I want to tell you a little something about myself. I grew up in a house of 4 girls with a single mom. We rarely watched TV, but when it was my turn to choose the program, Ernie and Sesame Street were front and center. Similarly, we never had expectations of waking up to mountains of gifts waiting under the Christmas tree. Most years we didn’t ask for anything specific, or really even know what to ask for, since we didn’t see many television commercials.
One Christmas was different for me. There was one thing I really, really wanted. My grandparents had taken me into Boston, just me! We went to the Public Garden and the Common, our favorite places. She then took me for a walk down Newbury Street. There it was, in a storefront window. The Ernie puppet I just had to have. My grandfather let me stare at it longingly for a while and as we walked away, he tussled my hair and said, “You never know, maybe Santa will bring it on Christmas Day”. I had HOPE! I would give Santa absolutely no reason to deny me that Ernie puppet. GOALS! As you can probably guess, it was the greatest Christmas EVER! I got my Ernie puppet, and in my mind, I accomplished the goal I had set out before myself.
I share this with you because I want you to head into 2021 thinking about what would give you this kind of joy. Having hope is how it starts, right? When you select your goal for this year, month, week, whatever time frame you want, take note of how you feel. Grab a pen and paper and write down everything you are feeling, every thought you have – just get it all out on paper. From here, the work begins. You get to decide which thoughts and feelings serve you, and which to move on from. To earn my Ernie, I determined that helping with dishes, making my bed, and brushing my teeth without being asked would get the job done. What is going to help you get the job done and accomplish what you want, to help you earn your “Ernie puppet”? It starts with one small step. Grab a pen and paper and let’s get to work!
