I have a draft of my December reflection and January goals, but it never made it's appearance here...so we'll just skip it :) I was also a little late on finalizing my 2015 goals, but alas, I finished halfway through January. Has January flown by for anyone besides me?? Goodness. January was great and has shown me many things I need to work on but I'll save some of that for another post.
For now, I'm going to share my January, February, and overall 2015 goals:
The popular thing to do right now in place of New Years resolutions is to have one word and work towards that all year. I, personally, am not a fan this because I would get bored with working toward the same word for a year. If I HAD to choose a word, I would choose three: nurture, grace, and brave.
I'm an education major so I think of years in terms of August through July, but this year is different. I am student teaching this semester and hoping to start working in August. Even though I'm living in the same town and attending the same university, the majority of my time is at the middle school, attempting to teach 7th and 8th graders the importance of mathematics. It's no easy feat, but I love it!
My students can be cute at times and other times... not so much ;) My goal for this semester is to show grace to my students and myself. I am my worst critic and I've come to the realization that I can't teach my students and be effective when I'm harsh on them, for obvious reasons, or on myself. I'm a Type-A, buckle down and do it kinda girl, but that doesn't mix very well with self-conscious, hormonal students. I'm learning to nurture their hurt feelings and show compassion even when I think the problem is insignificant and my to-do list is growing by the minute.
See where my words come into play?
"Grace" and "nurture": check! "Brave" on the other hand is not something I would use to describe myself. Maybe at some other point in my life when I was scaling mountain sides and scuba diving. But lately I haven't been very adventurous. Or brave. I've settled into being a complacent college student and I've decided it's time to break out of this pattern. It's time to start living on purpose and making some brave decisions. Graduation is lurking around the corner so I'm not sure where this is going to take me, but I'm stepping out in faith and making it a theme for this year!
Now on to my February goals! They are about this little space that I have neglected. I want to create a vision for my blog and have routine postings. I love that I can come here as often or as little as possible and lay out my thoughts, but I also want to grow this place a little bit and let it stretch me. I would like to participate in a month challenge to write everyday. Yes, you read that right. Every. Day. So often I start a post and do one of three things: 1. post it immediately without much editing, 2. let it sit in my drafts folder until it's way too late to publish or 3. talk myself out of publishing my idea altogether. I didn't begin this space with that in mind. As my friend, Nicole, over at Bloom would say,
"It’s okay that things aren’t going exactly like I thought they would. As long as I do everything for the glory of God... I’m doing okay." I feel so convicted about this that I've created another month with the same goals. So stay tuned folks!
I'm excited to see where this year is going to take me! It may not be far from home, but it will be out of my comfort zone and that's exactly what I need right now. To think outside of my little bubble and learn to love on the people I have placed in my life at this very moment.
For now, I'm going to share my January, February, and overall 2015 goals:
The popular thing to do right now in place of New Years resolutions is to have one word and work towards that all year. I, personally, am not a fan this because I would get bored with working toward the same word for a year. If I HAD to choose a word, I would choose three: nurture, grace, and brave.
I'm an education major so I think of years in terms of August through July, but this year is different. I am student teaching this semester and hoping to start working in August. Even though I'm living in the same town and attending the same university, the majority of my time is at the middle school, attempting to teach 7th and 8th graders the importance of mathematics. It's no easy feat, but I love it!
My students can be cute at times and other times... not so much ;) My goal for this semester is to show grace to my students and myself. I am my worst critic and I've come to the realization that I can't teach my students and be effective when I'm harsh on them, for obvious reasons, or on myself. I'm a Type-A, buckle down and do it kinda girl, but that doesn't mix very well with self-conscious, hormonal students. I'm learning to nurture their hurt feelings and show compassion even when I think the problem is insignificant and my to-do list is growing by the minute.
See where my words come into play?
"Grace" and "nurture": check! "Brave" on the other hand is not something I would use to describe myself. Maybe at some other point in my life when I was scaling mountain sides and scuba diving. But lately I haven't been very adventurous. Or brave. I've settled into being a complacent college student and I've decided it's time to break out of this pattern. It's time to start living on purpose and making some brave decisions. Graduation is lurking around the corner so I'm not sure where this is going to take me, but I'm stepping out in faith and making it a theme for this year!
Now on to my February goals! They are about this little space that I have neglected. I want to create a vision for my blog and have routine postings. I love that I can come here as often or as little as possible and lay out my thoughts, but I also want to grow this place a little bit and let it stretch me. I would like to participate in a month challenge to write everyday. Yes, you read that right. Every. Day. So often I start a post and do one of three things: 1. post it immediately without much editing, 2. let it sit in my drafts folder until it's way too late to publish or 3. talk myself out of publishing my idea altogether. I didn't begin this space with that in mind. As my friend, Nicole, over at Bloom would say,
"It’s okay that things aren’t going exactly like I thought they would. As long as I do everything for the glory of God... I’m doing okay." I feel so convicted about this that I've created another month with the same goals. So stay tuned folks!
I'm excited to see where this year is going to take me! It may not be far from home, but it will be out of my comfort zone and that's exactly what I need right now. To think outside of my little bubble and learn to love on the people I have placed in my life at this very moment.
