Find Your Way Back |Intentions vs Goals

Greetings Daizies, 

It’s been a while since I took some time to check-in via writing blog posts. A few nights ago I was getting ready to write in my journal to destress when I decided to just slow down and take a look at my very first entry of the year. It was a page where I wrote down my intentions for 2020. In this moment, I was able to pause and put what was worrying me into perspective. A new year is like a new slate, and we all know 2020 has thrown a lot of us for a loop, but what surprised me is my overall intentions still held true whether it was a pandemic or not. Here’s why: 

The Difference Between Intentions and Goals 

I think the difference between an intention and a goal is that an intention is based on what you will do your best to feel and a goal is what you’ll do your best to do. For example, in my Things I’m Excited for in 2020 post from January 2020 where I said  “I intend to laugh, be at peace, and create amazing memories” after articulating such goals of creating hair products and learning Spanish. The intention of laughing and being at peace gives me freedom to decide what actions will make me feel those things. 

In the present moment, I was feeling extremely behind on my to-do lists in all areas of my life. No matter how much I had written out on my calendar that I would do ‘xyz’ time and my energy just didn’t permit for me to finish all that I had set out to do. This leads me to feeling down, and on top of exhaustion, just feeling disappointed in myself for not being able to finish aalllll of the things I desired to finish. So it was destined for me to land on my manifesto of the year and realize the most important things for me this year weren’t to measure my success based on how much content I’m producing, how many virtual events I’m hosting, or how many new products I released. When it’s all said and done, I want to feel: 

  • At peace 
  • Be present and where my feet are 
  • Laugh and feel joy 
  • Speak nicely to myself 

Journal Prompt Activity 

The next time you feel like you’re battling accepting the realities of how you seem to be progressing towards goals or checking off things on your to-do list, it may be helpful in your next journal session to articulate the overall feeling you’d like to feel from those goals. Try answering these questions: 

  • How do I want the rest of the year to feel? 
  • What type of emotions do you want to remember from this year? 
  • How do you want to treat yourself? 
  • How do you want your relationship with your health and body to look?

It may be a continuous journey to think about the bigger picture when it seems the immediate circumstances are overwhelming. Looking back to even last year, I can’t recall any drastic consequence that happened because I only finished 1 blog post instead of 4, or not getting a certain amount of followers on my brand pages. But I remember being worried about those things which are so minuscule now at this moment. What matters is how I feel overall and to laugh, have joy, and be at peace.

As always,

Take it step by step and DaibyDai