Mission Accomplished Stories A few months ago, we challenged our VIP members with the Mission Accomplished Single. The task was simple: make a list of goals, color one X when you create a goal, and then color the X next to it when you accomplish the goal. Once the strap was colored in, we asked our members to share the story behind their goals to Facebook and tag us. Below are five stories we'd like to share. The Repeat Goals Alright, so here is my Mission Accomplished finished strap (I went with PlayStation controller button colors for fun hehe). I went with a slightly different approach, so there are a couple "repeat" goals on my list and you will see why. Because of this, I also went for every X being its own goal. I really wanted to shoot for an overall theme: What can I do for others? Since I'm obviously getting a little prize at the finish line, being a cute double Zox, I decided I wanted every goal to somehow tie into doing something for an outside entity/person/etc. So here is my list with a little explanation of each: Goals 1-5: Five, yes five of the goals were the same but different thing. I have a bad habit of buying myself fast food often because I work not so great shifts. So this is something I've always wanted to do and turns my bad habit into something better. I had five different instances at five different restaurants where I bought the food of the person behind me in line. The prices varied wildly and one could assume it varied from one person to a whole family and it made me feel so happy inside. I don't know if it started a chain reaction or if maybe I made someone's day just that much better but I really, really hope that it made a difference for someone out there. Goals 6-8: Another repeat goal. It was to get myself to donate a box of at least 10 different things from my house to Goodwill AND get two of my friends to do the same. This was actually surprisingly easy. I had so many kitchen supplies, clothes, and other things that I just don't use or wear so my box filled up quickly. And the two friends I asked if they wanted to donate some stuff took no convincing at all. They said they had been wanting to for a while but just had been too lazy to drive there or hadn't had the motivation to box up their stuff to start. Goal 9: Donate a full box filled with food to the food pantry. This is the place where people who can't afford food can get food, no questions asked. They work in tandem with the soup kitchen. Goal 10: Volunteer at a friend's booth for the local pride event. This was easy enough, I know lots of people that were participating in the local pride event with booths, so I helped one of them watch their booth and hand out pamphlets and stuff since they needed the extra help. Goal 11-12: A repeat goal here, for two different spots and it was to spend at least 2 hours picking up garbage on the busiest street in town, and the largest park in town. I live in a fairly small town so the busiest street in town is incredibly easy to identify as is the largest park haha. Goal 13: Donate a full box of supplies to the animal shelter. Self explanatory and who doesn't love animals?! Goal 14: Hand out a sticker to every small child I encountered at work for a week. I won't get too much into detail but I work security at an airport and children can get stressed out or stress out their parents traveling. You would actually be incredibly surprised at how much something like a sticker makes a difference for these kids and parents. My coworkers and I can get distracted and caught up in our jobs so in making sure I did this, I can only hope made some family's trips easier. Goals 15-16: This was difficult. Not because the tasks were difficult but because I practically wanted to cry looking at some of these stories. Repeat goal, donate to two different GoFundMe pages. So many people in need, it only makes me wish I had millions of dollars to give away to people. Goal 17: Donate a box of items to the local children's crisis center. This was difficult at first because all they wanted was a monetary donation but I came into contact with the right people and found out exactly what they needed and would accept. Goal 18: Sign up for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. For those unfamiliar, this is a national program but managed state by state, that enrolls volunteers to mentor youths basically. I haven't got to do anything but sign up yet because you have to go through a background check and whatnot, plus I'm not sure if COVID has put any restrictions in place, but I'm excited to see where this endeavor takes me! Goal 19: Pull weeds for my elderly neighbor. I've noticed that my neighbor's front yard was getting rather filled with weeds and I also know they are elderly. I asked one day if they'd like help with yard work and they happily said yes. This also led to me helping them plant some flowers too. Goal 20: Get a bird house and bird feeder for the yard. I have lived in my place for over five years now and two of those years birds have made nests in very, very poor spots that led to either the destruction of their nest or the destruction of eggs. This is my way of hopefully helping a future bird family get a safe little nest going if they choose my yard to live in and also supply birds with food! Goal 21: Pick up poop at the dog park. I don't know if the city is supposed to this or if they rely on the dog owners to do this, but either way, the dog park was wracked with poop when I went. I could only think of how happy all the dogs and owners would be not having nto step around piles of poop!! Overall this list was a lot. Some of these goals were lofty; either monetarily, emotionally, or time consuming. But I have to say, I feel so fulfilled and happy in completing these goals. I also commend anyone who spent the time to read the whole list and appreciate you and hope you have a great day. The Son's Goals This past year has been hard in a lot of ways for most people. My son who turned 14 during the pandemic was one of those people. Let’s face it: puberty is hard, all those emotions and testosterone running through their tiny bodies and them not knowing what to do or feel about it. Add ADHD to the mix and it can make puberty unbearable. Being a single mom who had an essential job that keeps me away from the house 11 hours a day, made this little man responsible for his own school work, his own cooking, and well let’s face it his own self care. Being isolated from his friends and spending most days alone did not fair well for him and he fell down the rabbit hole of depression. Grades started sliding until he got to the point where he was so frustrated with the feeling of self worthlessness that he just stopped going to online class, and trying to connect at all. We have worked through most of this and gotten him back on track grades wise but coupled with his ADHD and depression he now has developed social anxiety and poor self hygiene. The only ZOX that has ever spoken to him was pursuit of happiness. Until now. I ordered him mission accomplished and told him we could make a list of “missions” to help slide him out of his poor self hygiene habit and keep him from letting the depression creep back in. I wanted the tasks to stretch out over the course of a week because we all know that repetition of a task is what helps us to continue to achieve them over a day to day basis. So here is his list and everything he has achieved. Thank you so much ZOX for being the amazing individuals you are and helping so many people! 1. Sit down with mom and make a goals list 2. Take a shower everyday for a week 3. Brush your hair everyday for a week 4. Get up and go to camp for a full week 5. Go to the family picnic and talk to cousins 6. Clean your room 7. Play a board game with mom and sister 8. Eat dinner with mom and sister for a week 9. Take the dog outside to play in his pool 10. Limit video games to 2 hours a day 11. Do the ZOX puzzle with mom and sister 12. Help mom mow the lawn 13. Write something positive about my self everyday for a week 14. Make a gratuity list 15. Remind my sister of something she is good at 16. Call Grammy to tell her I love her 17. Go to bed on time so I can wake up rested for a full week. The "Keep Going" Goals My Mission - For the past 8 years, off and on, I've been living at my Mom's house about 30 miles away from my house. I don't drive, so when I was at her house, my place sat empty. When I got a few days "off", housekeeping was the furthest thing from my mind... so just before COVID hit, me and my siblings decided Mom needed more care than I could give her. She moved to assisted living, and I boxed up and moved my things, and things from her house that I wanted, back to my tiny 2-bedroom townhouse. Then came COVID, reduction of income, a bit of depression, and last December we lost my Mom to the COPD which was the reason I'd been at her house for so long. I'm not posting a list here, because some of the things on it would be a bit embarrassing. But green Xs are for things that needed to be done so I could GO forward with my life in my house. Blue Xs are for things that I didn't like about my house (that gave me the blues), for example, I always wanted to get pegboard up on the wall in my craft room. I got it up there now! Purple Xs are for memories, things that came from Mom's house that still needed to be unpacked, photos that needed sorting, recipes from her two huge looseleaf notebooks full that I scanned, and have now put on disks for the rest of the family... There's still more to do, which is why I'm wearing it WITH Progress Not Perfection, but this challenge got me out of my rut and off to a good start, so a heartfelt thank you for that. The "Next Step" Goals After finding ZOX, I again came very close to committing suicide. I reached out to a suicide prevention hotline and then obtained books I could read immediately. My Pastor recommended a study to do called Quieting a Noisy Soul. These were the first goals at which to look. Then, with me being mostly house bound I needed to remember self care. My current new counselor has me also going through blessings in my life before I even get up. Then, knowing I will be obtaining a double, I started a second wave of goals. I’ll be adding to it later. I hope my story helps someone else who is struggling. ZOX on and hang in there. Born from Love Goals This is for the mission I didn't want. These were not goals I set. These are goals born from devastating grief. I lost my best friend unexpectedly, then a month later my grandpa, then a few months later my grandma, then just 1 month later covid uncertainty hit. This strap is to remind me of how much I've accomplished even though it feels like I've only been treading water. That even when I'm completely broken, I'm not alone. Even though I feel like I'm failing, all of the days I get out of bed and do the little things, they all add up. The mission was to overcome. Getting this bracelet helped me to realize that mission and unpack all the work I have done. I'm not sure that mission will ever feel complete, but it feels like time to move forward, step up, and intentionally set more goals. Surviving grief and uncertainty through love: Mission Accomplished. To all who participated, congratulations on your goals. I know it's not easy to do certain things on those lists, but you all did them, and you should be so proud of yourselves. We send so much love and support your way. Keep being you, and keep accomplishing those goals!
