“When we do something big and life-changing, we might be expecting life to radically change and sometimes, it stays the same. You’re living in a different house or in a different country or with a different person, but fundamentally, things are the same because YOU are the same.”
— Suzanna Conway
Reading the above was one of those lightbulb moments — even when I’m not doing something utterly big or life-changing, just doing small things, I still expect big changes: To feel different or be different or something radical. But that’s not the way it works.
I like to look back in December and evaluate the past year, and I expect to see changes and growth and good things. But maybe that’s unrealistic. And maybe that’s also a lot of pressure. I didn’t do everything on my 2018 goal list, and some of what I did do didn’t stick. Does that mean the whole year was a bust? Is it bad that things are fundamentally the same because I am fundamentally the same?
Maybe just accepting where we’re at is the best wish for ourselves today.
Minimally 
I think my goals were new job (tick). Not sure if I had lose weight, but giant tick to that one. Work towards paying off mortgage – that continues.
And a goal I didn’t have but has happened: I have made new friends. Close, female friends. Not all that common at 33, when I have no need/reason to seek more (as in, I would if I’d moved but I’ve ‘stayed the same’) it’s been a real blessing.
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At least you had a goal list! I haven’t even had a list for years,I just bumble along. I’ll think about a goal list for 2019. Also I really like that quote, Suzanna Conway has a great blog, love seeing photos of her cat (and your cats too of course!).
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I don’t do yearly goals as such but I do daily goals in my journal book. Usually they are little things like tidy the laundry room or garden etc. But I like that quote. When I think back over my life, essentially I am the same person inside as I was 60 years ago. I love reading and books. Books shaped my life. I loved cooking always, being outside, camping. So even my inner values are essentially the same. Sometimes they were more externally visible such as when I was a counselor, but basically they are the same.
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