Be 1% better than you were yesterday!

 

As I explore my "Word of Intent", BOUNDARIES, I am forced to evaluate the places I need boundaries. The purpose of 30 Days of Self-Examination is to be 1% better every day than you were the day before. It is in my nature to spend my morning time of self-examination identifying the ways I failed the day before, but I am being purposeful in focusing one what I did well that gave me the 1% of improvement. To identify the places I need boundaries is to give myself back time, self-worth, peace, stillness, comfort, control, and the list goes on and on. It is easy to instead look at what I could be missing or what those boundaries may cause in my relationships. 

For example, if I cut something, or someone, back a little bit will that cause strife in my relationship

with that person? Will they be hurt because I am setting boundaries? I mean, haven't I created the lack of boundaries by not setting them early on? So for me to now make a change won't I be hurting someone else and maybe the relationship?  Possibly, but all the more reason to set the boundaries!  Honestly, that 1% number is such a relief to me!  That means I do not need to FIX everything FAST and IMMEDIATELY! In fact, the purpose isn't to FIX anything at all! The purpose is to just be 1% better than I was yesterday. 

From 6-7AM I am committed to my 6AM club and focusing on making that first hour of the day a priority. I will not check my email, my social media, fold laundry, watch the news, clean the kitchen. None of those things will make me 1% better than the day before, specifically in the area of my "Word of Intent". BUT, giving MYSELF that one hour a day will set the tone for the whole day. I'm 51 years old, this is NOT a new concept to me. But the concept of just working to be 1% better than yesterday is ABSOLUTELY new to me. I am an all or nothing person! And it's almost impossible for me to be okay with "just 1%". But there is so much relief in knowing my goal is bite size! 

Every area of my life needs to be prioritized. Spiritually I am truly empty. Emotionally I am struggling with anxiety, grief, loss. Physically I am fighting every single day against my body, since I was in second grade! Socially I am lonely, very lonely. As a Mom, I am lacking big time! My kids need even more from me now that they are older, but sometimes I feel like there are no boundaries with them and I let them dictate so much of who I am. Professionally I am at the beginning of a huge change with a new company and in a place of total rebirth and reinvention. All of those things can be overwhelming, but.....just 1% better. That's it!  And by the end of the 30 day challenge, with work and commitment, I will be 30% better than I am now!