does that happen to you too?
i am learning to be ok with that. it's life. it happens.
one of my goals this year is to embrace the imperfect. i have always been a perfectionist. always. back to my crayon days when i worried about staying inside the lines. true story… very true. you can ask my mom. :) it’s me. it is who i am.
but I really want to work on letting up on that grip of perfect this year. things do not have to be perfect to be nice. things do not have to be perfect to be beautiful. things do not have to be perfect to work out just fine. it is all good.
there is a beauty in imperfection.
my goal this year is to find that beauty and embrace it.
Yes, there is such beauty in the imperfection, thankfully:) I've thought a lot of the saying, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." Good for us perfectionists! Even though we may not be doing it badly, exactly, giving ourselves the freedom not to do it up to our highest standard is sure freeing.
I love the tone of your words here. The calm entrance to the year and with goals. Slowly is my word for the year, so I suppose your compassionate perspective invites me to have the freedom to move along with all the roll-over goals with encouragement. Thanks:)
what a great word for the year amy! i love that.
Ahhh… it's in the embracing. Wow. To openly receive my imperfection as a gift. To see His strength perfect in me. Totally worth it.
Loveee your thoughts,
Ginger
i do think it is in the embracing. what is, is what is… so i just need to accept that and embrace it!
So true.
I love that…embracing the imperfect! I'm such a perfectionist, too, so it takes a lot for me to show something that is less than perfect. I'm wondering if this is also part of the risk God wants me to take. Hmmm…
oh yes… your word jen! risk! accepting something that is less than perfect… i call that a risk. at least in a 'trying to not be such a perfectionist' perfection view. :)
I can certainly identify with this Jen. I am a perfectionist too. For instance, if I am knitting something and notice a small mistake way down at the beginning of the project, it will just niggle at me until I finally tear the whole thing out and start over. I'm working on being content to let that little mistake stay there. My Mom tells me the Amish women deliberately put a mistake in each quilt they make – testimony to the fact that no one is perfect except the Lord.
I'm working on contentment just now. I suppose it is really a part of the same idea.
yep… sounds like something i would do linda! oh i love that story your mom told you about the amish quilts. that is fantastic! thank you so much for sharing that!
I keep looking and praying about a new word for this year and I feel comfortable with Last years, grace, Ive really been wanting to keep it- Maybe I will take comfort in another year of grace- I think it wasnt until mid year until I was able to start taking some for myself, accepting it in everything. Thank you for the reassurance.
comfort in another year of grace sounds pretty wonderful to me anna!
We have a new Wed night adult class "health and wellness" that I attended last night. A main topic in the first chapter of the book, which I didnt get until class time, was grace. I kept talking with God on the way home about how I just didnt know if I could accept it in this area of my life too. I just cant I said aloud, almost audibly I could hear him remind me the words in the first chapt of "One thousand gifts" But your name means grace. As tears streamed down my face the song "beautiful things" by Gungor came on. God continues to meet me where I am at and offer what I dont posses in my "self". ….Grace for 2012!!!
anna… that is just beautiful! i love to hear how God works like that. grace for 2012. amen!
I tend to be a perfectionist also. My goals seem to run over year after year. I just keep dreaming and I know that in God's timing I will have the desires of my heart. This year my brother, who is a computer and internet marketing whiz, wants me to write an ebook about sewing that he will market for me. It seems overwhelming to me because it's a new area for me but I want to give it a try. I know it will be imperfect because I have no idea what I'm doing, but I also think it could be a stepping stone to other dreams becoming a reality.
oh renee… an ebook would be wonderful! how exciting! can not wait for this dream to take shape this year for you!
Oh girl, I totally understand the perfectionist thing! I've come a long way, though (maybe too far when it comes to housework)! My goal this year is to remain in God's love based on Jesus' words in John 15:9, "I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love." You know how I struggle with fear as I allow my focus on Him to stray. My goal this year is to reamin in His Word, focused on Him & His love. <3
*remain, not reamin! :)
"too far when it comes to housework"… oh my goodness… that is too funny amy. too funny because it is so true for me too i think! lol
remain in my love. what a beautiful thought to keep close for the year. wonderful goal!
So true….there is beauty in imperfection…love this today. Stay cozy and warm…the wind and snow is just howling here. xoxo
I used to be a perfectionist. Notice I said "used" to be. When I was little, my BFF used to pick on me for not letting anyone sit on my bed when it was perfectly made. And, if someone moved my nick nacks 1 cm, I knew it! Oh, have times have changed. God really plowed me on that one once I had kids. Someone along the way, I stopped keeping up with the things touched with sticky hands from the kitchen table to the sink to wash them (so I could go back and wipe them down, of course) and it's been so wonderful and freeing. Except I'm in extremeist. White or black. No gray. So, my house is either really, really clean or really, really messy. Messy is these times and I'm ok with that. There will be plenty of time for clean houses when my kids are gone. :) I think you already know my goals from my blog, but I want to learn to say no and be ok with saying no to people in 2012. Not over-commit myself. I want to write my story, too. Thanks for this post. Blessings to you! xo, cat
that is a great attitude to have cat! i hope to eventually say i used to be a perfectionist. :) you have wonderful goals for this new year. i know you will do great with them! ♥
I think I commented somewhere that my goal this year is to maintain. Maintain my health, our farm, our income — it's rough out there!
hoping the best for you with maintaining everything this year nancy. it is rough out there!
I loved reading everyone's goals. I feel like for the last three years I have been taking baby steps towards something. Some of the steps seemed odd and some seemed silly but this year feels like the year. All the solitude and isolation over the last 2 years has been forming something. I don't completely see what it is yet but I am less scared with not knowing the the end result.
So the big step this year is looking into life coaching. I believe each one of needs a coach in our lives from time to time. I guess in Christian circles, we would call it a spiritual director. I guess I am wanting more integration of the two: Christian life coaching. Where art and Christianity and movement can intersect more deeply.
Thanks for letting us share Jennifer.
wow robin… that sounds amazing! i know you will do great with guiding people in that way. can not wait to see where your goals take you this year! :)
Jennifer, I can absolutely relate to your need to embrace imperfection. I've gotten much better at it as I've gotten older, but it is still a struggle sometimes. Embrace is my word for this year, too… but, more about just embracing what life throws at you. Not resisting or resenting. Just embracing. blessings to you, Jennifer. tanna
that sounds like a great plan for the year tanna. just embracing. love it!
Well I just love this post, I am just like that…I've learned to let it go a bit this last year because I didn't have a choice, but I'd like to see my anxiety about thing go down a lot more. I appreciate you sharing these things, it's comforting to know that others share similar struggles.. I like your goal a lot!!
~Scarlett
there is a comfort in knowing we are not alone. i am surprised to see just how many share these same struggles. thank you for sharing scarlett!
So true. Sometimes "good enough" is good enough and the time one would otherwise be spending perfecting something could be better spent doing something more worthwhile or even more meaningful.
Oh my goodness I can so very much relate to you! Have you read (or are you reading) Grace for the Good Girl by chance??? :) I'd have to say one of my internal goals is letting go of my grip on perfection, too… and my anxiety when (which is all the time) I am not perfect. Letting go of control in general. Trust.
no i have not read it yet! trust… yes it is all about trust! thank you for sharing one of your goals carissa. many of us share the same one!
I feel like you took the words out of my heart. There IS beauty in imperfection, though I have to remind myself of this daily.
Also, I think your photos are beautiful. You have an artist's eye. :)
i have to remind myself often too! thank you so much stacie! :)