The State of 2019

As we lead into the New Year, if you are anything like me, you are thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2020. Big dreams and small dreams are swirling through my head. You see, 2019 was a big year in our house. I got married, we paid off our debt, and we are about to close on our first home. Although I am eager to see what 2020 brings, I want to share some lessons learned from 2019.

1.      Enough. This is a word that every perfectionist hates to hear but needs to understand. Although I believe in giving my best, sometimes you just need to accept that you have done enough for that night. You have gotten enough information to move on. You have done all you can and even when you may fall short, you are enough.

2.      Relationships. It is such a simple act to tell someone how great they are but it goes further than words.  I realized this year that I spend a lot of time assuming my friends know how great they are and how lucky I feel to have them. I have made it a practice to tell them every chance I get. Sometimes we just need to hear those words. It strengthens the relationship far past catching up on what the weekend we just had entails and lets them know you truly see them for the beauty they are. You will never feel bad about building people up.

3.      Have a plan. Nothing this year would have been possible without a plan. Planning a wedding made me fall in love with spreadsheets. Going through Financial Peace University made me fall in love with budgets. Committing to a brand new process at work allowed our team to increase our efficiency and hit our goal for the first time in years. None of this would have been possible without making a commitment to a plan and staying the course, even when the idea of spending all my money on clothes sounds better than sticking to the budget.

4.      Pride. You are not better than anyone else is nor do you have to be. Being competitive in nature, this has been a challenge. I want to be the best on my team. I want to be the one who has it all together. I want to win, even when it was not a competition. At the end of the day, there will always be someone better. 2019 has tested me to see that as someone to look up to and strive to be.

5.      Slow down. Ask my team and anyone around me, attention to detail is not my strong suit. I never miss a deadline, but that email most likely has typos because I chose to rush through. This is a big commitment to 2020. Further, then the literal sense of it, slow down in life and enjoy the journey. A youth pastor told me that back in my early years of High School and I don’t think I truly understood what that meant until this year. We were so focused on our goals that I blinked and 2019 was over. It was a success but I wish I had enjoyed the ride more.

I may not know what 2020 brings but I plan to bring these life lessons into practice and cannot wait to see what God has in store for my family, my team, and myself.