March 21 marked Naw-Rúz, the Spring Equinox. With the arrival of the season of renewal and regrowth, I am feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. Following January 1 and Chinese Lunar New Year, Naw-Rúz is the third New Year that I celebrate each year, so it is a time to reflect on what has happened thus far this year and to make course corrections with my plans and goals.
I do not believe in self-imposed-time-sensitive goals. Things take the time that they take, and we often do not know how long that will be. When we are doing new things for the first time, we cannot expect to do it quickly and efficiently. There are too many unknowns to be able to proceed at full tilt without getting tripped up on unexpected concerns. It takes time to explore, make mistakes, learn and grow. Also, any goal that involves other people cannot be given a specific deadline, unless you are paying them more than adequately to accomplish something quickly. Goals that depend on a lot of other people with their own commitments and schedules must have flexibility. Therefore, we must be honest about how much control we actually have over the outcome.
For many years, I have been looking to find my intrinsic motivation for being—raison d'être. Several friends encouraged me to find a sentence or phrase to precisely describe the path I want to follow in life—to set my North Star— because having clarity about my course and destination enables me to make better decisions in life. It helps me know when to say yes or no without second guessing myself.
After many meditation and journaling sessions, where paragraphs became sentences, I eventually simplified my driving purpose into three action verbs.
What do I want to do every day?
Write! Teach! Serve!
Write books. Teach wisely. Serve humanity.
Now, my new year’s resolutions focus on these three verbs. This year I have goals around each of them.
- Write and edit the next books in the Pyrrha’s Journey trilogy
- Teach courses through Story Spring and the local university
- Serve my community by publishing A Hundred Thousand Hopes, as well as helping my dad publish a book
These professional goals will keep me busy! Regardless of how long they take (the rest of this year or longer), they are on the horizon to be accomplished. Other goals that meet my criteria of writing, teaching and service work will also be added as I complete one major project and have energy for something new.
However, there is a new guide on my path: health—physical, mental, and spiritual health. In the last few years, as I firmly move into my late forties, I have become aware of my waning health. Surgeries and tests reveal that my body is not working as well as it could. If I live to be eighty-something (as soothsayer predicted when I was a teenager), then I still have about four more decades ahead of me. Without health, that would be a very long time—with health that is still a long time.
This March, after getting frustrating results from a CAT scan, it became clear that I must make changes in order to be strong and limber for the second half of my life. I have lots of excuses for how and why things have gotten as bad as they have, but this year is the time to set my sights on a new way forward. I am not changing my direction—my writing, teaching and service work are nonnegotiable since they provide the spark in my life. However, I can make changes in HOW I go about accomplishing my goals. Consistency, moderation, and patience need to temper my goal-driven work ethic. Paying attention to how I can live well so that I can live longer will moderate my daily routines.
Do you have a North Star that guides your choices for goals and actions?
Have you made revisions to your personal goals because of something that unexpectedly happened?
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