Finding My Power

The beginning of a new year! It is full of hope and promise and goals and plans and the preparing, planning, wishing, and scheduling, and the feeling of this is my year. I have, like most people always had a hopefulness of the new year. Another lap around the sun and another chance to start fresh and accomplish the things that you wanted to do the previous year, but maybe things got in the way. Maybe there was a medical problem or a lost job, or a move that pushed your plans back and you had to adapt. If I have learned anything, it is that things never go the way you plan and you have to be adaptable and learn to go with the flow. It seems that many of the things I have done in the past have not worked and it seems that in order for me to accomplish any goal that I make for myself this year I will have to set about doing it differently.

I started the new year listening to books on ways to meditate, manifest, and ways to be more spiritually connected. I have grown to understand that whatever goal I have I will not be able to achieve it on my own as I believed I could for the past decades. Perhaps this is coming with age, but I have grown more interested in the power that lies inside of each person. My goal for this year is to get in touch with that power. I want to develop a strong and unshakable relationship with my power and myself. I want to feel confident in decisions I make as well as in myself. I have begun meditating using the help of guided meditations. I have started doing this daily and I have noticed some changes in my feelings and how I handle situations. I have begun to write down my schedule and organize my time. I realized that even working two jobs, I have a plethora of free time that I do not utilize. I believe this is true for most people. However, I have never been one to sit on the couch for hours and watch TV, but I know many people that do and then complain they have no time to do the things they want to do. I did not ant to be this person.

I found myself feeling like I did not have time for anything as I work two jobs and finding time can be difficult and the feelings of overwhelm, dread, and desperation to "catch up" would make me angry and depressed. However, I have taken my daily schedule and broken it down every day and organized my time based on the hours of the day. I am learning to master my time to get the most out of my day. On the days I work I have began getting up around 5 to 6 am in the morning to meditate, stretch, write, exercise, read, or do things for myself that I otherwise would not have time to do. This has made a significant improvement in my life and has allowed my to refocus on the things as well as space them out so I do not succumb to the dread of doing the same routine every day. No two days are the same for me, even on the days I go to work. In the morning hours I will work on different projects on different days, giving my mind a break from one activity and keeping it fresh when I go back to it.

While we all can accomplish great things, we all have the same 24 hours in a day and I have taken to using this time in the most effective way possible. I have realized that doing steps and things to lead me to my goals before I go to work sets the mood for the entire rest of my day and I feel accomplished before even going to work. This feeling is something that I never had and it gives me hope for the new year. When I wake up at 5 am and I do not have to be at work until 8 am, this gives me three hours to work on whatever I choose. Usually I start my day with a 15 minute stretch and a light exercise to get my blood flowing and open up the creative channels. Then I will meditate for about 10 minutes to allow any creativity to flow into me and to be grateful for whatever opportunities and challenges the day may bring. I will then follow whatever feels right to work on that morning. If I feel that I should write, then I write, If I feel I need to read something inspirational and uplifting, then I read. If I feel I need to work on educating myself in a particular area that I enjoy then that is what I do. This gives me the freedom to determine in that moment what I feel is most important to me for that day.

It is also nice having a three hour jump on the rest of the world. Knowing that most of the world is asleep and that only people with the same goals that want to improve their life, work on themselves, or perfect their skills are up at that hour, helps me to feel extraordinary and like I am part of something special that few get to take part in. I am looking forward to seeing all the things that I can accomplish with this extra time and it gives me a new sense of hope that I have never had. I have realized that I have had the time all along, but I was not utilizing it. This discovery has allowed me the time to work on my blog for my website that I want to do as well allowed me to continue educating myself about my profession and learn new techniques and skills. Mundane tasks such as cleaning and laundry are also done while I listen to inspirational books or books or podcasts on a particular skill or something I am interested in learning about. I started a subscription with Audible and I have basically been living with my headphones in. I have picked up great advice and tips and ways to get in touch with my power.

Every new year people have the same goals, they want to lose weight, they want to save money, pay off debt, or some other goal that sounds good on paper. Then the first time it rains or there is an expense they go back to their comfort zone. This was always my problem and I have realized it was because I valued my comfort more than I did my goals. I was scared of getting uncomfortable. It was easy and familiar to go back to doing what I had always done. However, I have realized that I do not know the person I wasn't to be. I only know the person I am. In order for me to become who I want to be I will have to do things that I have never done before and take chances that are scary. This is the only way to grow, and if I am not growing then I am dying.

Many people have goals that involve a skill like learning a language or playing an instrument, but I have learned it does not matter what the goal is, it is about how you approach it. It is about consistency. And it is about wanting your goals more than you want your comfort. And I do.