I stopped making New Year’s resolutions years ago. I was probably in college or maybe even high school the last time I made one. Everyone complains about how their resolutions are history by February 1st, but mine barely ever made it past noon on January 1st. Why bother with promises to myself that I won’t keep? Why set myself up for disappointment?
I think there’s some wisdom in that. Why set our goals to start on an arbitrary calendar date? After all, wouldn’t change be more likely to occur when we are prepared for it and won’t it be more successful if it’s organic?
But the problem with not having resolutions is that it feels curmudgeonly. It feels jaded and bitter and defeatist and sad. It reeks of pessimism and negativity, and all those other dark ways of being that I don’t really want infiltrating my life.
But then I came across the idea of replacing resolutions with a word for the year. It’s just one word that describes a new approach you want to take and a new focus for life. This seemed perfect for me.
Now we got into the problem of commitment. One word for an entire year?!?! Surely I therefore have to find THE PERFECT WORD. The word that will make my entire life better. The word that will impact me in every necessary beneficial way. And of course that thinking made me feel paralyzed.
But then my word suddenly came to me the other day… 
Let me give you a little bit of background.
We moved a couple of weeks ago, and I have learned over the last couple of weeks that trying to unpack with three kids underfoot is a million and ten times harder than trying to pack with kids underfoot. With packing, I could grab something, put it in a box, and then put it out of reach. Not the case with unpacking. With unpacking, I take something out of a box, put it away, and six little hands come up to grab it, oohing and aahing over it regardless of how mundane and pointless it seemed to them at our old house. This was the case when I was unpacking bathroom towels; you can imagine what it was like unpacking their playroom.
So I was standing at the door to their rather smallish playroom, knowing that I finally had to start to tackle this project. I wanted all their toys up and out so they could play with them, and I wanted all the loose toys out of the living room and in a permanent place. So I walked in, opened my eyes, and BOOM, I was instantly overwhelmed. There were hundreds upon hundreds of little pieces — Barbie shoes, random blocks, My Little Pony hair extensions. You name it, and it was in that pile on my floor.
The thoughts that go through my head during times like these are a bit chaotic, and they are usually yelling at me telling me I should get this all done now, and that I will never be able to do it. So yea, they are chaotic and contradictory, and they often just lead me to close the door and walk away. They are mean thoughts, and they are perfectionistic thoughts, and they get me to bad places really quickly.
But then I remembered an idea someone told me years back about focusing on progress and not perfection. I didn’t need to get every one of the 792 puzzle pieces picked up and put in their correct box at that moment. I just needed to make progress. It would get done if I just chipped away at it. One moment at a time, one pair of baby doll sunglasses at a time.
And now, about 24 hours later, my playroom looks much more like a play room and much less like the remnants of a hurricane. It’s still not done, but we are getting much closer. And last night, since so many more toys had homes, I was finally able to tidy up the living room and have a peaceful evening without clutter everywhere and without random toys singing random songs at random moments while I tried to watch the latest episode of Parenthood.
So that is how I came up with progress, and I’ve reminded myself of this word multiple times since then.
I don’t need to be perfect. I don’t need to finish everything the absolute moment I start. I don’t need to surpass everyone else in everything else. I just need to make progress. Pure and simple progress. How calming is that!
Have you ever come up with a word for the year? If so, I would love to hear what it is!
And by the way, I found my computer cord, so my blog is finally back up and running! Hurray for progress!