I’ve been thinking a lot about the changes in our family in the past few years and what 2018 might look like for us. I am sure that in many places in life, 2018 will be full of baby steps.
Midnight of 2010 introduced me to a whole new set of friends that later would introduce me to Matt. It was a baby step to spend the night with a crowd of people I really didn’t know on the quick invitation of a not-so-close friend. Matt wasn’t there for the 2010 party (with an epic story about sledding without sleds), but just a few weeks later we met because one of the new year’s guests invited me to a game of Rock Band. By the next New Year’s Eve, we rang in the new year with a fireside proposal. New Year’s Eve will always hold that memory and be one of my favorite nights. The baby step out of my comfort zone led to marriage, family, and so much more.
New Year’s can be a time of massive goal setting and reflection. While we can (and often should) choose to reflect, reevaluate, and reprioritize at any point throughout the year, there is something special about doing so when seemingly the rest of the world is also thinking about this as well.
Do you or I want to see massive change in life right now? Well of course. And, we want the results to start… right… NOW!
In order to get those huge results quickly, it’s tempting to take drastic measures. It starts with our thoughts about how we can reach those new goals. Then we put our plans into action.
Sudden spikes in gym memberships and a cart-full of vegetables are quick fixes for the weight-loss crowd.
New books are purchased and maybe a few chapters are read by the more studious folks.
We give ourselves a few more minutes for our personal hobbies, some time to rest (as we recover from the late night we all just had), and maybe we even toss in a yoga workout and some guided meditation to further our efforts to practice awareness and presence.
But how long can we keep up this pace as we return to our daily routine?
There is a danger in mentally committing ourselves to grandiose plans. Often we have agreed with ourselves to take on more than we are ready to fully walk out. We envision the results that we want, but are trying to take a shortcut to get there.
Forget the couch to 5k program. We want to bypass taking baby steps with all their tumbles, and move on to being a marathon runner immediately.
This year, I’m focusing on the taking baby steps more than results. I have goals, but I’m not committed yet to deadlines. Instead, I am committing to taking steps to reach those goals. I am willing to put in the work and see how far we can go.
Asher taught me just how fast a baby can go from rolling over to crawling > standing > walking > oh my goodness he is full out running catch him!
It took him an extra long time to roll over. Preemies tend to have a few delays. Once he began, we suddenly found ourselves sprinting to just keep up with him. I can be like that too. But watch out when I get started.
Each milestone Asher reached was a huge deal and we celebrated with much praise. We would clap wildly and cheer Asher on as he practiced each movement to learn to roll over. We would praise him as he learned to rock on all fours.
Do you stop to celebrate your own baby-steps? Even if no one else notices your steps, it is worth it to truly rejoice about the progress.
It took only a few months for Asher to go from rolling over to running. He likely wasn’t aware that he wanted to even run. He was mostly exploring what he was capable of achieving and worked on the next logical step in that progression.
So this year, I will also focus on my next logical baby-step, and watch as Shiloh joins in his own baby steps too.
I was inspired for today’s post by this Facebook message: