Set goals then make plans

I’ve always loved the week between Christmas and the new year. I’ve never been one to set many goals, and the ones I did set were forgotten by Valentine’s Day if I was being diligent. 🙈 But I love the excitement and motivation to improve and the time we take to look back and reflect.

This year however, I’ve seen and experienced how easy it is to simply exist instead of live, and now that I’ll have two small children instead of just one, I know that’ll be even easier to slide into. So I actually set a variety of goals. But in order to not burn out by Valentine’s Day, I’m going to take the missionary approach. If you’ve ever read Preach My Gospel I’m sure the phrase “set goals, then make plans” rings a bell.

It was something that was stressed in my mission for a time and it’s stuck with me hard. It’s such a life lesson. You can set all the goals you want, but the excitement will fizzle out when you’re tired of feeling like a failure. So instead of setting vague goals, or setting monster goals and not knowing how to get there, set whatever specific goal you want, but periodically refresh your plans.

Instead of trying to be perfect in every way come January 1st, I plan to take one month at a time and focus on things that will help me reach my goals. For example, many people set a goal to lose _____ lbs. They may choose to focus on drinking 100 oz of water daily in January, but come February shift that focus to exercising for 15 minutes a day. In January, you’re not stressing yourself over activity and exercise, clean eating, AND hydration. That would burn you out. It’s too much at one time. Over the month of January, you’d be developing a wonderful habit that is foundational to your health, and can take that new habit into February when you introduce a new habit to form.

To me goals (big or small) aren’t only boxes to be checked off, but building blocks to the person I want to be. So taking small approaches seems like a good way to shape myself as I go.

I will share my personal goals for this year, and my plans for January.

Health - WORK for something

• Drop this pregnancy’s baby weight + 10 lbs by Halloween🤞🏼
• Do 5 real push-ups 💪🏼 

Spiritual - Feel it again, stop coasting

• Complete the Book of Mormon personally this year 📖 
• Force positivity on Sundays 😐

Mental - Love myself

• Daily affirmations 💓
• Keep gratitude journal 📝
• Read 6 books 📚 (I still need one more recommendation!)

My husband and I have goals as well, and we will have additional plans to reach those that I will also implement. These are just my personal goals.

So in January, I plan to work towards these goals by:

• Walking 5 miles a week 🚶🏻‍♀️
• Listening to the Book of Mormon each morning 🎧
• Using my planner to block out designated parts of the day 🗓

Now sometimes these plans won’t affect all of my goals directly in an obvious way, but as long as I can see how they will get me closer to reaching my goals, I’m sticking to them. And since I’m now in my third trimester of pregnancy, I’m going to be taking my health goals seriously, but slowly.

Now that I have these plans set, I’m going to start now instead of waiting until Monday. I’ll give myself that buffer time to get into the groove of it all.

I’d simply been having a lot of thoughts on “New Years resolutions” (obviously) so I just thought I’d share. Whether you set goals for the new year or are continuing with old goals, I hope you will allow yourself to work slowly and effectively. Slow and steady wins the race. 🐢

...we might have been happy.

Confession: Too often I am guilty of focusing on what I don't have. It's an awful, terrible weakness of mine, I know. I'm working at it though. I have been for a long time actually. But something clicked today. I had a revelation.

But first, let me walk you through what I'm referring to. Then we'll get to the revelation and an exciting new determination!

So we all get in that place where we know our grass will never be green enough here, and the only solution is to go to the other side, where the grass has been vibrantly green all this time. Duh.

"I'll be happy when something changes."

"I'll be happy when I get what I want; what I think I need.""

For me it sometimes sounds like this:

I'll be happy when I get a job.

I'll be happy when I get a better job.

I'll be happy when I have a (better) car.

I'll be happy when I'm back in Utah.

I'll be happy when I'm in school.

I'll be happier when I'm OUT of school.

I'll be happy when I have a career.

I'll be happy when I don't need that career because I'm a stay at home mom. #dreamjob

Then, instead of being happy when something moves forward, I'll only be happy if I can go back in time to before the craziness of motherhood hit me.

Or a least I think that's what it will be like. I don't actually have children of my own. I have no idea.

The point being, it never ends. It may not always in the forefront of the mind, but there is no limit to unhappiness. If given all of the focus, one could go on forever with their "I'll be happy when..." statements. There will always be things to complain about. ALWAYS. I can testify of this with a surety.

Since coming home from serving an 18 month mission for the LDS church in Utah and being the happiest I've ever been (yet still having plenty of "I'll be happy when..." moments), my mother has lovingly brought to my attention that I'm developing a "Laman and Lemuel complex."

I have become a murmurer!

When I was a kid, during family scripture study my dad would always make us say "murmurmurmurmurmur" in unison when this word came up in the Book of Mormon. Because of that, this word now stands out to me when I read or hear it. I can almost hear in my head the choir of annoying Willis kids mumbling the word among a few giggles. 👨🏽👩🏻👦🏽👧🏽👦🏽👦🏽👧🏽👧🏽👦🏽👦🏽

Anyway, enough with the reminiscing. Back to my shocking diagnosis: murmurer.

I'd stubbornly (and almost unknowingly) decided I was not going to be happy until I could go back and be a missionary in Utah. The only problem with that was that it will never be an option... ever again. Rats!

I didn't care. I was still in denial.

Life went on (or rather didn't) for about a month and a half, and I continued murmuring (sorry mom). It wasn't until recently that I started enjoying my life again. I kept complaining though...

What?

You heard me. Somehow, even though I was pretty ok with where I was at, I still murmured! Why? Because I was used to it. It's just what I did. I tried SO HARD during my missionary service to not complain, and completely threw away that very valuable skill I'd started developing on the mission. #fail

Tonight as I read in the Book of Mormon with a fraction of my family, there was a verse that kicked me right in the rear. The last few words of Laman in this verse sounded hauntingly familiar. My mom proceeded to read, but these words kept repeating in my mind.

Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy.

1 Nephi 17:22

😳😱

Those words scared me. They're similar to the earlier statements, yet disturbingly different. This is what Laman said to me: We're at the end of the road. Look at all of that time we spent being unhappy. Look at all that wasted time we spent complaining! Now our time is up, and we could have been happy if things had been different.

What he didn't know was that the thing that needed to change was him, not his circumstances!

I imagined myself with my Maker, saying "Well, I would have been happy, if..." It felt so yucky. I hated it. I want to hug Him and thank Him for the experiences I had! I want to be grateful for this time!

Earlier I said "There is no end to unhappiness." I believe that to be true. We can depress ourselves to the bottom of the earth. We have that power (not to say that real depression isn't a real issue. I am very aware that it is.)

But something I believe in more is that there is NO end and NO limit to HAPPINESS. And of that I can testify with more certainty than I have in anything else.

Just as there are countless things to complain about (if you look for them), I would venture to say there are more things to be grateful for and happy about.

You can spend your whole miserable existence picking out every negativity and complaining about it, OR you can spend your life looking for the good, and through recognizing all the good, BE HAPPY.

Life is really hard, but "...men are that they might have joy." (2 Nephi 2:25)

So live for your existence. Seek joy. See the good (holler, #BYUtv).

My revelation is "don't be a Laman."

My new determination is gratitude.

I hope you all got some insight from my babbling, and I hope you don't regret reading all of this mess. (This is a reflection of my mind... Imagine the mess in there!)

#dontbeaLaman #begrateful

And I couldn't possibly post a blog entry without a reference to my favorite movie!

Love of life

Que vida la mia!! My life is so weird. It's not difficult, or chaotic, it's simply weird. And I am the biggest reason that it's weird. I just do, think, and say weird things. I don't get me... But this post isn't about me! Well, it is... but it's about more than just me! It's about LIFE. Which is awesome :) I'm working in a grocery store, which is silly. It's not bad, I just don't love it. I didn't expect to, I'm just about ready for my next job though. Haha! I do recognize that I am blessed to be employed. They just don't pay or work me enough... But I don't mean to complain!! It's better than nothing!

Now! I love life. What do you think when I say that? My life? The act of "living life"? Eh? Anything?

WRONG! I love LIVING THINGS! Almost all of them! I've developed a lobsession (love+obsession) with plants/gardening. As I've mentioned before (I think), I have an avocado plant that I've been caring for from seedling-hood. Well, I planted it in a pot, and it was doing so good!! Then I stopped checking up on it. It had rained a lot, and my dog loved to smell it (or push it around with her nose, as I see it), and it was laying on top of the dirt. I was so scared for its life! I didn't know how long it had been that way, but it was a little bit dry, so I tried to re-plant it and give it water. It seems to be doing ok. I moved the pot to the front yard where my dog will never find it >:) Hahaha

This is what my avocado plant looked like when I found it.

Yesterday (Wednesday, September 26, 2012) was CLUB DAY at FSCJ!! I've never joined a club, but I do love to see all of the students participating in activities. Earlier that morning in adolescent psychology, Professor Moses (my favorite professor ever) mentioned that the gardening club was selling some plants! I didn't even know there WAS a gardening club!! I was so excited. She mentioned that they had herbs, and I was THRILLED! Then she said that they had cilantro. I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR A CILANTRO PLANT!! Lowe's AND Home Depot haven't had any for awhile! BUT, I had no cash... So I texted my brother to see if he had any. HE HAD FIVE DOLLA!! I got a cilantro plant, and I was so excited! Here it is in its new home on my front porch...

My cilantro plant I got from FSCJ's gardening club :)

I love plants. It's a new-ish passion of mine :)

Now, on to another love of mine... ANIMALS. I do love all animals, but recently-ish, I've fallen head-over-heels in love with farm animals. Particularly... all of them. So on Sunday when my sister said she was going to take our brother to Lake City for his friend's mission farewell party, I WAS SO THERE! We went, and we passed a huge field filled with cows. We stopped and I yelled "Hi cows" to them. A few of them looked at me, and I got so excited! We got to the house where the party was, and they had horses. HORSES! So we drove up, said hi to people, got some food, then I practically dragged my sister to the horses. There was one all by himself eating, so I started to call him over. He was so beautiful! He let me pet him, and he stayed near where I was for a good portion of time. He was so precious. He was also old, I could tell. But still, he was an angel! We spent more than an hour hanging out with him, and taking pictures. I love the country. I've always had a special place in my heart for trucks, and "roughing it." I love camping, dirt, and animals. Every time I go out somewhere like that, I melt a little bit. I have to find myself a cowboy one day.

Me and the old man <3

Again, me and my sweet :) I have a severely tender soft spot for this horse.

The other horse who I tried to make love me. He wasn't as fond of me. I was fond of him though. HE'S GORGEOUS.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share my love of life with you. It's great, isn't it? :)


Loves and hearts <3

Elisa

Be where your feet are

Hello followers! ...all three of you. I just returned from an adventure which covered most of the country! Not really. There was a lot of driving though. If you're following this blog, you clearly must know me and my family (why else would you be following it?), so you would most likely know that my sister, Sara, just reported to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on August 1st, 2012 (last week). My family and I had the superb opportunity to drive out there as a family and drop her off at the training center. It took us four days to get to Provo from our home in Florida. Normally, it would take three days, but the extra day was because we stopped to see Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. IT WAS AMAZING! My mom had an anxiety attack (not really...) because the boys were being boys, and not staying on the trails. So that was fun. Then we drove through a butt-load of mountains, which gave my mother another anxiety attack (exaggeration) because she wasn't fond of me nearly driving off cliffs. What a silly woman, right? ;)

Now! I am going to begin at the beginning of the trip, and try to go in chronological order. And I'll be story telling along the way.

On our way into Louisiana, I asked Luke to snap a photo of the "Welcome to Louisiana" sign. He tried...

This was a really nice sink that I saw (and used) in Louisiana. Comforting. Just like home :)

I saw this and just had to snap a picture. It helps explain our driving trip through Louisiana, too! It was "OK"! :)

WECLOME TO TEXAS! (Biggest freaking state in America. I thought I'd never get out!)

The trees on the right are... dead. The trees on the left are... just like Florida trees.

We did catch an intense storm in mid-Texas. It was awesome. We just barely got out before the hail started! Dang it.

Peculiar plant in Texas.

You'd better believe I was watching for them! Heck, I was SEARCHING for them!

The temperature dropped 30 degrees within half an hour. Hello, bipolar Texas!

Ok, but seriously. THE SKY IS HUGE IN TEXAS!

This baby "Buzby" as I named him, stayed on my windshield from somewhere near Amarillo, Texas to the middle of New Mexico. When we finally stopped in NM, he tried to fly off, but he was so buzzed (pun intended) by traveling at 70+ MPH for 5 hours, all the while holding on for dear life. He sort of fell to the ground after taking flight. Not to mention that his wings were jacked up because of all that! What a trooper!

Here is where I let Buzby go. The cutest tiny gas station on Route 66 in New Mexico.

This was the owner's (?) dog at the cute gas station mentioned and showed above. He was so old. I wanted to keep him. I love German Shepherds.

This cactus will be important in a second, just keep scrolling...

Luke "brushed up" against that cactus in New Mexico. He's such a smart kid :)

I love the red rocks in New Mexico!

Prettiest sunset when we were in Arizona. Poor picture, though.

Sooooo... Don't trust Siri. Ever. Especially when you ask her to text your dad. This is HILARIOUS to me. It seriously makes me bust up every time.

THIS place, my friends... is GRAND. Seriously, pictures do not do this place justice. It's so amazing. I only included two of the pictures of the actual canyon, because after trying to decide which ones to use, I realized... they all  look the same. So try and imagine these pictures times 1000. It's amazing.

Grand Canyon National Park - Arizona

This is a squirrel. Or a chipmunk. I'm not sure which. It was eating right above my head though :)

This, good friends, is an Amethyst. This is my birth stone, and it's always been my favorite. Purple is one of my favorite colors :)

Aaaaaand, my wallet. I love this sucker. It makes me feel like a hipster. But I kind of like that feeling, so it's ok.

Yet again, red rocks. Love these things. Thank you, Arizona! :o)

This sight almost brought tears to my eyes. Pathetic, I know. But I love this place.

We stopped for ice cream in Kanab, Utah. This was over their toilet! Adorable :) "Lower the lid, ladies present. A wet behind is most unpleasant!"

I die every time I see these. I miss mountains.

Heck yeah.

THIS is how Utah welcomed me. Freaking cool. To my right were these mountains. The sun was shining DIRECTLY on them.

To my left were these mountains, trying to drown the setting sun.

This is my heart and soul, Ginger. She's seriously the snuggliest ball of fur I've ever snuggled with.

This cup here holds nectar of life. Most people call it Jamba Juice.

AT THE MALL. Seriously?! I almost died of happiness right there. (Note: The middle and bottom pictures on the left side are the Sydney Opera house in Australia, and St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia. Those would have also contributed to my dying.)

PROVO CANYON/BRIDAL VEIL FALLS. One of my favorite places.

I was the only one in flip flops, so my dad told me to get in the water. HOLY MACARONI, it was freezing! I was hooked.

The falls. Bridal Veil Falls. Very appropriate for Utah, I suppose ;)

Sorella (Sara) Willis on a rock at Bridal Veil Falls.

The whole family (sort of) on the rocks at Bridal Veil Falls.

I love mountains, and overgrown Christmas trees!

Kaleb playing in the fountains in the City Creek Center, Salt Lake City. Beautiful :)

The old Tabernacle! :)

The Willis family with the Christus in the Visitor's Center on Temple Square. Front: Me, Kaleb, Luke, Adam, Courtney, mom. Back: Jacob, dad, Sara. Precious :)

The ladies! Me, Caroline, Courtney, and Sara.

Las familias son eternas! Me, Jacob, Luke, mom, Sara, dad, Courtney, Kaleb, and Adam. The family all together (minus one :( ) at the Salt Lake Temple. BEAUTY.

I braided Courtney's hair for her. It's lopsided... I haven't worked on an adult's head in a long time though, so that's my defense.

OH, that hike! We hiked to the Y in Provo. It was that steep. Probably worse. It was awesome! I'd do it again a thousand times over.

The view of Provo from mid-mountain.

The view of Provo from the top of the Y! THAT THING IS HUGE (the actual Y)!

CIAO, SORELLA WILLIS! Kickin' Sara to the curb so she can go be a missionary in Milan, Italy!!

THEN WE WENT PAINTBALLING!!

Courtney and me loading up our guns. I feel like a pansy for wearing that vest. I should have been more of a man!

This is what I did to my dad. My ONLY kill, and it was dad. That was an accomplishment! :)

Then, we left Utah the next day and I was miserable. x(

These windmills were in Wyoming.

Drivers in Wyoming are really smart. Clearly.

Horses... and rainbows? I could die like a princess!! Wait! Princesses don't die... Sorry.

Nebraska.

Nebraska has killer skies!

The Nauvoo, Illinois LDS Temple. BEAUTIFUL!

A statue of the first vision of Joseph Smith :)

The Christus in the Nauvoo Visitor's Center.

The Sun Stone from the original Nauvoo Temple built by the saints in 1846 (I believe).

The Temple, looking at the sunset.

Bagpipe-ers before the pageant in Nauvoo.

Getting ready for the pageant :)

The part of the pageant when the saints completed the Nauvoo Temple :)

The end of the pageant, with the actual temple behind the stage all lit up. That part was magical.

Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
- And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.
- And now I, Moroni, bid farewell unto the Gentiles, yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgement-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood.
Ether 12:37-38 (The verses Hyrum read in Carthage Jail only moments before they were killed.)

Nauvoo, Illinois Temple.

That's a horse. If you didn't know.

Luke, Kaleb, and Jacob playing with spinning tops.

Toy horses made of tree branches :)

Lots of pioneer toys.

Jacob attempting to walk on stilts.

That would be a wagon.

Making a horse shoe.

Luke's and my Prarie Diamonds. They're actually just nails ;)

Pretty pottery.

Kaleb, helping make rope! :)

The temple, again :)

Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage.

The outside of Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith was martyred. He fell through that second story window. It was crazy to be exactly where he must have laid, dying. It's nearly impossible to fathom.

The family with Joseph and Hyrum at Carthage Jail.

Now, in closing of this post, I would like to share something I recalled from Time Out For Women. When I took the picture at the bottom of this post, it reminded me of a talk Laurel Christensen gave at TOFW this year, and it was by far, my favorite one. I often get way ahead of myself. I start planning my future way ahead. I've actually already decided what grades I'm going to get on my last 5 classes in my Associates Degree. A little too far, right? So, the one message that I can easily remember from Sister Christensen's talk is this.

Be where your feet are.

The picture that Laurel Christensen used in her talk was this painting by Cassandra Christensen Barney:

 I'm always daydreaming. On the way home from Utah, I wasn't even really paying attention to what state we were in. I was busy planning out my life once I move to Provo in January. Now, there's nothing wrong with planning. In fact, planning is a good thing! Be prepared! But, my problem is, I'm a daydreamer. I think about everything else, except what I'm doing at that moment. So as I was going through pictures of the trip while in the car on our way home, I saw this picture and remembered Sister Christensen's message. It's now my goal to "be where my feet are." On the way up to Utah, I was so fascinated by the change in environment (mountains, dry air, etc.) that every single state we passed through, I got even more excited. After being in Utah, Utah was the only state I was excited about until we got to Nauvoo (which isn't a state... I'm aware). "Ok, yeah... we're in Wyoming. I'd rather be in Utah."  Every single time we passed a state border, no lie. But I know if I would have "been where my feet are," I would have enjoyed the trip home much more. I don't want to miss out on fun adventures or learning opportunities because I'm busy daydreaming about things I think I want. That would stunt my growth. I want to be constantly progressing. I'm now going to work on where I'm at. Appreciate what I have NOW, instead of long for what I don't.

Anyway, this post is humongous, and I doubt more than two of you will completely read it. It's 12:10 AM, and I have work tomorrow. I'm dumb.

Thanks for stopping by, it makes me feel good :)

Elisa