Invest in Change: It’s Worth the Effort

Before I share some thoughts about the coming new year, I want to take a moment and thank my family, friends, and readers out there. From every fiber of my being:

Thank you for taking the time to read my posts, for sharing my work with others, and for sharing your own reactions and thoughts with me. The idea of a blog wasn’t even on my radar at the start of 2021, but it has been such an unexpected joy in my life that it is one of my top highlights from the year. Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you!

Now, regarding the new year rapidly approaching, I must admit I’ve surprised myself with my attitude and ambition for 2022. Maybe I’m fired up over all the struggles, crises, and chaos—worldwide and in my small, personal reality—over the last two years; or, maybe the optimist in me feels like both myself and the world at large are just due for something better … I don’t really know. What I do know is that I feel anticipation, excitement, and hope for what 2022 has in store (despite the hilarious memes warning against such enthusiasm).  

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I’ve always been one who looks forward to New Year’s Day, and not just because I have a sister whose birthday falls on Jan 1 (even though I do think it’s one of the coolest birthdays you could have!). The new year feels like a blank canvas, or a crisp new notebook full of possibility and unknown opportunity to me. My past M.O. has been that I consider one or two resolutions for myself, I commit to some healthy new discipline, either physical or mental, and then I jump into the new year excited about what could happen. Could being the operative word here, because the truth is that my posture regarding all the interesting possibilities for the new year has consistently been a passive one. Like dreaming about winning the lottery, I’m lazy about it, simply hoping for good things to happen to me because I would really like it if they did. Other than some small investment in a healthy new habit, I’ve never really done much to ensure that I experience any of those “good things” I long for.    

While I’m keen on dreaming of endless possibilities, I’ve viewed those same “possibilities” as events or opportunities that might happen to me, not as realities I can create for myself.

I don’t think I’m the only one with this problem. The whole “New Year’s Resolution” idea has become corny, cliché even, and people often reject it altogether. My daughter and her friend shared how annoyed they are with the “new year, new me” mantra all over social media. “It’s just stupid,” she said, “because people don’t really do it anyway.” Sadly, her assessment is accurate for most of us. We lack follow-through. Our passive approach to change, even on a day like New Year when there’s collective energy encouraging change, makes the moment and it’s opportunity seem pointless. 

Why are we so passive about our own lives??

It’s a loaded question, I know, and one with unnumerable answers. My answers may be entirely different than yours (in case you’re wondering, fear is a big one for me). But no matter the reason, I think it’s a question worth asking ourselves. 

Have you ever watched one of those time-lapse videos of someone on a fitness journey? They show short clips of the individual throughout a long stretch of time and how their body changes over that timeframe. More than that though, those videos show discipline and commitment and the results that can happen when someone sets their will to change. We love to watch videos like this because they inspire us. They show us it’s possible to get what you want, if you’re willing to do the slow, invested, habitual work it takes to get there. We want to believe it’s possible, which is why we love watching the process. It confirms to the deep places in our soul that we can do it too. 

It’s time to stop watching other people’s triumphs and invest in our own.   

More than just dreaming about what could be, I want to approach this next year with a strategy, a reasonable plan of how I’m going to make moves and take risks. I want to go after 2022 in such a way that when I look back on it, at the start of 2023, I can say to myself, “Yes girl! That was time well spent!” 

No matter the results. 

Because if there’s one thing the last two years have taught us, it’s that the unpredictable is inevitable. So much of our experiences in life are dependent on people and circumstances beyond our control. Like I shared in my last post, things may not work out exactly like we dream or plan, but that doesn’t mean we give up. It just means we navigate our ambitions with flexibility and patience.      

And no small degree of determination.

It’s risky to invest in ourselves and our dreams. It’s risky to get out of our default routine and try something new or different. We wrestle with questions like: What if it fails? What if it doesn’t work out like I hope? What if I can’t make it happen? Anyone who has experienced any measure of failure knows, it’s not a pleasant thing. It’s painful. But so is living with hope always deferred. In fact, Scripture makes it clear that “hope deferred makes the heart sick” (Proverbs 13:12). In my own limited experience, and what I’ve garnered from others, the corrosive pain of perpetual disappointment, of living with the question of what could’ve happened if we had just tried, is much heavier and more painful than the frustration of failure.

And, there’s also the alternative. What if you don’t fail? What if you realize your dream? What if you create a life for yourself you’re incredibly proud of living? The second half of the Proverb above says, “but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” I think that sounds pretty wonderful. And I could use some wonderful in my life. So much so that I’m willing to risk, to abandon passivity, face my fears and get to work. 

I think 2022 is going to be an incredible year, because I’m going to do everything I can to ensure it’s nothing less.  

Who’s with me?