Happy New Year!

No, I’m not completely crazy, I know that it’s Labor Day weekend! But I need to go back about 350 days to get you caught up on where I’m at. I’m pretty sure that it was around Mid-September 2022, I was listening to podcasts like I normally do, and everyone was talking about the fourth quarter of the year and finishing strong. They also started to talk a lot more about the fiscal year. For some reason last year, the fiscal year kept getting mentioned more than I remember in the past. The conversation I remember hearing was that different businesses, schools or non-profit organizations have different fiscal years. A school will start their fiscal year at the start of the school year. A business may start in October, the benefit being that they don’t have to do tons of extra things in November and December to finish the year. That got me thinking, why can’t I celebrate my new year whenever I want? After very little debate, I decided that starting in 2023, I would celebrate my new year on September 3rd. Why September 3rd, some of you may be asking. Well, it’s because back in 2016, I decided to start journaling. The day I started was September 3rd. For me, that was the start of doing daily habits to try and improve myself. I took things that were important to me that I was doing occasionally, and I started doing them every single day. Since then, I have added other habits, including reading a book, taking vitamins, praying, and reading my bible. I strongly believe that doing those small things everyday led me to want to learn more and do more. Trying to improve myself led me to trying to figure out how to make a website, writing a blog or making a podcast. So, in my mind a decision way back in 2016 led me to be here today. After that kind of long introduction, let me finally officially tell you “HAPPY NEW YEAR!”.

Obviously, the new year comes with high expectations and new ideas. So, what is going to change and how am I going to change it? Good questions! I want to start off with a focus word for the year. My choice is going to be the word “Intentional”. I am going to be very intentional on the things that I want this year and the things I want to change. The first thing I need to be intentional about is doing something every day that I can use on my website, in a blog or on a podcast. I really love to write and create content. The only way that I am going to get better is to do it every single day. I want to be intentional every single day about writing something that will help people understand the bible or get closer in their walk with God. I know I probably won’t be perfect over the whole year, but I want to be a whole lot better than I have been in the last 365 days.

         I also need to focus on my health. Every single year I say the same exact thing. This year I want to be intentional and tell myself that my body is supposed to be a temple. I keep thinking about the Holy Spirit. God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us at all times to help us in our walk with God. I worry sometimes that I don’t hear the Holy Spirit in my life because he is too busy trying to make his way around the mess I have made of my body. I want to be successful at my job, I want to do well for my church, and I want to have the energy to do things online. How can I do all that when I am so unhealthy? At some point I must decide what is most important to me.

         Speaking of work, I do think it’s important as a Christian to do well at your job. I think that some people in the world have decided that Christians are weak and the only way to be successful is to compromise your beliefs. I want to find a way to be a leader at my job and not only not compromise but show the world that it’s easier to do when you are taking directions from God instead of man. The world needs more Christian influence, you can’t have influence on other people if you aren’t good at your job.

         Last, but definitely not least, this year I want to focus on my family. I have family members that I love very much, but to be honest, I don’t really know if I can tell you anything that they have going on right now. Are they happy, are they sad, are they stressed? I have no idea. I need to do a lot better with showing love to my family. It’s frustrating to me that the people who have shown me unconditional love and support over the years are the people that I check in last with. I think as soon as I am done posting this, I will send a quick text out to someone who I miss very much. What better way to start the year than checking in with people who you love and miss!

I want to challenge everyone out there to be prepared for a big year. Maybe it’s a few months away in January or maybe you want to come up with a random date and make that the start date. Just go be intentional about what you want to do and who you want to become. I don’t want anyone to be sitting in the same place they are right now a year from now. Write down some really solid goals you have for yourself and choose to make it happen.