This tends to be the time of year people start to look back on what has been achieved/accomplished in the last year and that they did what they wanted or got what they wanted or didn’t. Now I am not knocking this practice of seeing where things went right or wrong or how they could be different or what you could have done differently to achieve a different outcome. That’s ok. Most people view the end of the year as a time of introspection.
When I was younger I used to set resolutions at new year (as I guess many people do) and would find that by February, not only could I not remember what they were but had lost the piece of paper or book I had written them in! Mostly I would say I guess I probably didn’t achieve what I set out to. My aims and goals in life just didn’t work out in quite the way I had anticipated.
In 2008 my whole life changed and I moved country, met the man I was going to marry and who is my soulmate, and we have five babies in heaven and one here on earth. Was this on my perceived agenda? Not at all! In fact, I hadn’t even considered the thought of losing ONE child, let alone five. The truth is that you can set goals and make plans but life and circumstances can throw something unexpected in your path that you haven’t anticipated or even begun to consider.
Now please hear me out. I am not saying it is wrong to set goals or resolutions. You can do it – I certainly did. BUT you need to know that situations can change and you need to be flexible enough to move with them. Changes are an inevitable part of life and you have to be willing to adapt to them. They may not be what you want – in fact, they seldom are. That doesn’t mean you cannot change your goals/aims/resolutions to suit your new circumstances. You definitely can.
As you have probably been aware from reading my previous posts – this year has been a year with a lot of different illnesses for me. Even though I suffer with a number of chronic conditions, I have also been hit with multiple infections and problems that hadn’t come up for years. Most of this year has either been spent in or near my bed due to one thing or another. Did I find it hard? Of course I did. I have had to handle being poorly, accepting more help than I wished to and not achieving what I had initially planned to over the year.
But you know what? That doesn’t mean I haven’t developed or changed or achieved at all. What it does mean is that it was just in different ways than I anticipated. Did I think I would be writing a blogpost at least twice a week by the end of this year? No. I had no concept that my writing skills would end up being the one thing that I would be able to focus on in spite of all the difficulties I have been having.
So, the question becomes, will I set some resolutions for 2017? No, I will not. Are there things I would like to do? Most definitely. Will I be able to? We will have to see. Am I going to try and be flexible in my aims and goals for the year? Absolutely. I do not know what this coming year is going to look like for my family but I have learnt this past year more than ever before not to take things for granted – like health with the physical and mental ability to accomplish things.
What have you learnt over the past year? Will you be setting aims and goals and resolutions for the new year? Why or why not? Please do leave a comment and let me know.
Anika's Amblings 