I think the day-to-day is what has really changed me the most. That and enduring health problems for many years. Not giving up has been my goal for a lot of those years, and in not giving up, I have found out a lot about myself and about God.

And also, a lot of the goals that changed me were more like things that God brought into my life…my mission (hadn’t planned on one), my education (never set out to get a graduate degree until after a mission I hadn’t planned on…cuz, you know, I was going to be married by then), other experiences before marriage (career, living 2000 miles away from my family, etc), then the opportunity to get married and have kids. They have shaped me so much, but they were more like blessings brought into my life than goals that I necessarily tackled all myself, if that makes sense.

In the end, I think I did do something incredible and I’m proud of myself, but I was hoping that this goal would make me feel complete or better or something, but I was just the same on the inside. I thought, I guess, that my goal would MAKE me enough. It really only made me 95 lbs. lighter. Which is a GOOD thing, but not everything.

What I did learn from accomplishing a major goal is that I’m tougher and stronger than I give myself credit for. And for a while that motivated me to make other big goals, but the further I get from when I hit my weight loss accomplishment, the less I feel tough and strong… So, all this rambling = yes, I get what you are saying! 100%.

Our lives are so intertwined with others, our experiences impact them, their experiences impact us. Who can really measure the long term good done by a single goal accomplished? There are times I just throw up my hands and admit that I have to wait until the end of the race, the race of life, to fully assess my accomplishments.

Being ENOUGH– just being– is part of realizing our divine worth. So I find that spiritual goals– scripture reading, prayer, meaningful mothering etc.– are the acts that truly change me.

I’ve met all sorts of goals in my life, I’m sure. Some of them are probably goals like “not have laundry in the laundry room for five minutes”, but even a couple of the bigger ones have been met. Some are more satisfying than others, for sure! My marriage hasn’t been a disappointed goal in any way, financial goals feel a little hollow in victory.

I’ve pretty much stopped setting goals in the hopes that lowered expectations will bring less stress. Let’s hope it works and doesn’t turn me into a sloth.

It is interesting the things that most changed me have been things I have done over time. I have volunteered for 1.5 years for the San Diego Sexual Assault Response Team, I think that has made me more compassionate. Changing careers changed my perception.

I ran a half marathon once with my dad. And honestly haven’t ran since. It turned me against it — so good job for you!