Do you remember what your New Year’s resolution was this year? My family and I have a tradition of writing our resolutions down on New Year’s Eve and putting them in an envelope. We open it once on the Fourth of July to remind ourselves of what the resolutions were, then we reseal the envelope and don’t open it until the next New Year’s Eve.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve forgotten your resolution or didn’t make one. Any time is a good time to make a new goal. There is something nice and even helpful about making a goal at the beginning of a new event. But, the beginning can be anytime during the year: the beginning of a new season (the first day of summer…), the beginning of the school year or right after a holiday. Or your beginning can be something more personal: right after you move to a new house or right after you start your new job. Don’t feel like you have to wait until January 1st to make a goal!

One of the most important things about making goals for yourself is that they have to be something that you can control. If you pick a goal that you can’t control and aren’t able to meet it, it will be so easy to blame yourself. The goal “I will get a job this summer” is one that you can’t control. Maybe someone will hire you, and maybe not. If no one does, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you did something wrong. Instead, your goal could be to “Apply for at least one summer job this month” or “Spend at least five minutes every day this month looking at job board websites.” Whether what happens is what you wanted or not, you will have done what you could do, and that’s what matters.

Goals are so important! They’re great reminders so that we don’t get distracted and waste our days. We just have to remember to not become so focused on the future that we ignore the present.

I hope your day has been and will continue to be as wonderful as you are.

Stay beautiful (and keep making goals!).

With love,

Latoinette