21 Days to a More Disciplined Life: Day 18

I am reading 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life as part of my goals for 2014 and I'm sharing insights from each day's readings. If you want to catch up on my progress, read previous days: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Day 11, Day 12, Day 13, Day 14, Day 15, Day 16, Day 17.

Day 18:
Embrace your own uniqueness. You are you so don't focus on trying to measure up to someone else. It just wastes time and energy. Be a wise steward of the talents, gifts, and abilities that God has given you. You can think about ways to improve upon these, but you cannot change who He has created you to be. It's tempting to look at people we admire and consider our differences from them to be shortcomings. But don't think for one minute that you're inferior because you don't measure up to them. You are a unique person, created in the image of God with your own unique set of skills, weaknesses, joys, tears, homes, and bodies. Crystal recommends reading Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. One of the big things that Marcus pushes for is playing to your strengths, not your weaknesses. Learn to build on what you already do well and bring your weaknesses up to average. "You were born an original, don't die a copy!"


I'd like to share with you a little of my personal battle with this very thing. I am one of four girls. I have 3 very pretty, petite, talented sisters. Growing up and still once in a while now, I would compare myself to them on everything. I have always been on the heavy side. I am NOT a morning person. I tend to be late for most things (much to my dear hubby's dismay). I cannot draw, paint, or sing solos. I have a hard time improvising on the piano. I don't have the patience of my oldest sister, nor the determination of my other two sisters. I have let myself feel like I am second rate, merely living in the shadow of their greatness, when in all honesty, I am just different. This doesn't give me the excuse to remain out of shape or stop improving. It doesn't mean that I can remain stagnant in life. I need to remind myself daily of my uniqueness and work to be a BETTER version of me. I must learn to change the things that I NEED to change and make the most of the things that I cannot. Although I will never be as petite as any of my sisters, I can work to be in better shape for my benefit and the benefit of my family.

Practical Application: 1. Ask yourself: "Am I doing the best I can with the energy, gifts, talents, and resources I have in the season of life I am in?" If so, then press on without guilt - even if your life and foals look completely different than someone else's. 2. Read Now, Discover Your Strengths and take the quiz to determine your strengths. Then make a list of ways that you will begin developing those strengths. Since Jared has read some books by Marcus Buckingham and shared things he's learned from them, I would love to put this book on my reading list for 2014.

Mega Project Progress: I didn't make any progress today. We had a few things pop up that I hadn't planned on so I had to take a brief break from my work.

General Progress: I was able to get up early and get a third day of exercise in. I also have done really well at keeping my kitchen clean and trying to keep up with laundry and such by doing small tasks everyday.