Thursday, July 28, 2011

My 2011 Goals --- 7 months later

At the beginning of the year, I did a post about what my personal goals were for 2011.  It's nice to feel like I've made some progress --- yay!  I'm hopeful that the rest of the year will be productive and successful too.  In italics below are my original goals I set back in January.  Below each goal I wrote in the progress I've made thus far.

Healthy - I am managing my illness.  I am planning healthy meals and snacks for my family.  I am exercising at least 3 days per week.  We just bought a 3 month membership at the local rec center so I'm planning on taking the kids 2 days a week to swim (one of those times is for their swim lesson and once for just fun).  I'd like to make it over one other time on my own before they get up in the morning.  I have an appointment with the trainer on 1/10 to come up with a realistic workout that accommodates my knee injury.

I think I've taken the greatest strides in terms of my goal to be healthy.  So far in 2011, I've only had one episode associated with my illness and that was back in March.  I've just recently gone off of my meds after my insurance started considering them a "non-preferred drug" (What the heck?  Who wants to pay $50 for 30 pills that we're not even sure are working?) We're doing well in the healthy meal and snack department (but couldn't we always do a little better?), and I've been consistently weight lifting and doing cardio 2-3 days a week with my workout partner Colleen since the beginning of February.  Colleen has been the key to that one though.  If she wasn't going to the gym, I don't think I would be going so thanks Colleen!  I've been taking the kids to the pool once or twice a week, and Red has made some amazing progress with her swim lessons.  She can do the crawl now!  What a difference from last summer when she wouldn't even put her face in the water!

Happy - My husband and I are close and are going on a couple of date nights per month.  I am planning time each month to spend with friends.  I am spending less time on the computer and watching TV and more time living my life.  I'd like limit recreational computer time to 30 minutes (with allowing extra time for listing things on eBay or doing household related items) and limit TV time during the week to 1 hour per day.
This goal I'm still working on.  The Cobbler and I are going out once or twice a month which has been great.  Granted, we're not doing anything major (we usually end up browsing at Barnes and Noble or TJMaxx), but we're talking and spending time away from the kids which is always good.  My TV time has gone way down, but my computer time is still about the same.  I need to work on reducing that more...

Getting to know God - I am spending time daily in study, prayer, and meditation.  I am committing one hour per week to a cause I am passionate about.  I will find a church situation with which I can be content.  I will continue to teach Sunday School and write for the prison ministry.  I will commit myself to listening for God's voice in my daily life.  I will plan family devotions.

This goal is probably where I'm doing the worst.  I've had a crisis of faith of sorts this year (i.e. I'm not really sure if there is a "right" belief system anymore) so I've been reading a lot and trying to work my way through that.  I guess that I have been spending time working on my faith and trying to figure out what it all means, but it feels kind of weird not having a specific direction.  I have not found a cause to work on, I've decided my church situation is fine for now, and I have not done anything about family devotions.
Some things I have done right in this area are teach Sunday School and write for the prison ministry.  Baby steps...

A good example for my children - I want to feel like my kids would be great adults if they modeled my behavior; therefore, I need to think more before I act or open my mouth.  Continue to teach them and read to them.  I want to give them opportunities to try new things and have new experiences without being pushy.  I want to give my children equal individual attention.

This goal isn't very tangible, but I'm feeling good about how it's going overall.  I'm obviously a work in progress so I'm not perfect.  I am, however, trying to put my best foot forward with the kids.  We've read a lot, we've done a lot of fun projects, and we've enjoyed our time together.  Okay, I guess I can say we're doing well in this area.

Pursuing a personal goal - I want to establish a meaningful goal so at the end of the year I can celebrate a tangible achievement.  Some ideas are pursuing publication for my children's book, getting family scrapbooks up to date, and starting a trip fund so we can go on a big vacation in 2012.  I'd also like to finish the quilt I started for my nephew's birthday 2 years ago.  Unfinished projects be gone!

I think the real gist of this goal was for me to get a sense of completion on something.  I had (and still have) so many unfinished projects lying about that it was making me angry and stressed out.  I've made lots of good progress.  The aforementioned quilt for my nephew is done, I'm nearly done with a quilt for Tom Thumb, and I have one in progress for Red.  I just finished a digital album of our 2008 photos (yes---I am that far behind!).  One step at a time!

I'm looking forward to revisiting this at the end of the year and seeing where I wind up.  What are your goals for 2011?  How are they coming?

1 comment:

Eddie said...

It looks to me like you've managed to stick with almost every goal! That's pretty impressive.

I didn't even make any this year, because I lean towards to new-diary approach: Write enthusiastically in it for the first day and resolve to record all thoughts....and then find it the next year while I am attempting to follow the resolution of cleaning out the closets regularly.