The Beauty of a Goal

I'll get a hang of this blogging thing eventually. It's a hard transition- going from writing about completely new experiences, discovering new European cities, and life reflections from across the ocean to writing about the day-to-day life back here in the U.S.- but who's to say I can't make my life here just as exciting? In fact, this month (all 8 days of it so far) have been awesome. Part of the reason for that is because of the goals some of my roommates and I set on June 30th. We decided to make July Goals, writing them down in marker together and reading them out loud to each other, and then posted them on the door of our refrigerator (the most commonly visited spot in the house). That way, we can all support each other and help to keep each other accountable when the going gets tough.

Whenever one of us does something towards accomplishing a goal, whether it be a little stepping stone in the process or checking the whole thing off the list, we make note of it on the papers. I'm finding that its a great way to stay in tune with what my friends are working on, an easy reminder of how to be supportive and recognize when they're making the efforts to accomplish their goals, and it makes me want to stay on track with mine all the more. So far I've been pretty attentive to staying on track with my goals for the month, like how I aimed to have a comfortable 4.5 mile run under my belt by the end of July, and just this morning (only July 8!) I've gotten up to 4.33. I won't say its comfortable yet, but I've got plenty of time left to work on it. 

But what I love most about these goals that we've made so official by writing them down and displaying them for anyone to see, is that they're only goals in as much as we want to pursue accomplishing them. I don't feel a slave to my expectations of the month. They're just things I want to do, and as long as I keep wanting to do them, I'm going to. But every so often I check in and ask myself, "is this a goal that I really want for myself?" And also knowing that if I'm not able to check something off the list by August 1st, it's by no means a failure. All the other things that I did check off the list will be things that may not have happened had I not attempted the goal list in the first place.

Its something I highly recommend to anyone who can get a group together to make the conscious effort and set some goals for themselves. As the month goes on, I'll keep updating how my goals are coming along. Maybe I'm not traveling the world, but I'm still learning and growing, and as long as I'm doing that, I hope to keep writing about it :) Now I'm off to start on goal #2 of the month, check out CrossFit Carrboro!