Feeling good about what I HAVE accomplished

         As a therapist it is often my job to help clients make changes in their lives.  Sometimes what needs to be changed is obvious, sometimes it takes a while to discover exactly what the difficulties are.   Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite, I know what changes I strive for in my life, yet I cannot seem to take the leap and make the commitment to change.  I can plan all day long how to make the change but when it comes to execution of those plans I always seem to fall short, lose motivation, get side tracked, and eventually give up.  Thankfully, I seem to get back on track at some point which is better than giving up for ever.   
       Relapse is a part of recovery.   We don't look down upon an addict that has a relapse, we use it as a learning experience.  What happen, what went wrong, what can we better prepare for next time, what did you learn?   As a therapist, we hope that the tools that we teach our client's make those relapses less frequent and last for a shorter duration each time.    I am not an addict, but I can equate some of the things I teach my client's to everyday life.   When you have a plan and then you get thrown off course,  think about what pushed you off of your path.  Is it something you had control over?  What change can you make to prevent it from happening again?  Have a big picture in mind, but break into little pieces that are manageable.  Celebrate the small steps.  Feel good about what you have accomplished, instead of feeling bad about what you didn't do.
      Organization is big on my list for the year and with a 3 day weekend I felt as though I should have accomplished much more than I did.   I did a little cleaning of my desk yesterday, listed a few things on ebay & craigslist, and talked the husband into going through 3 years worth of children's school work with me,  but I still don't feel like I accomplished anything great.  Actually, I am pretty sure I made a bigger mess then before I did anything! Right now, at 10:30 am on the last day of the weekend, I know that I still have time to do more.  So that's what I am going to do.   I am making a commitment continue with the small steps.  Tonight when I go to sleep I will not think about what I didn't do, but I will feel good about what I did do. 

On a sidenote,  here is a picture of my number 1 priority(s), my family.   Everything that I strive to do better I do for myself and them. 
-JP