7 Things Learnt & 4 Simple Goals (The Quiet Life of Violet)

Seven things that I have learned in the last seven months:

[FAITH] - I need to have more faith in myself.
[LISTEN] - It's funny how the most important people in my life have been calling things lately. I need to learn to listen to Dustin and my Sister and Mom and everyone else who is close to me. They're not stupid and they see things that I don't when blinded by fear/doubt/sadness/the past.
[TRY] - I've learned that not trying at all is worse than trying and failing.
[NO ONE IS PERFECT] - Not me or anyone for that matter. Enough said.
[GIVE AND TAKE] - That friendships should be easy(ish). When you have to work harder at a friendship than you do at your marriage, it's time to end it.
[DON'T WEAR UGLY] - Everyone has internal ugliness. This is something that I'm working on for ME because I've realized that I'm not exempt. Ugliness doesn't look good on people and I don't like how I look in it either.
[LET GO] - I need when to draw the line, appreciate the good times in the past and let go (for now, at least) of people who make me feel bad.

Which leads me to:

Miss Elsie Flannigan, of A Beautiful Mess, blogged last week and posted 4 simple goals for herself before 2011. The concept was simple, the four goals should be, "personal (and those) that you believe will truly make your life richer."

Without further adieu, my four goals:

1) Spend more time with people. I've been holing up at home and aliening myself from most people, with the exception of Facebook (which sucks, by the way. Facebook is a communication tool that's been causing more problems for me than it's worth. My fault? Yes.). I want to remove myself from my little turtle shell and spend more one on one time out int he world.

2) Schedule time to accomplish my goals. I get distracted. A lot. My mind usually races in a million different directions each day and it's hard to get things done when I'm not "there." I want to write in blocks of time where I won't allow myself to do anything (laundry, internet, groceries..) but what I've planned. I want to be able to relax and let the dishes sit in the sink or leave the laundry unwashed and just focus on my goal.

3) Get some kind of exercise routine going. I have many excuses as to why I don't get regular exercise. Some of them legit (having one leg = less options for cardio, having one lung = I get winded like a fat kid) and some of them not (I don't have the time -- hello! You have NO obligations besides house work and Dinners.)

4) Speak less. Dustin has been quick to point out that I speak from my heart, where as, he speaks from his head. This is true on both counts. And, as you might know, our hearts don't always say the nicest things. I have a problem NOT verbalizing the things that come form my heart, good and bad. So, I want to try and really work on the bad things that I choose to verbalize. Some things don't need to be said aloud. It's okay to feel them, but the best thing (in my head) to do, is take those feelings, crumple them into a ball, take a deep breath and throw them out the window. Often times, the outcome isn't worth the temporary feeling of relief that you get when expressing internal negativity. So yeah, I want to shut my mouth more often. :)

Hope you're having a terrific Thursday!