eli westfall, lmft

This year (2025) has been a milestone year for me in a couple ways. I had some big goals which I was finally able to accomplish this year. As you might imagine, this feels very good. But it also leaves me with somewhat of an empty feeling. Now these goals have been realized and accomplished, all the time and energy I have put into accomplishing my goals finds itself without an avenue for expression. So what comes next? What do I do with the energy previously devoted to making accomplishing my goals?

Honestly, I never considered the ‘downside’ to accomplishing goals. It’s not like I have never accomplished goals before. The goals I accomplished this year certainly feel bigger and more meaningful than other goals I have accomplished. What should we do next? I don’t know what we should do, I only know what I did. So, here’s what I did.

First, I mourned the loss. When I accomplished one of my goals, it meant the end of a weekly connection with a colleague I have participated in for the last two and a half years. I am glad to have accomplished my goal, I will miss those weekly video calls. But, this doesn’t have to be end of that relationship. We are still colleagues and as such it would not be weird for me to continue some form of contact with them. Maybe it isn’t a loss as much as it is a transition.

Second, I started planning for what was next. What are my next goals to be accomplished? Well, my next realistic goals anyway. I still haven’t accomplished my goal of being a rally car driver. Or my goal of running a guide service to take people climbing and camping. Or my goal of attaining a Masters of Divinity. So, I assessed the landscape of my unaccomplished goals and decided what was next.

And lastly, I went full ham on those new goals. I am going all in on them and I am not holding back. I have always struggled with discipline, not punishing my boys but being a disciplined person. I feel as though I am one step closer to being disciplined (that’s a goal I am not ready to set for myself, for fear I might not make it). I am taking the energy I applied to accomplishing previous goals and new energy to work as hard as I can to accomplish what’s next. And after these goals I will find the next set of goals.

A great sense of satisfaction comes from accomplishing goals. But, this isn’t time to become complacent. To settle where we are. The is always more. There are always new ways we can grow and learn. Feel the satisfaction and then get back to work.