As I was growing up, my parents instilled in me confidence and a strong sense of self. It's also something that I pray we're teaching our boys. Along with those two things, they also encouraged me to do my best in everything I did and that's something that I continue to carry with me today.
I, like most all of you, want to be better at what I do. I don't believe in standing still because I know that if we're not moving forward, we're moving backwards and we all know that backwards isn't good. I also don't want to just get by. I'm not wired that way; I'm wired to try to do more and do it better.
I'm a thinker. Big time. It's both a blessing and a curse though. It's a blessing because it's natural for me to think about my life and look at it and see the areas where I can improve, but it's a curse because it keeps me up at night sometimes.
I know that I'm not perfect and know that I won't ever be. I also hope that I don't come across as having the perfect life on my blog. While my life is pretty great and I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world, it's not perfect and it won't ever be.
But with that said, I try to be better everyday. I want to be a better wife and make sure I show my husband the love, attention and encouragement that he not only needs and deserves, but I want to give him. I want to be a better mother to our boys and make sure they know how much they're loved, how much we believe in them and how much they're teaching me. I want to be a better Christian and spend more time actually getting to know my Savior and not simply reading my Bible and saying my prayers to "check" some proverbial list we're almost pre-programmed to use. I want to be better in my job and not only do the things that have to be done well, but also develop new concepts, plans and strategies that will help us reach our goals. I want to be a better athlete and push myself to the limits. I want to be faster and stronger and look more fit. I want to be better for myself. I want to take the time to do things I enjoy, try cooking new recipes, daydream about the future, plan some fun things and just relax.
I know I won't ever be the best at everything I do, but I want to be the best version of myself. There are constantly things we can improve upon. We can smile more and be friendlier to the people we pass in the halls. We can sit down to listen more instead of trying to accomplish 99 things at the same time. We can slow down to enjoy things we love instead of rushing through to the next thing on our calendar.
How about you? Do you strive to be perfect? Do you want to feel like a better version of yourself?
My advice is this:
Think about your life and the things you do.
Are there things that upset you because you know you want / need to do them {things like spending more time with your husband and kids, getting to work on time or taking the time to work out}?
Pick one area each week you want to improve. Could it be that you start packing yours and your kids lunches at night so you can sit down and eat breakfast as a family? Do you want to spend more time with God, but don't know how to fit it in? {I'm guilty of this one.} How about getting up earlier than everyone else to have those extra 20-30 minutes.
See how you feel at the end of the week. Are your days better? Do you feel more relaxed? Do you feel like you're better?
