Intentional August: Part One

I took some time this last month to not write about my life. I decided I needed to take a break. I thought maybe writing it all down, thinking about it all, analyzing and reanalyzing everything, wasn't helping.

Pretty much, I was wrong.

I just end up thinking one hundred things, one hundred times over. Instead of organizing my life, my plans, and clearing out my to-do list, my life and plans got hazy, and my to-do list, oh that list has gotten so long. With the arrival of August, I took a look around and realized whatever I was trying to do, wasn't working. As arbitrary as it is, a new month usually feels like it means something. So this month has been dubbed Intentional August.

I didn't name it, I picked it up from Lara Casey.

I have to say, living with intention, with purpose, well I've felt the difference even in the last four days.

That seems dramatic, I know. But, hear me out: for all intents and purposes I have been stalling out for the last three months, mentally preparing myself for the next shoe to drop the moment I step on to campus in the fall. All the while my 'I don't want to do thats' and 'I'd rather nots' and every other form of mental resistance has been building up.

It's time to clear it out.

I'm wiping it clean. I'm saying yes, when I don't feel like it. I'm running the extra mile, filing the extra files, taking the extra few minutes to make sure I'm not rushing through my morning and setting my day off in a tizzy. I'm taking this month to reset, to live with intention.

I've taken this quite to heart lately, and for a girl who's counting on some big dreams to come through in a few months, and hoping and praying, her plans stay, well, as she'd like them to go (despite knowing they never do,) this really lights my spark, so to speak:

There is no magic potion to making big things happen. Success takes hard, efficient, purposeful, clear work. Step by step. Set yourself up for success - above all - remember that achieving your 2013 goals is not about perfection, it's a process. There is no "messing up" here. Fall down seven times, stand up eight.

I'm standing up. I'm taking the steps. I'm making the changes that matter. I've got places I want to go, things I want to do. And I'll be damned if I am my own road block to getting there.

Follow Lara Casey on Instagram to see and read some of her amazing thoughts on her own Intentional August.