They say most people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by the end of January. In fact, according to a recent USA Today article about 60% of resolutions are abandoned by January 17 each year.

 As I sit here in March, just under two months after that date, I reflect on a resolution or goal that I once had – to write a blog.

Unlike many other goals I’ve had in my life, that was one that I actually kept, for over two years. During that time I posted almost twice a month. It wasn’t always easy but I kept at it and it was really rewarding.

I had every intention to keep up the momentum and write even more. Then life caught up to me and I stopped, for over a year.

I simply gave up on one of my most successful goals.

During this past year I’ve wanted start writing again many times. I’ve even taken a couple of small stabs at it, but haven’t been able to sustain it for various reasons.

Sometimes I haven’t felt like I had anything to share, many times I’ve felt unconfident, asking myself “why would anyone want to read what I have to say” and other times I’ve simply felt lazy.

Writing on my blog is on my New Year’s goal list again this year. I’m determined for it to stick again this time. I did it before and I can do it again!

As I set about to pick up this writing thing again I looked back through some of my old posts. I probably did it to see what I had done in the past and maybe to look for inspiration. One post from almost exactly two years ago stood out in particular. It was titled, “How to Start Using Your God-Given Gifts.”

As I re-read it I realized how much my two-years-ago-self had to teach my today self about trying reclaim what I believe to be a God-given gift after trying to salvage it several times without success.

So today I want to re-share the main points from that post for me and for anyone in a similar situation. This is a pep talk to myself. If you can relate to my story, I hope you’ll find it helpful and encouraging too.

Discover what your gifts are

In this case that may be better written, “re-discover what your gifts are.” If you were successful at using a gift in the past, it probably means you believed in it at some point. I think that may be another reason I started re-reading some of my old posts. Not all of them inspired confidence – some were downright embarrassing to read – but overall it was inspiring to see the skill that I developed over time and the confidence with which I used to use that skill.

When we are not sure where to restart, I think it may be best to go back to where we left off and draw strength and inspiration from seeing what we were once able to do.

It can also be helpful to ask people close to us to share what gifts and strengths they see in us. Other people are often able to see traits in us that we aren’t able to recognize in ourselves.

Start practicing

This is where I’m at right now. I have to start practicing again. My writing skills honestly feel rusty but I have to start somewhere. I’m amazed at how long it can take to develop a skill and then how quickly it can be lost.

If you’ve ever gotten in good physical shape and then quit working out you can probably relate. It can feel really difficult when you start exercising again. However, I’ve learned that thankfully when we restart, it usually doesn’t take as long to get back where we were as it did originally. Those skills aren’t completely lost. Our mind and body are somehow able to access what we learned before and draw on that knowledge to get us back up to speed.

The key is getting started and having grace for ourselves as we go through that relearning process.

Offer your Gift in Service to Others

As I mentioned earlier, for much of the past year I haven’t believed I had anything to share or that anyone would want to read what I had to write. But I also know that in the past, even when I thought my writing stunk, it would usually encourage or help someone.

Trusting that will be the case again takes courage. But deep down I absolutely believe we all have something significant to offer and that our story matters. Even if only one person benefits from what we share, our gift has still been of service, not to mention how we personally benefit from the process of offering ourselves.

So let’s do this together! If we believed in ourselves once, we can believe again. If we trusted the process in the past, we can trust again. If we stuck with an important goal before, can do it again. Even if we tried to restart previously and failed, we can begin again, again.