It’s a New Year…

…and Jeffrey is starting out 2012 in style. I saw him in this get-up and asked if I could take his picture. He gave me permission, only if I promised to put the picture on my blog. I keep my promises. And apparently Jeffrey has no shame.

On another note…

It being New Year’s and all, we had several talks and lessons in church today about setting goals. I’m always hesitate about this topic. I wholeheartedly believe in self improvement and accomplishment, but I’m always reluctant to set specific goals because I feel like such a failure when I don’t accomplish each one perfectly (and being human, I usually don’t). It’s not that I never accomplish things, but I tend to do better when I don’t set myself up for failure, when I’m not feeling pressure from the expectation of goals written in stone.

Nevertheless…I feel compelled to set a few personal goals this year. But, I’m being cautious and keeping my list short, the items on it do-able, and keeping the whole thing confidential…that way, if I fail, I won’t have to explain anything to anyone but myself.

I read this great quote recently on a favorite blog….

“Discipline is the faithful friend who will introduce you to your true self.  Discipline is the worthy protector who will defend you from your lesser self, and discipline is the extraordinary mentor who will challenge you to become the best version of yourself and all that God created you to be.”

                                                                                                                       Matthey Kelly

I so agree with that statement. The trouble is, I most often think of myself as someone who lacks discipline. It’s true that it’s easy for me to discipline myself to keep a fairly clean and organized home (bathrooms not included), have scripture study with my family, keep up my blog, do my visiting teaching, because for the most part I enjoy doing those things thus not much discipline is required. But, if it’s exercising, eating more vegetables, keeping my patience with my children, or a myriad of other things I could mention, then I run into a major lack of discipline. Isn’t it only defined as discipline if you are making yourself do something you don’t enjoy doing, or working on not doing negative things that tend to come naturally to you?

The truth is though, as the quote so perfectly points out, I truly would like to be more acquainted with my true self, become less familiar with my lesser self, and be the best version of me that I can be (eventually), so I press on and set goals despite my reservations in doing so. I set them with a prayer in my heart for a greater helping of personal discipline, because I know all too well that I will need it.

So…here’s to a brand new year, new goals, new opportunities to succeed or fail, and the possibility of a better version of myself in 2012.