2018: A Quarter of the Year is Complete – Checkup

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We are into April meaning a quarter of 2018 is already over! So I wanted to take the opportunity to provide a guided checkup. Don’t miss the free worksheet at the end of the post!

Quarter Checkup – Goal

Did you make a New Year’s Resolution?  Pick one word, or a phrase to guide your year?

I decided to pick one word for 2018: Growth.

But more important than the actual goal. Why did you pick the goal? What was the intention and drive behind it?

In August 2017, I started this blog. The desire was to provide practical Christian living and wellness tips to readers through a biblical perspective as well as my experience as a mental health therapist.

One thing I hadn’t expected was how beneficial the studying and writing process was going to be for me, too. That recognition prompted me to want “growth” in all aspects of my life. And even more, to have God be the driver of my growth. To seek Him and His desires for all aspects of my life.

In reflecting upon your goal and your “why” behind it, is it still the goal you want for 2018?

There’s nowhere that says you can’t change your goal!

Quarter Checkup – How’s it going?

Are you doing awesome at meeting and exceeding your goals? Or is this the first time you’ve thought of your 2018 goals since sometime in February?

What were your expectations? Do you need to alter them?

I know I can be pretty rough on giving myself expectations. I have a tendency to expect too much out of myself and then get down on myself for not being able to meet them.

With that tendency in mind, I tried to stop it from happening this year by realizing I wasn’t going to have phenomenal growth in all areas of my life all at the same time. Or in the same ways.

With the goal of growth, I had broke it up into each area of my life: spiritual, personal (emotional and health), relational, career and blog. Some of the areas I was more specific in my desired growth and others I was more focused on just seeing forward progress.

Quarter Checkup – Forward Progress

Merriam Webster describes forward progress as movement forward or toward a place; the process of improving or developing something over a period of time.

Because any forward progress is better than stagnation. Stagnation is the state of not flowing or moving; lack of activity, growth, or development.

Stagnation makes me think of standing water. When hiking and backpacking you are cautioned to never drink standing water because of the health risks. It becomes a breeding ground for bacteria, parasites, and mosquitoes.

The process of filtering water with a hand pump or filtration system is pretty easy to understand. An intake hose is used to draw water into the filter. Once inside the intake hose, the water is pressed through the filter, either manually, for a freestanding filter, or through suction, with a water bottle filter. The filter traps any microorganisms that may be living in the water. Once the debris is captured in the filter, clean water passes through and is ready for drinking. The area where the clean water exits the filter is called the filter outlet.

Continuing our faith journey

As Christians we are called to become more like Christ. A journey to continual forward progress.

But as we know, forward progress requires change for growth to happen. We have to do something different to expect differing results. And the process of change is hard.

Like the filtration system, we need to examine and filter out the aspects of our life that are ultimately harming us. We need to trap and leave behind the negative thoughts, behaviors, lifestyles, and potentially people.

Think of the parable Jesus taught of the three men and the bags of gold found in Matthew 25:14-30. The first two men went out and were able to double their money. But the third man didn’t even try. He buried the money because he was afraid. While he didn’t lose any money, he didn’t gain anything either. He was no different at the beginning of the story than he was at the end.

He was stagnant. And his stagnation lost him a fruitful life.

Don’t allow fear or lack of motivation to stop you from forward progress. Both in your 2018 goal and in your journey to becoming more like Christ.

2018 Quarter Year Checkup Worksheet

I pray your 2018 quarter checkup is going well and you have regained focus and motivation.

If you would like more guidance on becoming a stronger Christian, I encourage you to checkout my e-Workbook, Living in the Word: A Therapist’s Guide to Becoming a Stronger Christian. Or signup for my email list below and get the first four chapters of the e-Workbook for free to test it out!

Let me know your 2018 goal successes or hangups in the comments below!

God bless!

Melissa

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