Does Life Ever Get in the Way?

You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. I let something called “life” get in the way. I changed jobs on April 9 to become the vice president of human resources for Upstream Rehabilitation. I lost my dear father-in-law, George Hobbs, on April 14. My daughter Jamie went to two proms. I had some minor health concerns. Isn’t my list impressive?

Well, I don’t know about impressive, but it serves as my list of excuses. I got caught up in focusing on these urgent and important things but let some of my not so urgent and important things slip. I didn’t write at all. I let my diet slip back into some old habits. I didn’t exercise like I should have. I forgot to call my friends—all because I let life get in the way.

It is easy to let life get in our way, yet not irreparable. I love my new job and am getting in the groove. We are getting back on track figuring out what the new normal is without sweet George. Schools out for the summer. My health is back on track, new sunglasses and all. I realized what was happening and decided to take back control of my life. I took a few key steps. I talked to my accountability partners, remembered my “why”, and gave myself some grace.

You have heard me talk about accountability partners and the major benefits they can offer before. I happen to have two of them: Cindy and Brandy. I talk to Cindy every Monday morning and Brandy every Tuesday morning. We tend to focus on different areas of our lives, but they both help keep me accountable.

Let me share how accountability partners work. Set a specific time to talk each week for 30 minutes. The calls won’t always last that long—sometimes only five minutes. You discuss how your prior week went and then what you want to accomplish in the coming week. It can center around your goals or just things you want to be held accountable for. Each person takes a few minutes to share, while the other person listens and offers ideas, if appropriate. Then you switch. It is nothing fancy. It just takes some commitment on each person’s part. Who can you ask to be your accountability partner?

I took a wonderful course at the end of last year written by Micheal Hyatt titled, 5 Days To Your Best Year Ever. It is a wonderful five-day exercise to get you ready for an amazing year. One of the things he had us do was figure out our “why” for each of our goals. We made a list under each goal about reason this goal mattered to us. When I realized I was veering off track, I started reading my “whys” behind my goals and felt an immediate desire to get going again. The question I have for you is: Do you know your “whys”?

The last thing that I did to get refocused was to realize I was human and gave myself some grace. I did have some things happen that could naturally throw someone off course. I understood that beating myself up wasn’t working. I decided it was okay that I hadn’t written like I had promised, eaten like I wanted to, exercised as I needed, or connected with my friends. Forgiving yourself is a powerful thing. We need to ask for God’s forgiveness, then our own. It really works. Do you need to give yourself a break and forgive yourself?

As the mid-year approaches, consider giving these a try: accountability, discover your “why,” and grace!

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