Have Courage and Be Kind

Happy New Year!!

Another year, another blog post...seriously, the last time I blogged was New Years Day 2016. Good thing this isn't my job because I'd be broke or fired...or both...


I got this great new planner called Ink + Volt. Its designed to help you figure out your goals and then keep you focused on them, daily, weekly, and monthly. So far, I love it! Part of this planner is to create a theme for the year. After brainstorming one stormy night in a hotel in Texarkana, I came up with the following theme: Have Courage {to do hard things} and Be Kind {to myself as I am to others}.

Have Courage {To Do Hard Things}

Life is hard. I mean, really, its hard. Things happen that we don't think we can handle and yet, we somehow -usually- make it through them. We, all of us, are capable of handling things that we didn't think we could handle. We are capable of doing things that we didn't think we could do. Sure, sometimes we need help, but that's why we have family and friends, churches and prayer. This past year has been very difficult for me for a few reasons. 2017 promises to be just as difficult, as those reasons are carrying over into the new year. Blank Slate? Nah, that doesn't happen often. Having courage is going to be important to my survival this year. More courage than I have had to find within myself in a very long time. One of the most important things I can do this year is to find a better way to deal with stress than reaching for the chocolate and Dr. Pepper. I need a clear head to handle the stress that comes my way and sugar just doesn't do it for me. It feels like it does, but its a false comfort. Taking care of my health is vitally important, not in spite of stress, but because of stress. So this year, I have to have courage to face difficult challenges and to be as healthy as possible while doing so.

Be Kind {To Myself As I Am To Others}

This part of my 2017 theme is equally important but a bit more difficult. I am notoriously hard on myself. And not always kind about it. I'm a pretty nice person to everyone else...or almost everyone else. I serve people in small and large ways anytime I get the chance. I listen to people when they have problems and help them work through them as much as I am able. I don't judge people based on anything, except their actions, and even then, I'm not a harsh critic...mostly. But myself? That's a different story. I judge myself on every thought, action, reflection in the mirror, and whether I have worked out that day or not or how much soda I've had to drink. I don't rationalize or justify anything even when there is a valid rationalization or justification to be made. I expect perfection, but only from myself. Which is quite ridiculous, as none of us can be perfect. We can try to be perfect, but we can't actually BE perfect. Because we are human. And in our humanness, we are perfectly imperfect. But that's how we learn and grow and become better. Imperfection is necessary. And in this imperfect world, kindness and grace to others and ourselves is of paramount importance. And we should always include ourselves in that. After all, Jesus admonished us to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we don't love ourselves very much, how can we love our neighbors in the way that He wants us to? I'm pretty sure he didn't want us to look at our neighbors and tell them they need to lose weight or count the number of gray hairs they have. Or tell them that they obviously aren't as good as the neighbor down the street is. But that's exactly what we do to ourselves. We look in the mirror and we nitpick our reflection. We judge ourselves based on what we see on social media, forgetting that we have a full picture of our lives, but only a tiny bit of others' lives. We compare our whole story to highlights of others' stories.


I have made some goals for this year, and I will (probably...maybe) blog about them later. But my overarching theme for this year is to Have Courage {to do hard things} and Be Kind {to myself as I am to others}. Allowing this theme to permeate my life will allow me to grow and learn, to become a healthier, happier person. It will allow me to truly love others as Jesus would have me do and to have the strength to do so. And it will allow me to face the hardships of 2017 head on and come out the other side a little bit stronger. Or at least in one piece.

~KC

A visual of my brainstorming and a preview of my goals:-)