I know that it’s a little off-kilter to be writing a goals post in July – but for me, I’ve decided that July is the new January.

I’m a teacher and Christmas break is just enough time to catch my breath – to recover from an arduous semester of teaching – no time to write goals, much less to live them out in January, right when the insanity begins again full force.

But now … now I’ve been off for a month. I’ve had time to think and to veg and to watch too much tv; time to do a little desultory house cleaning and cook some actual meals in between the frozen pizzas and the fish sticks; time to remember that time is running out. My brain is officially revived … revived sufficiently to choose my three words for 2011 …

And they are …

Drum roll please …

just do it
This life is a funny tension between look ahead and live now and I’m longing for a better balance between the two. I want to keep working toward my dreams, but live in the moment and experience now.

Right now, Robb and I are teacher/missionaries in Portugal (read about it here), but we don’t believe it is forever … so, looking ahead, I see two things: professional writing (and maybe speaking) and ministry among refugees and immigrants.

Two things to just do

  • submit a minimum of 2 articles per month for publication (print or web)
  • get certified to teach English as a Foreign Language (BONUS – this fulfills both look ahead and live now!)

The other side of just do it is to stop procrastinating:

  • don’t save that email to deal with later – just do it
  • write that birthday card today
  • clean up the supper dishes now
  • put the clothes away immediately
  • read or delete
  • don’t think about, write about, talk about, obsess about what I should be doing as wife/mother/teacher/friend; just do it … or let it go.

Check back in January … maybe by then I’ll have made some progress.

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