Life has been a bit crazy the last six weeks or so, but I am back at Five Minute Friday. If you haven’t heard of Five Minute Fridays, it is where women (and some men too!) from all over the world write about one word for 5 minutes. No editing. No second guessing. Just publishing. You can join in with your own post OR just read others HERE.
The word this week is INTENTIONAL.
Intentional is kind of a buzz word these days, isn’t it? Everyone it seems wants to be intentional – in their parenting, in their relationships, in their faith, in their work, even in their play. People (especially women) have woken up to the fact that they want to be intentional with their time and how they spend it.
I get it. I do. We have one life to live, and we don’t want to waste it. And let’s be honest, if we aren’t intentional about our time, we can waste it, frittering it away on social media or just sort of drifting through our days and letting life happen to us rather than the other way around.
But here’s the deal. As good as all that is (and it is – even the Bible says to use our days wisely), I think it has become another form of perfectionism that can paralyze us from doing the very thing we want to do: live intentionally.
We can become so afraid that we aren’t being intentional, our schedules can become so rigid there is no room for spontaneity or fun. We can become so “intentional” we end up missing the very people we WANT to connect with on a deeper level because we’ve lost our flexibility.
A case in point – I am a lover of PowerSheets. This is product put out by Lara Casey (you can find the 6 month versions here as the full year has sold out) that helps you do some soul digging work to find good goals. Not the typical New Year’s resolutions that you abandon a week into January, but truly meaningful, good goals that you work on all year long. (am I the only person who feels like they have to accomplish ALL the goals in January?). As a buyer of PowerSheets, I am also part of the Facebook group for the first time this year. I was surprised just how paralyzed many of the women felt – like they were going to do goal setting wrong, like they had to get intentional living just right. Despite the fact that Lara is an active participant in the group and is always encouraging everyone that things don’t have to be perfect, still, getting this intentional living thing right was truly paralyzing to some of these women even with the perfect set of gel pens and planner stickers (yes, these are a thing!).
I’ve been there – so afraid of going in the wrong direction I stayed rooted to the spot. So afraid of messing up my beautiful goal planner that I was afraid to write the wrong thing. Even though that is what it is for.
That’s why, this year, I’m going to be intentional about not being perfect. Yep, imperfection is a goal of mine. It’s why I decided to intentionally give myself January to dream and think and plan. I find most of the pressure I live under is put there by me!
If we want to live intentional lives, we have to get past the paralysis of perfection and step into the messy of actually walking it out.
6 Comments on Five Minute Friday: INTENTIONAL
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This is a very thin line between intentionality and perfection for me too. God’s been changing my perspective on this very thing the past few months. Your post really resonates with me as I’m learning to move with God, in His ways and not my own crazy expectations. I’m glad I linked up next to you today at FMF.
It’s always amazing to me how quickly something good like being intentional can become another way that I tip over into unrealistic expectations. Thanks for stopping by today, Kristin! 🙂
As a rule (ha!) I’m great about taking a good thing, and trying to make it into a rigid to-do list. What a wise word to guard myself to make sure I don’t take my intentionality too far.
It’s so easy to do in our current world, especially with all the seemingly perfect lives other people live on social media! I’m so glad I’m not the only one prone to this. I’m so glad you stopped by, Brooke!
This is so true! We must overcome the fear of not being perfect, otherwise we wouldn’t be too willing to step out and experience all that God has planned for us.
Thanks for sharing today, Rosanne.
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Perfectionism is such a sneaky tactic by the enemy isn’t it? Thanks for stopping by today! 🙂