Goals in a messy life

Since it's Septemeber, let's talk about monthly goals, shall we?

Goals keep me intentional in a time when my life is feeling a bit messy.

I thought I'd try working on some smaller monthly goals because, as you know, September is the ultimate fresh start. I have some pretty enormous goals for the coming year, but I think I could use the help of smaller monthly goals to help me get there. Why do I love working with goals so much? Because developing and reflecting on goals helps me to live intentionally, something that helps me to order the rest of my messy world (both physical and emotional messes). 

But a little bit of mess is okay.

This week Beth at Revolution from Home wrote a really useful post on living a messy life and I've been sitting with her ideas ever since. I think we sometimes feel so overwhelmed by the chaos of life and that trick ourselves into thinking that if we put everything in order, then all our other goals will fall into place. But I'm coming to realize that we need to live with some of the messy instead of trying to banish it away all the time. Beth writes:

Maybe we’ve been misled when it comes to the “messier” aspects of life (and I don’t mean our junk drawers). Maybe messy isn’t a reflection of our shortcomings at all. Maybe the real source of our struggle stems from the belief that life is supposed to be tidy.

So I'm reflecting on my goals this month and deciding to work on them right now, even if not everything feels perfectly ordered.

Since first outlining my goals earlier this summer I've been finding myself thinking that I'll start accomplishing my goals once I've cleaned out all the closets and planned all them meals and crossed everything off the to do lists. No. It's okay that I don't have it all figured out. I can still move forward with one foot in the chaos. So while my goals keep me feeling focused and intentional about my days (a good thing), for me this month is about chasing my goals in spite of imperfection.

Five goals for September

This month I will feed myself good food, move my body in the (hopefully) cooler morning air, and devour as many books as I can get my hands on.

• One month without gluten, to see how it makes me body feel

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• Morning walks before the girlies wake up, three days a week.

 

• Reflect on what it means to thrive.

• Read as much as I want while the girls are at school.

 

• Get back into a routine of reading to the girls before bed, a habit that was lost earlier this year, and one I think we all dearly miss.

I'm really excited to work on these smaller goals, not to lose sight of my larger project, but to accumulate some smaller victories. Do you have any September goals or resolutions? Let's do this together please!


Be well!
xo 

 P.S. Some posts you might also like:

Day one

How many things have you crossed off your life list?

How to quit smoking in only 753 days*

11 tips for being an ordinary parent