A few days back I went to the Badgerland Strider Christmas Party/Award night. Wait, rewind, almost exactly one year ago, my Badgerland Strider challenge was put into motion! Wow, I cannot believe it has been a whole year and that I got my prize at the Award night. Proof that I am goal oriented, but only when I am in control of the outcome I think. Like this Strider challenge, all I HAD to do was cross 8 of 9 finish lines. I did not have to win the races or even place in my age group. I just had to show up and cross the finish line. Believe me, the way my year started out last year, that was a good mantra ~ Just cross the line, just cross the line...
As you know, I was not happy with that mantra and set another goal/challenge to myself back in August. I decided that mantra stunk and I knew I was better than that, and I was going to prove it. I started my challenge of running one or more miles a day for the whole month of August. I did it, too. Then I couldn't stop, I wanted to see how many days I could go with out stopping. I made it to 139 before I fell in December. That is a lot of days in a row. I don't even think I ran every day with the Cross Country and Track teams in college. I think I took off on Sunday after race weekends, but I may have gone out easy a couple of Sunday's too.
Well, onto DECLARE IT DAY! At that Christmas party, I sat with 3 ladies. We started to chat and as we shared stories, one lady asked me about Fellow Flowers. And said a friend Anonymously "Flowered" her. She said it really meant a lot to her and that she follows them on Facebook. Her other friends, as well as myself, dug out our smartphones and started looking them up.
I didn't do much searching after that moment, and I had heard of them before. In fact, my t-shirt here:
is one of their creations!
They have some really cool stuff. I have a client who has a TON of their shirts! The quotes are amazing and so fitting.
Well, now that I follow them on Facebook, I get some of their posts. And I think one last week was about DECLARE IT DAY 2015. This is an event they started a couple of years ago. I am just now reading their Goal Guide and how the concept came about and what the day is all about. It is about empowering women and moms to set goals for themselves. From the guide:
We wanted to eliminate the stereotypes that keep women from stepping in, and we were
committed to crushing the vicious silos that prevent women from connecting with each other.
We wanted a space for women’s voices to be heard, validated and celebrated.
The purpose of Declare It Day has never been about putting restrictions on WHAT your goal should be... but rather giving you the freedom and space to chase whatever matters to you. Over the past two years, we have seen women say it out loud, write it down and believe in themselves, and then, go on to achieve not just their goals but also a renewed sense of purpose and possibility.
Last fall in Disney with Deanna, she said at least once a day while there: "I think this is the first goal I have ever completed!" And I am super proud of her and how far she had come to get to that weekend. She has set new goals and is still running. I believe her next life time goal to finish is college and if you ask her I am sure she knows exactly how many more days she has until graduation this spring.
I am wondering how many of female friends have thought of things they would like to do some day after the kids are grown? Or think that they could never do that? DECLARE IT DAY is about setting that goal and getting help from other women to get it done!
February 7, 2015 is DECLARE IT DAY. I am off to finish reading my Goal Guide and prepare for the day. Will you join me?
Off n Running,
AnnMarie
PS. A quote from the Goal Guide that made me think of blogging today!
“STRENGTH DOESN’T COME FROM
WHAT YOU CAN DO. IT COMES FROM
OVERCOMING THE THINGS YOU ONCE
THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T.”
THOUGHT YOU COULDN’T.”
NIKKI ROGERS
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