New Year New Me

For as many years as I can remember I have been saying, "I'm going to write a book." I literally have at least 5 books that I have started just sitting in my hard drive. I'm not quite sure the reason I always get half way and then stop. Perhaps it's because sometimes I just get writer's block or maybe it's because I've just had poor follow through on this particular project. When I think about it, there is no really good reason why I can't finish at least one book. My brain has a wealth of knowledge on so many important topics. So when this new year rolled around I decided I am definitely going to write and publish my first book.

We often allow ourselves to get stuck in a rutt. Get up, go to work, go home, eat dinner, workout, go to sleep. Then get up and do it all over again. At least that is how most of my days went until recently. Just before the holidays I lost my job. For 24 years I worked in special education, primarily the behavior field. I worked with some of the most challenging children with the most challenging behaviors. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't give up, ever! The harder the challenge, the harder I would work to find a solution and find a way to make that student successful. It has always been important to me to help set students up for success. There are so many reasons that children act out either with physical inappropriateness or verbal inappropriateness. A big part of my job was to find ways for those kids to get their needs met in a more socially appropriate way. Over the years I had a lot of success in changing behaviors. There were some students I worked with from kindergarten all the way through high school. It was always so wonderful to see them graduate and go on to lead a successful life.

Let's circle back around to why my new year resolution or goal as I like to call it, is to write and publish my first book. With all of the work I did over the years to help set my students up for success, I realize that I have an entire library of tips and strategies that are beneficial for parents and staff so they too can help the children become successful. I choose to pass my knowledge on by writing a book so people can learn ways to help set their children up for success. In doing this, I will also be setting myself up for success. When I say I will be setting myself up for success I am talking about my own success in learning to follow through with my book project and see it through to the publishing stage.

One big lesson in life I have learned is that we have to have confidence in ourselves. We need to believe in ourselves and be conscious of not comparing ourselves to others. I used to read other people's books and think to myself, "I'll never be able to write like that." The truth is, I don't need to write like someone else. I need to write like me. Understand that we are all unique individuals, carefully crafted to be who we are, ourselves. Once you believe in yourself and take that leap of faith, you can realize any new resolution or goal that you set for yourself. Start by making a plan, set small attainable goals for yourself, reinforce yourself for any progress you make and stick with it. Imagine how amazing you will feel when you sit back and realize you have accomplished something you really wanted to do. Celebrate your accomplishments. Build your confidence by building on your dreams.

A lot of people always say they don't want to set new year's resolutions. They believe they are a waste of time. Personally, I believe they don't want to set new year resolutions because they don't ever follow through on them. Why do I think this you might ask? Well, to be honest I was one of those people. Every year someone would ask me what my new year resolution was and every year I would tell them I didn't set any. The reason I said that was because I already knew that even if I did set new resolutions I would last a week before I just stopped doing them. I would either forget about my resolution, think it was too hard or just became bored. Obviously when that happened I probably just didn't choose the right resolution to work on. I needed to find something that lit a spark in me, something that made me feel passionate about following through to the final goal post. I needed some positive motivation to help me see things through all the way.

When I lost my job before the holidays I cried for days. I absolutely loved my job and had planned to keep working for several years to come, God willing. I wasn't prepared for the news, "Thank you for your service, you have one week to finish out your job before we end our relationship with you." The reason they let me go had nothing to do with my job performance, it was an HR decision, which led to several employees having to leave their positions. It was quite the shock especially before the holidays. However, losing my job did have a positive side to it all. It now allowed me the time to write more. Now I could sit down for hours and shift my mind into high gear. I could spend hours, days, weeks, even months writing what I want to write. I felt myself getting excited. There was the motivation I needed to complete my book.

As I sit here tonight typing this story for all of you, I am thankful that life swerved the way it did. I was able to reflect on what I want to do next and set those new year resolutions and goals that I feel motivated and passionate to execute and obtain. I am excited now about the new possibilities that lay ahead. Don't give up on your resolutions and goals. Allow yourself the freedom to be yourself and to shape the person you want to be. Whether your resolution was to get to the gym more, find a better job or to just be more mindful throughout the day, just do it. Make that plan, set those obtainable goals, follow through and be thankful that you were able to finally make a resolution that helped you find confidence and success. You've got this, we've got this. Happy resolution setting to all.

Written by: Sue McGaughey