I personally believe that having goals in life is very important. It is for me anyway.
I’ve never had a 5 year plan or a 10 year plan thinking that when im 20 i’ll be in university, when im 25 i’ll have a great job and my own apartment, when im 30 i’ll have an even bigger apartment and have a dog and a great partner etc etc Those have never been my goals (Well, my own apartment and second dog are goals of mine.) But i know how things such as jobs, partners, when or if you have kids or marry or things like that, you cant just set a date 10 years beforehand. I am not someone who sets deadlines on my goals, but instead just has these goals which i work towards so that i get where i want to be in life.
Some goals i spend a little more energy on trying to achieve, others are just there in the back of my mind reminding me of what my bigger goal is. Of course not every choice i make or thing i do brings me closer to my bigger goals, instead sometimes i make choices that bring me further away but at the time felt right.
When i dont have goals in my life i can feel hopeless and like “what is the point?”. If i have nothing to fight for, nothing to reach or nothing i want to do then why bother? I need to have things to look forward to, things to work towards and that “Light at the end of the tunnel” during stressful times. Of course not everyone is like this, some people dont like looking into the future at all and so dont make any goals or plans, but also some are just too unmotivated in life to even set any goals and others believe in the “everything will work out on its own. What happens happens”, which of course is also ok to believe in, everyone is different.
For me i like having my goals – my goals of getting a really good job, of helping more people. My goal of helping people get healthy and make lifestyle changes and my goal of running another half marathon some day as well as also travelling a whole bunch once i have the time and economy to do so and then other goals such as a training trip somewhere warm, my own apartment with a super fresh and modern kitchen etc and then smaller goals such as “making my own veggie burger” or “going for a glass of wine with friends” or “buying that outfit i saw in the store” (Those sound more like “to do’s,” and i guess they are… but they are also goals in a way? Just short term goals, hahaha because i dont have to make a veggie burger or go for wine with friends or buy a certain outfit, but it is something i need to find the motivation to actually do and not just sit and wish i was doing XD)
Goals are unique to everyone and they can be a real source of motivation! Though remember to have short term goals that bring you to the long term goal, because if you have a goal such as “in 2 years time i will be healthy and free and run a marathon” but then you dont set yourself smaller goals such as “follow my meal plan correctly”, “get enough rest”, “eat more when i exercise”, ” run 5km and enjoy it” etc etc then the long term goal can be unachieveable or you end up forgetting it because it is too far off. So having smaller goals can 1) Bring you joy when you achieve them and 2) Keep you focused on your long term goal. For example if you are saving up for a holiday or for something special then you can have a weekly goal of not buying any coffee or drinks out, or meal prepping all your food to save money and then that weekly goal will help you reach your final goal of having saved enough money.
Anyway, these were just my thoughts this morning. But now time seems to have just rushed away and i need to start getting ready for the day 🙂
(c) A Life without Anorexia – Read entire story here.