Happy New Year! We are a little over one week into 2022 – how are you feeling? I have felt some of that “January 1st pressure” especially when the first few days of the new year went as planned and last few have not. Even though I know there is nothing magical about January 1st, as a recovering perfectionist, I still feel the overwhelming urge to either do it all perfect or just not do it at all. So if you are also feeling this way, here are 4 truths I want you to remind yourself of:

#1: Checkmarks do not define your worth and they are not the only way to measure your progress.

#2: You can’t overhaul your whole life at once if you want longterm growth and not short term success.

#3: You can’t make progress on your goals if the guilt of yesterday is preventing grace today.

#4: Imperfect progress is defined by good intentions + unchecked boxes, and choosing grace over guilt is lived out when we choose to leave those unchecked boxes blank in peace and keep moving forward.

My Prepare Well Page

Before we get into my tending list, I want to share my prepare well page with you! (Don’t know what Powersheets are? Start Here!)

This past summer, I started repurposing my prepare well page as I was kind of bored with my regular format so I’ve been putting my stickers to work. I repurposed this page because I found I wasn’t turning back to it or using it. I’m on my 5th set of powersheets and just like I encourage you to make your Powersheets your own, this is one of the ways I am making them my own! This month, I kept the important to do’s for dates and checklists along with the on my mind which I used as a prayer space (this is my all time favorite way to use this box!) Then I used the other two boxes to hold January’s weekend rhythm I am hoping to follow through on, and then I made a pre-procedure checklist so I am prepared for that.

Remember there is no wrong way to use your powersheets, but I do encourage you to be YOU on these pages (whether you use all the stickers to repurpose the page, use the page as intended, or go with a simplified blank and white look – YOU DO YOU!)

My Tending List

Now let’s jump into January’s Tending List! This month my top priority is to Cultivate this community!

Monthly Goals:

• January Content Calendar: I am learning that when I prepare my content in advance I have more time to connect with y’all; so I want to steward my time better to make more room for that.
• Launch the Grace + Goals Accountability Group: You are not going to want to miss this announcement so make sure you are on the email list!
• Q1 Plan and Dates: I’m cannot wait excited to share what is in store for Grace + Goals this quarter!
• Cultivate the Blog: I’m ready to continue to share life with you here on this blog.
• @thepspgals: I love being apart of The PSP Gals and want to continue to stay on top of all that
• Break It Down Pages for my Action Plans: This year I am going to try out creating a Break It Down page for each of my 2022 Goal Action Plans; I will report back when I have and share what I think!
• February Tending List: As always, we PSP Gals get together at the end of the month to close out the current month and make our tending lists for the upcoming month! Easily the best part of my month!
• Brainstorm New Rhythms: One of my yearly goals is to cultivate new rhythms (routines without a time dependent schedule) so I want to start brainstorming those this month. I have not finished my goal action page yet for this goal, and that is okay because I have all year to make progress on my goals!
• Goal Guide: Jared and I are trying out Cultivate’s Couples Goal Guide to help us plan out our goals
• Rebuild + Stay Brave: I have a lot of medical changes to my team that need to be made and I have a procedure at the end of this month that I am trying to stay brave about.

Weekly Goals:

• Cultivate Community: I love getting to know you in real life and delight in having you apart of this community and hope to get to know y’all better! I want to be present here and continue to build actual relationships with you!
• Weekend Rhythm: I tend to spend my weekends dedicated to housework and preparing for the week ahead. I keep my rhythm for the month on my prepare well page.
• Throw Confetti: One of the acts of worship I actively practice each week is throwing confetti and celebrating His goodness today! So not only do I track my daily victories with my “celebrate every tiny victory” wildcard, but I also throw confetti at least once a week! We do this on my instagram every Wednesday so we can all celebrate together! 
• Time Block:  I want to be more intentional about checking in with Jared before the week begins to go over our plans/schedules by time blocking so we stay on top of everything. 
• Love J Well: We aim to spend intentional time together without our phones at least once a week.
• Church: Jared and I want to be better on top of watching church, and so we decided me adding it to my tending list was a great way to keep us accountable. (In our weekly planning session, we also time block where Church is going to be held.)

Daily Goals: I use my daily goals more as a habit tracker than a strict goal and it gives me more freedom in seasons of uncertainty.

• Stay Connected: I want to stay faithful to do what God has called me too, and I want to be consistently present here in this community.
• Cultivate G+G: I am using the G+G “Cultivate Each Day” Wildcard to track how I am daily making progress on my top priority which is cultivate this community.
• Victory Log:  I religiously use the “Quarterly Celebrate Every Tiny Victory” Wildcard to log one victory a day!
• Prayer:  want to get back into making prayer a priority in my morning routine because the only one who can truly change most situations completely is Jesus and so I need to start my day by fighting the battles in this life “on my knees.”
• Daily Bread: I want to make sure that before I do ANY work that I have been in His Word because that is the most important way I can use my time; I want to actively remember that there is no work or ministry that comes before Him.
• Little by Little: Rather than using a monthly wildcard page to highlight how God is moving in my life, I am using the Little by Little Journal to write down one way that I saw God move that day. I’ve been doing this since the start of 2021 and love it!
• Evening QT: I am working on reading through the Bible in a year at night on the Bible app. I tend to not dig into the Word when I can’t take the “right notes” so I am trying to focus more on why I am in the Word rather than how I am.

My Wildcards

In case you didn’t know, here on Living the Chronic Illness Life you now have access to the

🎉 Grace + Goals Resource Library 🎉

which helps you tailor your goal setting and powersheets to seasons of uncertainty. You can find all the info here!

The 2022 Powersheets are now available to buy! I am #teamblooms this year and in this 2022 Collection my top three must haves are: the Goal Setting Sticker Book, the Snap In Wildcard Holder, and the SeaGlass Cultivate Tote Bag!

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Cassie Nolin is a married spoonie who lives the chronic illness life with EDS + Co. (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and it’s comorbid conditions.) She challenges others to choose grace over guilt while goal setting, and is in ministry part time serving the online community through Grace + Goals and The Spoonie Study. She loves planting, confetti, hand lettering, and sharing the hope she has found in Jesus. Her blog, Living the Chronic Illness Life, is in the top 100 chronic illness blogs and in 2019 she launched her podcast, Chronically Cultivating, where Cassie encourages women to live authentic and intentional lives through their diagnosis’ not in spite of them. She is on a mission to help other women learn how to trade guilt for God’s grace and control for confetti! You can learn more about her at www.livingthechronicillnesslife.com

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