Beech Tree News Network

With each New Year, I think about what I want to change in the coming year. Dave Ramsey stated, “Creating a goal, and taking ownership of it, will give you more incentive to meet your goal. Setting a time frame will help you develop more realistic goals, too. And last, always put your goals in writing….Successful people examine and reassess their lives on a regular basis” (Daily News, December 16, 2020, p. 7A). I have two goals to improve my life, and these goals will require my attention for more than a year. 

Thinking about Ramsey’s statement and my personal goals, I asked friends and family about their goals, “If you were to set a goal for yourself for 2021, what area would that goal address? Examples: education, faith, family and friends, finance, health, home improvement, work, or other areas.” Their responses are below:

-Faith, family, health. Truly just to be more thankful for life and God’s blessings in every way. To better myself in all areas of life!

-To improve my watercolor painting skills and travel as much as I can get away with.

-One goal would be to gain understanding of how citizens of the United States of America could condone putting children in cages, how we as Americans could forget the fundamentals of what America stands for in the world. 

-Definitely faith. I was doing really well for a while there. But then, I started slipping.

-It has to be health for me. Both physical and mental.

-For me, 2021 will be a year of expanding our family! And I also want to improve my health, I mean my overall health (mental, spiritual, and emotional), not just losing weight and keeping it off. I want to try to be good to my mind, body and soul in 2021.

-To get my kitchen cabinets painted and new appliances, and to pay off my school loans.

-I want to make good grades and stay healthy.

-Spend more time with family and friends. Focus on Jesus, not the world. Exercise more. Get healthier.

-Finance and home improvement for me.

-Finance and home organization.

-My goal is to grow closer to God, dig deeper into the Bible and grow closer! Once I accomplish that, I hope all other things fall into place! 2020 has been so trying for all of us, I feel like I’ve just got to give it to God and pray that 2021 will be better!

-Faith.

-Faith.

-Fitness

-Fitness and finance.

-Do your best; let God do the rest.

-To find a home to purchase and focus on being healthy. Taking care of my family will be a huge part of 2021 as well.

-Health and finance.

-Physical and mental health.

-Education! Since I’m back into CRNA school, I’m trying to get mostly A’s, but I’m ok with B’s.

-My goal this year is to drink no soda and eat better. I have a wedding come May, and Covid quarantine has made me gain 15 pounds! I also have a goal to open a Christmas savings account to have money for property taxes and Christmas at the end of the year.

In my opinion, goals reflect hope. Creating goals is the easy part; the difficult part is examining your progress on a regular basis and adjusting your behavior to move toward the goal. Rachel Hollis said, “Maybe the hardest part of life is just having the courage to try” (https://everydaypower.com/rachel-hollis-quotes/). My two personal goals (health and finance) are not new; they are lifelong goals. As Hollis advised, I’ll have to boost my courage to continue trying – pretty good advice.