Start with Intention
Well, friends. It’s been quite a month! I spent the past few weeks traveling to parts of the US that you’ve heard of but might not have the easiest time identifying on a map. When we started the trip, I was excited but really had few expectations for what might happen, and I have to say that I was so pleasantly surprised. Since Josh is in school, I went with both of my parents and we had the best time.
We started in Ohio and traveled through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa (where we stopped to attend wedding #1), South Dakota, Wyoming, North Dakota (where we stopped for wedding #2) and then finished the trip driving through Minnesota and Wisconsin.
As we were traveling, I found that something really interesting happened. I was forced to really think about how to spend my time. After a long day on the road, we would typically get to the hotel and have 1-2 hours of free time before bed. This meant that I had to plan and prioritize in a way that I don’t always do in my everyday life.
But I think it’s a good lesson to carry through with me now that I’m back home and settled into my day to day routine. And I think it really comes back to being intentional. How can we each be intentional with everything that we do…from how we spend our time, to our money, to the way that we go about our everyday activities. Because without intention, what is the point?
As I’m writing this, it’s a little late, and I know that I should be heading to bed in a few minutes. But even with this post, I had to make a decision. There was a part of me that desperately wanted to blow it off, to spend an extra few minutes on Neflix or doing something that required a little less brainpower. But instead, I am forcing myself to walk out exactly what I’m suggesting to you. That in the long-term, I’ll appreciate the fact that I put in the hours to work on my blog, rather than just spending the evening watching tv.
Usually when I write a post, I have a clear set of action points or something specific that I’m writing on. However, with this one, not so much. And now that I continue to ramble, it occurs to me that there actually is a point. The point is to just do it. To do the hard things, to be intentional, each day, with the difficult actions. For me, that looks like writing this post when I’m feeling exhausted.
So, now let’s turn it over to you. What is the thing that you are putting off? Are you watching Netflix by default rather than that ‘thing’ that is in the back of your mind that you know you should be working on? If so, just start. Take 5-10 minutes and begin, make a dent in it even if it feels so small that it doesn’t matter. Little by little it all adds up. Until eventually you have something of substance that you can be really proud of.
Start With Intention:
