In the midst of Pinterest, Facebook fan pages and all of the really great blogs and articles out there, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and intimidated when it comes to making lifestyle changes. It seems like everyone else is living the lifestyle that you want and, if they can do it, why can’t you? I think it is fair to say that we read all these great ideas, see all these projects ideas, organizational techniques, and recipes, and we don’t know where to begin. So we don’t ever begin. We don’t ever move ahead.There are many areas that I want to change for my family. I’ll give you a partial list:
Food:
- Make bread weekly (from flour I grow and grind myself)
- Make yogurt weekly
- Make cheese quarterly
- Make butter monthly
- Cook healthy dinners from scratch
- Raise chickens for the eggs
- Tap trees to make maple syrup
- Homemade vanilla coffee creamer
- Homemade pasta
- Make freezer meals monthly
- Well stocked pantry so I can do one-a-month shopping instead of weekly
Garden:
- Tomatoes
- Carrots
- Herbs: garlic, basil, thyme, rosemary, ginger, chives, calendula, motherwort, St Johns Wort, chamomille, mint, lavander, plantain, comfy, lemongrass, hyssop
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Broccoli
- Cauliflour
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Apple trees
Home:
- Always clean enough to have company over
- Decorated and matching furniture
- Declutter – clothes, toys, books, and kitchen stuff
- Wood burning fireplace
- Organized bookshelves
- Chemical free cleaning and body care (toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo etc)
- Line dry laundry
- Build my dream home for my family
Christian Living:
- Attend church every week
- Read the Bible through every year
- Keep a prayer/miracles journal
- Have a Bible study journal
- Study scripture with my family
- Memorize passages regularly
- Have regular a family worship time
Education:
- Read daily something to expand my mind in a subject of interest
- Read daily to my children
- Write and publish a book (or two)
- Learn a few languages
Business:
- Meet my sling sales goals every month
- Do 1-2 trade shows per year
- Get 1000 followers on my blog by the time I write/publish my book
- Get the farm to the point that Adam can take regular days off
Family:
- Two weekends of camping every year
- One family “field trip” per month
- One date with Adam per month
- Institute a weekly family games night
- Crafts with the kids weekly
That is a long list. And that is not even the complete list! If I look at my complete list I can get very overwhelmed. I think that if I actually was doing everything on my list then even I would not want to read my blog! The reality is that I’m more like you: big dreams that I haven’t followed through on.
Instead of focusing on what I’m not doing, I’m going to fill you in on a little secret. This secret revolutionized the way that I look at my life goals. And now for the cliff hanger: I’m going to put it in another post because this one is getting too long. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, I have a challenge for you: Grab a pen and piece of paper. Make your own list. Break it into different areas of your life and list (in as much detail as possible) how you want those areas to look and what you want to accomplish in those areas.
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