It's 31st January! The last day of January, 2020.
The month has seemed quite long for many of us, and I'm sure a lot has already happened in these first 31 days of the year.
Tomorrow we say hello to a new month and goodbye to January. And when closing a chapter, it's always good to do some self-reflections before opening a new one.
How has your month of January been?
I know that many of us, like me, set out some goals for the year, and if you remember from my previous blog (Starting the New Year With A Plan), one of the steps I suggested you take in achieving your goals was to have weekly or monthly reviews. For me, since it's the end of the month, I have personally sat down and looked back at the goals I had set for myself this year and assessed myself on how I'm doing so far.
By God's grace, I've kept in line with many of them. Although there were still bumps here and there, I've formed some good habits that are helping me get better results. My main areas that I was focusing on were my Spiritual life, Social & Academic life and my Personal Well-being.
Relating to Personal well-being, I won't lie, it's really hard to stay positive on some days. Two days ago, I suddenly felt overwhelmed and down, I had no idea why. I don't know if the weather was also a factor because, those who live in Scotland can probably attest to the fact that, the weather can also take a toll on your state of mind. But yeah, I was suddenly thinking of so many negative things, especially in terms of my academics. Doubts started creeping in and honestly, it made me feel really low.
But I did what we all should do, particularly in times like that. I prayed and talked to God about it. I honestly just asked Him to give me strength and reassurance that He has great things in store for me. It's good to remember that even in our Iowest times, God is still planning great things for us. So we shouldn't let the fear of the unknown and the doubts from the enemy corrupt our minds and spirit.
So yeah, I've bounced back thankfully from that moment of low-self esteem and have been reminded that God's not done with me. He sees me (and you!) for all the great things I am yet to do and the amazing person I'm yet to become. If any of you feel low in self-esteem or confidence like I did a few days ago, I just want you to keep all that in mind. I also urge you to, after speaking to God, speak to a close friend about it. Sharing things with others who can help you, rather than bottling them up, goes a long way in maintaining good mental health. You'll feel a lot better too. To be quite frank, it's something I'm not the best at doing (sharing my problems), but I'm trying to be better.
Still talking about reflection, it's great if you write down what exactly you've been able to achieve and how you were able to keep in line with your goals.
Are there ways to measure your progress?
What exactly did you do that, for instance, contributed to your goal to become more socially interactive?
Did you attend any society meetings? Did you go out of your comfort zone to make a new friend?
Document how exactly you achieved your goal.
After writing on the things you did do, note down what you weren't able to do. Things you failed at or weren't able to properly achieve.
The next step is to write down the measures you'll take to be better next month. The whole point of making mistakes is to learn from them. What are the things you can do to improve upon your skill or fulfil that target, in February? Write down realistic measures you can take to make an improvement.
And of course, PRAY. I will always say this because it's obviously very crucial. Pray that God will continue to guide you in accomplishing your goals. We need strength to press on, even when we feel that we can't.
And in the words of Mike Todd (will probably do a post on him on a later date), let your resolve be greater than your result. Just because you don't see an immediate progress in the steps you're taking to achieve your goal, doesn't mean you should give up. Focus on the process and learn from it, that's the most important part of trying to reach a target.
How did the first month of the year go for you? Are you progressing with your goals? Let me know in the comments below or email/message me on social media. Feel free to share this post too. Have a great weekend lovelies!
Stay blessed and stay a blessing.
