Here we are! We are in a brand new year, and I bet some of you are already wavering on your goals. If not, then good for you! If you are already wavering, that must mean you don’t know the why behind your own goals. When setting goals for a whole year, it’s best to know the why.

What’s your purpose? When you bring purpose, and meaning into your goals it can mean the difference between sticking with them, or flaking out on the first day.

I have already shared with you a few business goals for myself this year, which you can read about them here. Now you are going to learn about my personal goals, which can be kind of scary, but I want to take leaps of faith into the unknown this year. I want this to be the first year, I’m not worried to death about what people will say, or think of me.

I am turning these posts into a series called ‘Make It Happen: The Book’. This book was written by Lara Casey, and for those who don’t know her, Lara Casey is the Publisher, and Editor-In-Chief of Southern Weddings, and she founded the ‘Make It Happen Movement’.

Making ‘it’ happen, is whatever ‘it’ means to you. You have to define what gives you purpose in your life. What fills your life with contentment, and joy. For me, it is to live with Kingdom purposes in mind. I have tried living for myself, and having selfish goals, but they always leave me empty. This will always happen if you live just to please yourself, and not help others.

Working along with this book is not easy. I’m diving into the deepest parts of my fears, and facing them head on. I’m discovering what really makes me tick, what makes me go to extremes, and how to make it all work without losing myself, or my faith in the process.

I would not describe this book as a self-help book at all. It’s defining goals that can help impact the lives of others, as well as your own. It’s my belief that when you bless someone else, you get blessed as a result of that. For me, that blessing comes in, sometimes, tears, or just that unforgettable feeling of helping someone. So, let’s go ahead, and dive into some deep parts. This is where it gets scary for me.

I’m ready to take some leaps of faith into the unknown this year, no matter how scary it may seem. And I need all of you to hold me accountable for this. When things start to get really scary, and I feel like I can’t do it I have a tendency to run back to my safe place, and hide. It’s the same thing I do when I get too busy, or overwhelmed with work. I just don’t do anything, and recede into that safe place.

Do you think you can do that for me? Be honest with me, and help me stay accountable this year!

I want to start by listing some things that didn’t work for 2014, and some challenges I have faced this past year.

—-The first half of 2014 was absolutely chaotic, and I dove head first into anything that could keep me busy. For example: college. I took way too many classes while trying to maintain a full-time job, and trying to advance in that job. I chose to do too many things at one time, and I suffered the consequences dearly. Half way into the semester, things were getting really out of hand, I starting resenting school, and resenting everything. At the time I decided to go to school, I thought it could possibly help me out in me wanting to become my own business owner. I want to be a professional photographer, and run my own blog so I thought it would be good if I could make my own graphics, and learn how to enhance the experience for my clients. Instead, I just ran myself into the ground. I found myself not going to class in the morning, forgetting about papers due, or just being too exhausted to care. The same thing could be said for the rest of the year too, once summer started it wasn’t the end of my busy schedule, but only the beginning. I don’t even remember too much of that summer, because I was so busy. I do remember vacation, and how much of a blessing it was just to have some rest.

—Keeping up financially has been hard too. You would think once I got out of debt, that it would be super easy to just save up money, and I could just have anything that I wanted. I am a single person, so I don’t have any children to take care of, or a big house payment to take care of. But it’s been so much harder. I am what Dave Ramsey calls a, ‘free spirit’, meaning anything that’s pretty and shiny I have to have it right then, so I buy it. With little or no thought, I just buy it. This is something I’ve been diving into, and dealing with personally, so I don’t feel quite ready to open up about every part of that with you. I can tell you, that it’s a much deeper reason, than just being a free spirit. It’s a spirit condition.

—Do nothing works for nobody, and accomplishes nothing. You already knew that right? Well, in-action has appealed to me, more than anything this past year. I over-worked myself, and in the end I felt like doing nothing, therefore accomplishing nothing.

Even with these challenges that I have faced this past year, I still don’t regret anything. It has all taught me something. It’s taught me that I should slow down just a little bit, and take time for the people who matter most in my life. That I should focus on what helps impact people, and not focus on myself so much.

What challenges did you face in 2014? What are you going to do differently in 2015? 

Next week, I hope to be able to start sharing with you what actually did work for me in 2014, and what I’m doing differently in 2015.

Love always,

Hope*

(P.S.– A special thanks to Lara Casey for letting me use these graphics in my blog post. You will probably see these graphics pop up throughout this series.)