A Shift Toward Monthly Intentions

Have you been wondering what ever happened to my monthly goal-setting series? Well you’re not alone if so! I’ve been wondering that myself lately! I have decided it’s time to shake things up a little bit so keep reading! And if this is your first visit here, thanks for joining me! Back in 2019, I decided to start setting three specific goals for myself each month. My objective was to be more intentional (which was my 2019 word of the year) in my day-to-day life. It was really great while it lasted but over the past several months, I have found myself in need of a more gentle, grace-giving approach. One that can still offer me accountability, joy, and connection but with much less pressure. For the rest of 2021, I’ve decided that to shift this to a series of monthly intentions.

Back in early August I thought I had finally gotten back to a place where I would be up for setting monthly goals for myself again after several months off but alas (as you may have guessed)… that was not the case.

In that last goals post I wrote: 

It’s been a minute since I showed up and actually declared any monthly goals. A lot has been happening these past several months and as much as I hate to admit it, goal-setting has not been much on my radar even though it has always been such a valuable exercise for me in the past. As July came and went, I realized that setting and sharing these monthly goals has been a part of blogging that has always brought me accountability, joy, and connection. And I realized that I’ve been missing those things lately. Therefore, I’m aiming to be more intentional for the second half of this year. That means I am going to start back up and share my monthly goals with you!

Reading that now, several months later, and realizing that I failed to show up this way for you AND myself feels discouraging and disappointing. I feel like I’ve let you down. I feel like I’ve let myself down. For such a long time I had a good routine of setting goals every month and then sharing them with you here. For a while I was blogging regularly and showing up here in the ways I really wanted to.

And then one day, I just wasn’t. 

I know I’m supposed to give myself grace. Accept that this season I’m in is one that doesn’t have a lot of room in the margins. I know I’m supposed to be holding space for myself and all that fun stuff (like I tell other people to do). Trust me, I know… and I promise I’m working on it. As a Mama raising young children, I feel so inspired to continue exploring and pursuing the power of inner acceptance. There is so much of me just waiting to break open, heal, and guide me toward understanding and personal growth.

I want to model these things for my children. To teach them the importance of honoring ourselves, our feelings, our spirit, our creativity, and our souls. Teach them to give themselves grace. To hold space to simply “BE” wherever they are in any given season. This is everyday work for me. I don’t know if it will eventually become second nature, but for now I’m embracing it as much as I can. And continuing to work on it daily with intention.

There are SO MANY THINGS that I want to share in this space. So many ways I would love to connect – conversations to be had, stories to tell, things I carry on my heart that I long to talk about with you. Most days though, my life feels chaotic and overwhelming. What I’ve found is that pinning these things down into blog posts and IG captions and newsletters is easier said than done 99.9% of the time.

If I’m being honest, I really do love personal goal setting.

I’ve always been motivated and inspired by a clear set of goals. It helps my chaotic brain stay focused and grounded about things I want to be intentional about. I have always truly enjoyed sharing my goals here with all of you. For one thing, there is a pretty strong sense of accountability that comes from announcing to the internet what you are trying to accomplish in a month. There have been seasons when all I could manage to find time (or make time) for with my blog was to create my monthly goals posts. Writing and sharing those goals with you felt like an uncomplicated way for me to show up in this space. This series has created some really amazing connections for me. It has been so cool to have people share their own goals with me and to have so many engaging conversations about goal-setting in general!

All this being said… I want to try again, to keep trying. But this time I’m going to switch it up a little. I’m no longer going to call them my monthly goals posts. I’m making a deliberate shift toward something that feels more gentle. More self-loving and space-holding. More permission-giving. For myself (and for all of us). Going forward (at least through the end of this year!) I am going to be setting monthly intentions for myself instead of goals. My hope is that this approach will help me stay grounded and focused on the most important things in my life. Capture more moments, make the days more meaningful, maintain more presence. While doing so with a more gentle, grace-giving approach that will continue to offer me the accountability, joy, and connection that I truly love… but with much less pressure. 

I’m going to begin in November with my first monthly intentions. I hope this new shift will help me reclaim the inspiration and motivation to keep things going!

As always, thanks for being here.

Yours truly,

Eliza B.