goals

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Time for friends 

I had a great day with my friends. We were finally able to get together and hang out. 

My friend Andrea from Marion and my friend Sam from Birmingham met up with me this afternoon at the Galleria. 

We ate lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, got a coffee at Starbucks, and shopped at Old Navy. 

It was so cool to be together because two different aspects of my life are now connected. 

Andrea and Sam have been friends since college and I have been friends with Andrea since she became the librarian at Judson. 

Sam and I met this past January when I started learning sign language. 

I really enjoyed myself today. Hang out times with friends don’t happen as much as I’d like. 

Another goal for 2016 is to schedule more time for important relationships. 

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Mission Accomplished

 We did it!!!!
Our garage is cleaned up.
Well, one side of the garage is cleaned up, but this is a noteworthy accomplishment. 

All of us worked together to tackle this monster of a project that’s been hanging over our heads for a year. 

Tomorrow dad and I will go to the dump and to Goodwill and to pick up a new dryer (our friends Chad and Megan are giving us their old one).

I’m calling this weekend a success.

It was long and tiring, but that’s okay. Not every weekend is supposed to be like a beach vacation. 

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Looking ahead to 2016

I’m starting to think of my goals for 2016…

Hard to believe it’s only a few weeks away!

My life’s about to majorly change, so I’m tempted to not set too many goals. 

However, I know the areas where setting realistic goals is appropriate. 

Going into the New Year with no plan doesn’t set well with me. 

2015 has been wonderful–challenging, but wonderful–and I firmly believe it’s because my goals were clear: Do the things I’ve always wanted to do. 

This is now a core belief of mine. Life’s too short to only dream. It’s time to do. 

So, you’ll be hearing from me soon with my 2016 goals. Until then I encourage you to be thinking on it too. 

I look forward to learning and growing with you in the new year. 

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Fences versus Prisons

“I’m cool with whatever. You decide.”

My friend looked at me with gracious (and patient) eyes as I sidestepped her question.

“I wish you’d tell me what you’re really thinking.”

The comment took me aback.

I am terrible at telling people what’s really going on inside of my head.

Never giving your input isn’t the ultimate form of humility and self-sacrifice.

You’re really hiding by slamming the door of trust and connection in someone’s face.

And you’re driving the people you love crazy.

I don’t care.

It doesn’t matter to me.

If that’s what you want to do.

We say these things, but deep down we do care and it does matter and you have wants.

It’s impossible to not care about everything.

(Can all of the exasperated people on the receiving end of these comments say, “Amen!“?)

I’m the world’s worst person at being an overly passive, peace loving person….

This is a real struggle for me.

My (un)natural tendency is to keep things buried deep down inside.

Another friend recently told me that standoffish nature in college held me back in many ways–and it’s true.

I kept people at arm’s length.

She expressed her thankfulness when I became a more open person. The change opened a lot of doors of opportunity that remained shut in years past.

Let me be very clear:

We all need to have boundaries and to guard our hearts. Prison bars and barbed wire fences, though, are a bit much.

Now, I’m building a nice fence that looks less like a maximum security prison and more like a simple property marker.

My challenge to you is to honestly answer the next question asked of you.

Can I get your opinion?

What do you prefer?

Is this something you want to do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Wrestling with the Truth

IMG_1694Who doesn’t love stories about go-getters who look adversity in the eyes and say, “I know you don’t believe in me, but I’m going to do it anyway”?

I know that I love to read about the tenacious efforts of other people.

Their lives are filled with adventure and learning. No amount of barriers or persecution will keep them from achieving their goals.

Are you excited yet? Can I get a hip, hip, hooray?

But there’s one person you don’t cheer loud enough for. One person who you think is limited or needs to be limited. One person who must not try unless success is guaranteed.

Yourself. Or, in my case, myself.

I’m not talking about becoming a pompous jerk who is self-absorbed.

I’m not talking about getting angry when others do well.

So what am I talking about then?

  • Allowing yourself to believe that you are talented, equipped, and able to do all the things God puts in your heart to do.
  • Allowing yourself to believe that now is the time to live your life.
  • Allowing yourself to try–even if you fail–and knowing that your efforts are not in vain.

Maybe I should just stick a Dear Audra at the front of this post and call it a day……

I struggle with these truths.

In the face of a great adventure with a greater purpose, I want to throw up. Knowing that all of the risk and work will result in a beautiful story, a God story, doesn’t make it any easier.

Remember what we talked about yesterday?

Following the voice of God does not always leave you comfortable.

But I would rather have holy discomfort than stay in any comfort zone I build for myself.

I want to be tenacious, but I need some help. Help from the Holy Spirit and help from you too.

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Balancing Acts

Healthy balances are hard to achieve. 

And isn’t that what we all want? 

Balance. Stability. Some sense of normalcy. 

A balanced diet. 

A balanced social life. 

A balanced budget. 

The magical moment of perfect equilibrium is always on our mind. 

It rarely happens….

I hate to be the one who bursts your bubble. Mine just got busted too. 

Dear Audra, 

Things will rarely be in balance. It’s a nice goal, but quit stressing out. 

Having no balance especially trips me up on bad days and I’ve had some doozies here recently, so you can imagine my frustration. 

I told you we were going to talk more about vulnerability today. 

Ta-da! 

Bad, unbalanced days send me reeling. 

I don’t handle them well. 

In fact, I was tempted to not blog today. 

I refuse, though, to mess up my goal and I refuse to not be honest with you about where I’m at. 

Some days Miss Molly Sunshine goes on holiday and her crazy cousin comes to town. 

I don’t want this blog to be negative, but I do want to be honest. 

You can’t be vulnerable without honesty. 

Things won’t always be perfect. 

People will irritate the snot out of you. 

Life will go on–even if it is a little off kilter. 

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Help Wanted!

My birthday is a week from today.

Do you know what that means?

Daily blogs are about to begin!!!

I know that my consistency has been, well, pretty bad in my test drive, which leads to my next point:

 

As you can see, my blogging muscle isn't quite ripped yet.

As you can see, my blogging muscle isn’t quite ripped yet.

Three things I hope to gain by doing this little experiment.

1. Discipline. (Did you see that coming?)

2. Better writing skills. (I have a long way to go.)

3. Idea development. (It’s time to flesh out the ideas that fly around my head.)

With these things in mind, I need some help!

audra needs helpWhat are some topics that you, my faithful reader, want me to write about?

Even with all of my ideas, 365 days of posting is a lot to undertake with no help.

And, I want to open up my blog to guest bloggers as well. Bring in some fresh blood to generate good conversation amongst ourselves. Maybe you might write a post? (I’d really, really like that btw.)

Please share your thoughts. I realize that a lot of my reasoning for writing everyday is for my character development, but a blog without readership is quite boring….

That’s all I have for today.

I am very excited about the next year. This is the most challenging thing I have ever committed to doing. Honestly, I have no predictions for where this will lead. I just know that it’s something that I need to do.

Thank you for going on this journey with me.

Comment below with your suggestions!

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Vote for your dreams!

It’s June.

Do you know what that means?

2015 New Year celebration with the date outlined by colourful fiery sparklers on a dark New Year's Eve night

We are halfway through 2015.

I’m a big believer in evaluating progress, so I have been thinking through my goals. In some areas, I’m doing pretty good (blogging and sign language). In other areas, I need more work (running and Bible reading).

Today, a quote from Napoleon Dynamite popped into my head:

“If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true.” –Pedro Sanchez

Isn’t it hard to work toward your dreams?

There are so many things begging for our attention: Internet, TV, and all the flavors of social media.

dream voteI can make up a million excuses. In fact, in thinking about my year so far, I have made over a million excuses, forfeiting valuable time because I am scared or apathetic or both.

Our most valuable asset in this life is time.

How many times have you heard this statement?

“If you want to know what’s most important to you, look at how you spend your time.”

I have brushed this statement off as a dusty, old motivational speaker cliché, but it’s so true! My biggest problem is how I consistently waste time on meaningless things.

Our dreams, much like Pedro Sanchez, need our votes to survive. Our dreams are campaigning daily for our attention.

new-years-resolutionThere are so many things I want to do. I know that it will take a lot of hard work on my part.

My wimpy, inconsistent self is pitching a fit because it’s getting the workout of its life. It would rather watch movies and sleep in every morning.

For this reason, my goal for the remainder of this year is to be mindful of my time.

How we spend our time truly is the best measuring stick when it comes to evaluating progress.

 

 

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Your Goals Need Feet

  I got this jewelry box for Christmas. It’s been hanging up on my wall since then and I still haven’t added any pictures. 

While I was drying my hair this morning, it occurred to me that many of us need to add some pictures to our lives. 

The fake families and individuals in picture frames represent daily living. These pictures are merely fillers. 

You are supposed to go out into the world and make picture worthy memories of your own. But many of us don’t. 
The idea that it’s possible to live vicariously through others needs to die.

 You can’t leave fake pictures in your picture frames and think it’s the real deal. 

Go out into the world and do something.

 Make some memories with friends and family. Volunteer your time instead of just writing a check. 

I am calling 2015 the “Year of Doing” for a reason. I was sick of dreaming and wishing for things to happen. At 24 years old, my regrets were starting to pile up high. 

 I determined to put some feet on my goals. 

Now on to my next task: putting pictures in the frames…


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The Worst Millennial Ever

millennials

The title of this post says it all. I am the worst millennial ever.

Hashtags, Twitter, Snapchat, and don’t even get me started on LinkedIn.

Sigh.

Can someone please explain all of these social media tools to me?

Instagram is simple enough for anyone to use. Take a picture, add a caption, and BAM! The world can see how awesome your filtered life really is.

Facebook? It’s the grandpa of all social media. I mean, it beat Myspace and took over as the Yo-Mama! of all social media. Zuckerberg’s empire is not going anywhere–even though the movie that explains it all is probably the worst….

Moving on…..

Why am I talking about this? Because I have a goal for this blog now. It’s quite simple.

Blog every day of my 25th year.

Sometimes the posts will be super serious.

Sometimes I will post a book review.

Sometimes  I will post a YouTube video with some commentary (it is a blog after all).

I don’t want to limit myself in what I choose to do. The only goal is to post something every day.

Which takes me back to being the worst millennial ever……

I need your help to improve my mad skills because right now I have none.

That’s another goal of mine for this upcoming year:

Figure out the complex world of the blogosphere and social media.

Any and all help is much appreciated.

For those of you know my birthday is in July, you might be wondering why I’m posting this now.

Thanks for asking!

It will take me that long to get into the habit.

Consistency is my kryptonite.

Now, to end the most random blog post ever…..