Moving Forward with a Plan

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This is the first time I think I've ever had a clear idea of what needs to happen in order for me to move forward with a plan for the new year. In the past, I've come up with some goals and have worked on them, but kind of worked them into whatever else was going on in my life. 

This year, I knew that I needed to let go of some things, make a change in my environment and focus, in order to move forward. My word for the year is "connect" and as I stay connected to the Lord I find it difficult to hear what He has when I have so much clutter in my life. I don't just mean physical clutter, but clutter in my mind as I try to juggle so many different things.

I started out last week by working on letting go of my sewing business. For whatever reason, that has always been a hard thing for me to do. So many times throughout the years I have decided to let it go and then I turn around and pick it right back up again. This time I felt the familiar pangs of loss, but I knew that I was headed in the right direction. I recognize that letting go of anything is always a hard decision. So I went into this expecting to feel those pangs, but resolved not to let them sway my decision making.

I started by taking my giant mess of a sewing room/office and doing the hard task of purging, reorganizing, cleaning and rearranging.

Before (keeping it real):




Dan took piles of items to the thrift shop for me and I tried to keep only those items I really thought I would use. And bit by bit, I find it easier to let go. Yesterday, I actually purged more items that I thought I "needed." And it feels good to let go!

Here is the after photos. I want another large lamp in to make it brighter. It's in our basement so there is no natural light.



 
I actually think I'm going to reduce that fabric stash much more and bring some of my books (commentaries and study guides) home from the church and put them on those shelves instead.

Then I came up with a vision board. I only recently heard about this idea and loved it. It combines my creative-streak with my goal-setting.

I put my word for the year on there and then added some pictures, phrases and verses that reflect some aspect of that word and my goals. It may not make sense to others, but I know what each word and phrase means to me. 










So now I have a space to write, a plan moving forward and an "in-your-face" daily reminder board of what my goals and objective is for the year.

Looking forward to seeing how the Lord will work in 2024.


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