Welcome to a new year and that point where a lot of us start beating ourselves up about reaching our goals. We look at what we didn’t do last year and vow that we are going to do things better next year. Were you a hopeless failure or a solid success? Are you reaching your goals? How do you know? We tend to be harder on ourselves than other people are.
What you see in the mirror
Every couple of years there is a facebook post that makes it’s rounds – 25 things you didn’t know about me. I jumped on the bandwagon like most people and I was surprised by the results. I’ve had my share of interesting experiences but I’ve always thought I was about on par with the rest of the population. I was surprised by people’s responses. It is interesting to see what impresses people that we take for granted. If anything I look at what I have done each year and generally feel that I have fallen short. Which view is more accurate? The reality is we tend to be harder on ourselves than most people around us actually are. It’s important to consider both views and consider how others view us so we don’t take ourselves so seriously.
Says who?
We also tend to suffer from the flipside – parents who either think we can do nothing right, or conversely that we can do nothing wrong. Or coworkers or bosses for that matter. These tends to color our perceptions of ourselves. Some people can become so externally focused for their approval that it dictates their direction. Who is to say what you did was good enough or not good enough? Start with yourself. Are you reaching your goals? You are probably better than you think you are.
10 things I did in 2015
-Became the only person in my house not in college
-Wrote over 100 memorial poems for military families
-Redid my deck
-Finally made it to Rome and Venice
-Started painting my house (maybe finish it this year)
-Got to watch both my girls play college volleyball
-published two books of my own and one for someone else
-created half a dozen paintings (several I actually like)
-Redesigned almost all of my websites
-Almost finished my main work project after 5 years (live in 3 weeks)
