i finally have a plan!

{flickr}

okay i realize i may be a little late to posting my goals for the year, but here they are! i took some time this past weekend to narrow down my 9 general goals for this year. now within these general goals i'll need to set incremental goals to keep me on track, but i'm glad that i solidified a starting point.

my 2011 general goals

1. raise credit score by 200 points.
2. increase savings to $2,000.
3. gain 500 followers on my blog.
4. enroll in grad school in fall 2011.
5. incorporate worship into my daily life by reading the bible, journaling, and praying.
6. grow hair to apl length in 6 months ( june 2011)
7. earn $5,000 from jewelry line.
8. own my first home.
9. pay off all credit card debt.

goal setting is a pretty vital part of my life. i've never been one for setting resolutions for the new year, but i'm a hard core advocate for mapping out the areas in my life that could stand to be modified, excelled in or completely eradicated.

when setting goals you don't want to aim to high with unrealistic capabilities. setting yourself up for disappointment. but you also don't want to limit yourself and forfeit an opportunity to challenge yourself. you have to develop a happy medium somewhere in between.  need some help in mapping out your plans for the year? the following links provide some helpful, fun and innovative strategies for goal planning.

• michelle ward, the when i grow up coach, suggests writing a letter to your future self. read more here.
• lulumon has a great website dedicated to goal setting. check it out here!

every new year, i try to make it more spectacular, invigorating, adventurous, and victorious than the year before. and this year is no different. probably one of the most important points to remember when you give yourself a goal is that you may not always completely fulfill that goal. you may just partially complete it. but in my opinion, that's a thousand times better than doing nothing at all. as long as you are making steps towards achieving that goal, you've won half the battle. so what you only saved $1,500 instead of the $3,000 you set out to stack up. the fact you made a conscious effort to stash some extra funds away puts you a lot closer to that goal than if you hadn't set it. and even better, you have $1,500 more green than the year before.

sometimes goal setting/accomplishing can be difficult, but if you develop a plan, you make it easier to turn your dreams into the realities you hope for.

 happy goal setting!

being in an icky place.

"now is the time for guts and guile." elizabeth taylor

wow! i realized that i've been absent from this blog for entirely too long.  i have my reasons though. for a while i was in a really not so good place. have you ever experienced a time when things in your life are great? better than ever? you're being a productive busy bee, accomplishing goals left and right. all the while maintaining a motivated spirit to chase those dreams. and then out of no where something happens and you get stalled. it's like driving around on a windy road, on the darkest of nighs in your old 89' hoopty and the hoopty just stops. your stuck. you can't move and you're a little apprehensive about proceeding because it's so dark and gloomy outside of that comfort zone. well that was me. i was really stuck for a few months. things just weren't going in the direction that i thought they should be. despite my most concentrated efforts i wasn't experiencing the results that i thought i should. as a result, i lost my motivation and most importantly, i lost my creativity. i lost whatever motivation i had to design and create. there wasn't a creative bone in my body. someone or something had pillaged my creative juices. and i was not happy. nothing seemed to go right. creating is my lifeline and i was lifeless.  i was definitely in an icky place. to make matter worse, it seemed as though everyone else around me was getting ahead except me.

despite my icky state of mind, i held on to my faith. without it i would've completely lost my mind. in times like those it's necessary to have something to hold on to. i thought of sailor being caught in a storm. the waves outside may be unstable and the winds raging, but a boat is was keeps the sailor safe and provides him stability in the storm. my faith was my boat. my life was unsteady, boy was it rocky, but my faith provided me with balance and security. i knew that at some point in the right time i would come out of the place and rise to the top again. for me, my faith was the only thing that got me through. soon things begin to happen. after weeks of uncertainty my situation steadily began to change.  my motivation returned along with my best friend, creativity. my juices began to flow again.

everyone experiences the peaks and valley's of life.  one minute you're on top and the next minute we enter a bumpy plain and we're stagnant.  it's so easy to get stuck there and become complacent.  but remember anything in life worth having doesn't come to you easy.  so work diligently towards getting back on the peak.  remaining faithful in all you do.  understand in your heart and soul that it won't always be that way and soon enough you'll climb to that peak again.

have you ever been in an icky place? what helped you get out of that place?

scars aren't always so bad.

"it's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars." Garrison Keillor

scars tell a story. every scar tells a story of endurance and survival through the pain. they are a sign of heroism and strength. they are history. they are joyous because you were able to live through the pain to tell a story. they are a lesson. they teach you what to do and what not to do while teaching others. they are a sign of healing powers. they give character and uniqueness.

the physical nature of a scar is completely synonymous with the scars we acquire in life. we all experience things in our life that aren't the greatest. situations that plant themselves in our lives unbeknownst to us. they may not be the greatest, but they happen. without warning. they end up hurting us. leaving a wound so deep. often so deep they become unhealable, unable to mend its parts back together. however, more often than not they do heal. the wound will leave a scar, but it heals. they may start out as rough, bumpy and very noticeable scars, but over time they tend to smooth out in its appearance becoming barely unnoticed. but the victim of the scar knows its there. it serves as a constant reminder of the pain endured, but eventually overcome. it's the victims choice to allow themselves to be empowered by that scar rather than allow the scar to overcome them.

a scar is so much more than a scar. it can be someones gift, a source of motivation and encouragement that healing is possible. a scar doesn't mean that the world is over, it just means that you got a little banged up at one point in your life, but now you're all healed. as good as new.

scars aren't so bad. they give you a unique extraordinary since of character. no one has experienced what you have experienced. no one knows the severity of your situation. no one can copy that. we can share similarities in our scars but they are unique to us. use that a source of power and own it.

whether you have recently been bruised or your scars have been heled for quite some time know that your scar is beautiful in its nature. it's a sign of maturity and your undeniable strength to endure. take the necessay healing measures and you be renewed.