It's time to set goals


I recently stumbled upon this quote while I was on my way up to the mountains to look at the fall colors (go figure) and thought it perfectly complemented my intentions for this new season.

Fall has always been one of my favorite times of the year, and no, it's not because of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, or anything pumpkin related for that matter. In fact, I actually find pumpkin spiced lattes to be disgusting, but that's beside the point. 

I've always loved fall because to me it is a time of new beginnings. A time for fresh starts and opportunities to grow. This probably stems from new school years starting in the fall, which was always a time of new clothes, new friends, and new experiences. Although I'm no longer in school, I still have this mentality every time fall rolls around. 

For me, fall is always a time to set goals I want to accomplish before the end of the year. It's also the perfect time to let go of things that might be holding me back, which is why the above quote really spoke to me. 

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want my life to be like over the next few months and I've realized that there is a lot of clutter, both literally and figuratively, that I've been holding on to for far too long. I've been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of stuff I own, the amount of stress I've put on myself, and the amount of doubt that's been cluttering my brain. 

And because of that, I think it's time to let all that go. It's time for these leaves to change and fall to the ground. 

I've come up with a few goals to accomplish this, and I thought I'd share them with you. My hope is that it will inspire you to think of your own goals for the season, to find things that you should let go of, and to live the last bit of the year to your fullest potential.

Depending on how this goes, I might make this a regular monthly goal-sharing thing, so let me know if you'd like to see more of this or if it's a really dumb idea and should be stopped now. 

You can check out my goals below, along with the pictures I took while enjoying the beautiful fall colors in Breckenridge this past weekend. 

My Goals for Fall

1. Let go of things that I don't need  

I've realized lately that I have A LOT of stuff. There's nothing like moving into a one bedroom apartment and sharing a closet for the first time ever to make you realize that you have way too many clothes and knickknacks. 

I've always loved buying new things and I hate the idea of parting with belongings. This has allowed me to accumulate many things over the years and recently I've been feeling very overwhelmed by it all. I feel like I don't have enough space for it all and I can't even properly keep track of where everything is. 

Because of this, my goal for fall is to make a conscious change to get rid of things that I don't absolutely need. I've already donated several bags of clothes and have thrown out items that I don't use often enough to warrant keeping them. 

Most importantly, I am trying to drastically change my outlook on buying new things. I am setting strict rules with myself for buying new clothes. I will only buy items that can be worn with several different pieces to make many outfits, and the items must enhance my wardrobe to make my style more mature. So, no more t-shirts, sweatshirts, or youthful looking clothes. The goal is also to replace older pieces in my wardrobe so that I can get rid of an old item for each new one that I buy. 

I've already been trying this for the last few weeks, and it has gone well so far. I've talked myself out of buying many things so far, and I am proud of myself for being less needy for new things and more content with what I already have. Hopefully, I can keep this up over the next few months. 

2. Let go of the need for fast results 

This goal relates to the stress I put on myself to succeed. I have a type A personally and love to feel accomplished. Because of this, I can often be impatient when it comes to achieving my goals. Lately, I've been working hard in the gym to become stronger and fitter. After moving this summer, I definitely lost some progress, so I've been working hard to get back to where I was before. 

However, this has taken longer than I had hoped, and it's been stressing me out. I become stressed knowing that I've been working so hard, yet my muscles still aren't as defined as they used to be or that I still can't get through my circuits as fast as I would like. 

I am realizing that I am creating a lot of unnecessary stress and that I should stop putting so much pressure on myself. Because of that, my goal is to let go of these pressures and realize that I'll see results at the time that's right. There's no reason to rush it. 

3. Let go of trying to do it all 

I love to be busy and have a bad habit of taking on more than what I should. I tend to pack my schedule with commitments and I hardly ever have "down time." While most people enjoy relaxing over the weekends watching Netflix, I typically become too restless and must find things to do to keep me busy. 

However, I've been feeling tired and overwhelmed lately and I know this is because I'm trying to do too many things. My goal to fix this is to reserve more time out of my week for downtime. I want to designate a day during the work week to not do anything after work except relax. I also want to reserve more time during the weekend to do the same. With football being back, watching the Broncos games will be a good way to chill for a few hours. 

Funny enough, I think this will be the hardest of my three goals to accomplish, but I am hoping that I can stick with it. 

Now it's your turn! 

What are your goals for the season? Think of a few things that you want to work on and write them down. Think of the things in your life that cause you the most stress or unhappiness. Are there actions you can take to eliminate that stress? Come up with a few concrete actions that you can take to fix them, and set those as your goals. 

There are only 90 days left in the year, let's end it on a good note! I'll be posting an update soon on how my goals are going, and hopefully, you'll see some progress by then too.