Successes And Failures Of 2019

                                                                  Everyday is a brand new day,
                                                                  everyday is a journey.


There is not time for hate,
 O wasteful friend.
Put hate away until the ages end
.Have you an ancient wound?
 Forget the wrong—
Out in my West a forest loud with song
towers high and green over a field of snow,
Over a glacier buried far below.

—Edwin Markham

As we come to the end of 2019, I find myself reflecting on the past year. As I have said many times, I over analyze things to death. That's the way I am made and one cannot teach an old dog new tricks. It has been a very interesting year and I can honestly say that it has taken me on a journey I never thought I would be on.

Every year in January, I set a goal for myself as the theme for the remainder of the year. There is always something we can work on to improve our situation or wellbeing. This year, what I set as my goal took a different direction than I thought. I wanted to be financially free and I basically ended up taking care of things long left unfinished. So let's see how I did with my successes and failures.

My biggest failure happens to be with my blog. I began the year with such a high number of subscribers and views, but it quickly dwindled to almost half. Some of the reasons I believe were because of my neglect. I experienced writer's block, something that has never happened to me before. I couldn't post on a daily basis any longer. The saying out of sight out of mind really effected my blog. Every time I tried to get back on track, I would fail miserably after a couple of days. Concentration proved difficult as my personal life became more stressed and I couldn't write. Even the content at times was mediocre. That is the truth of it. The blog is a failure.

The Ministry, on the other hand, flourished. I don't know what it is about this Ministry, but it never really suffered in any way. Even when we were short on donations, there was always enough yarn for the month to cover what we needed. We may not have had any excess, but we had just enough. The Ministry is just blessed and I am blessed for it.

Now for the 50/50 and we have a few. My main goal for this year was to be financially free by paying off a few bills. We accomplished a big one earlier in the year. Then we sort of hit a slump. There was no overtime available and we were a bit tired from exerting ourselves full force in the first half. It took a lot to get that paid off and we were left feeling exhausted. Right now, we have a small one that we might be able to write off by the end of December or early January. Well, there is one more and I am not sure when that one will be paid off completely. That's why I'm calling it half'n'half.

Another hit/miss was the YouTube channel. I got it out there, but it wasn't easy and there have been times where I felt I should give it up. Now that it has been a full year, I feel that if I made it through this far, I should continue on. Really, really hard. Probably one of my most difficult challenges thus far I've had to face in a long time. 

So here you have it. This observation of my year is by no way a pity party or a pat on the back for myself. I believe that in order for us to move forward and grow, we need to look honestly in the mirror to acknowledge our part in it. We ask ourselves what worked and what did not in order to improve. Now that an assessment has been made, the next step is an action plan.

Have a blessed day everyone.