Word of the Year?

I'm trying to do it all different this year. And when I say all I do actually mean ALL. I feel it in my soul that this is the year that I'm going to become a nearly unrecognizable version of myself. I say nearly because there are a lot of aspects of myself and my life that I do absolutely love. But there are a lot of aspects that I would like to improve and a few that I would really like to chuck out the window and buy a new version at the mall. Is that a thing? I doubt it but that would be so nice!

I've always been the type to make a sort of resolution like "I'm going to eat better. or I'll go to the gym more" But I never defined what "better" or "more" meant and I can't think of a single year that I actuallt set hard goals. It was always just kind of a fun thought. I'm sure no one will be surprised to find out that I never stuck to these "resolutions." I feel like I was always operating under the subconscious motivation of "if I don't set a goal, that means I can't fail."

This year I've decided to go about my goals in a whole different way. I'm taking a "word of the year" approach this year. I guess my word is more of a motto. ok...Here is is....

Most people have a skewed view of what a perfectionist looks like. For me, I think of a nicely dressed woman in a perfectly pressed cardigan in a perfectly polished home with cookies baking in oven and 2.5 children doing their homework upstairs. However, what I have learned about myself is that perfectionism creates paralysis. I don't like to start projects I know I won't have time to finish. and furthermore, if it's not going to be perfect when I am finished I'm really not going to start at all. When I do start working on a project and I hit a snag, I just stop....like stop...my brain turns off and I can't move forward until I've created the perfect plan to finish the project. This kind of "perfectionism" leads be to things like my laundry room being in-progess for years. And I literally mean years...

So this year my focus is on getting started. Getting started on all the things I've always wanted to do. You can see my Running List blog post and see just how long the list is. and it's constantly being added to. It's frustrating to think of how many years I've spent not getting stuff done just because it wasn't going to be perfect in the end. Working on letting go of this frustration is going to be part of what I'm working on as well. But it's so hard!

I've got my lists and I've got a pretty good schedule established. Little man is back in school and I'm feeling ready to hit the ground running. I keep telling myself to just get one thing done each day and you will already be ahead of where you started. Let's see how this works. I'll check back in soon.