Sunday, July 21, 2013

The Mid-Year EFF YEAH List

Summer is a rough time for me. Not because I hate summer - God, I love summer - but because where I work means my summer is full of 6 day work weeks and a few too many 12+ hour days. Spring? 5 day work weeks and a few 12+ hour days. Fall and winter - somewhat normal. But summer... Man. Summer is where I fell off the wagon with all my goals last year, but it won't be this year.
And I mean, yes, I *DO* realize that it's actually July 21 already. I'm a little behind posting review because I decided to do a bit of a retooling of some of my goals for the year, based on Nicole's pretty kickass mid year review and her 15-step goal-setting formula.

My goals for 2013 looked kind of like this:
The Future
  • Apply to grad school for Fall 2014. [Frankly decided that this is not going to happen. I want to spend a few years teaching English and saving money first.]
  • Take the GRE [Welp. Don't need to take this yet.]
  • Study French four times a week. [I FEEL ALL THE GUILT. This hasn't happened. It's my number two priority for the next six months though {#1 - new blog}.]
The Relationships
  • Visit everyone in my family and several friends [I've seen everyone on my mom's side and took a trip to see my BFF in Ohio, so half done! Now I just need to schedule trips to see my dad's side and go to Texas.]
  • Remember birthdays. [It took some struggling, but I've finally got a system in place that gets all my friends birthday cards somewhere in the week of their birthday. Let's be real - day of is just too tricky.]
  • Make time for phone calls/Skype. [This had to go on because my closest friends are spread across, you know, A CONTINENT (GOD YOU GUYS)... And it hasn't been going well. I try though. Thank God for texting.]
Health & Wellness
  • One "Spa Day" per quarter [1/4 I need to be better about this - I need at least a mani/pedi and to drink champagne at noon once this month.]
  • Yoga three times a week [I was really good about this until May... And now I can't remember the last time I rolled out my mat.]
  • Build meditation into my life [Yoga was helping this, but when the yoga stopped the meditating stopped. I also find that thinking of meditation AS meditation infuriates me. Am I the only one?]
Explore! [This is my favorite bucket, and along with relationships is the one that's definitely getting done.]
  • Leave DC once a month [6/12 -- California, sailing in the bay, Ohio, Vegas, Rehoboth Beach. I need to figure out where I'm visiting in July still. Suggestions?]
  • Make a schedule of museums/exhibits in DC and hit them all [I literally didn't realize what a huge task this would be. I've started this list, but it keeps growing. And my time to see this exhibits keeps dwindling. I've been to a few favorites though!]
  • Save $150/month to start traveling. [Not a huge number, but living in one of the most expensive cities, it's what I can spare. It's going... okay. Expenses came up, life happened.]
Creativity
  • Start a Dancers Photo Project [On hold. Mostly a time issue, and a lack of clarity on what I really want the project to look like.]
  • Read 2 books a month [?/12 Have completely lost track of how many books I've read when... but I'd guess I've read at least 8 this year, which is close to 12.]
Writing
  • Make writing a habit. [I did okay with this for a while, but I haven't found a way to reconcile my work schedule that can have me working until midnight one night then back up at 6:30 am the next day with any sort of timed habit, like writing.]
  • Submit to 10 lit mags. [Nope. I haven't even found a lit mag I'd like to submit to. Haven't written anything to submit to it if I did!]
  • Start a Writers' Blog. [Actually did! Then decided I wasn't a fan of the idea anymore, didn't have time to dedicate to it, and scrapped it before I really even announced it. This is how life goes.]
Miscellaneous 
  • Spell 'miscellaneous' correctly on the first try without thinking about it. [I actually just added this to the list but FUCK I'm proud I just did that.]
  • Start my new blog. [This is in the works. Finishing up the header after this, actually. GOAL SMASH.]
  • Barista Certification [This is something that will happen in October.]'
Over all, I feel pretty good about the past six months.  Did I get everything done? Obviously not. Are my upcoming goals the same as the past six months'? Nope. I got in touch with a lot of Things I Actually Want instead of Things I Just Think I Want, which is really the best thing that could have happened. So here's to the second half of 2013. Ready, GO.

2 comments:

  1. Isn't it funny how much our goals change as the year progresses? Mine are totally different now, although yoga & meditation are still two of my main goals as well. Also, Texas you say? :)
    xx Abby

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! Texas! My family is in DFW. Where in Texas are you, Abby? :)

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