Goals

Random though the beginning of a new year is, it’s a convenient time for new beginnings.

So here we are—da da da dum!—My goals for 2008. These are my personal goals, and are rather inwardly focused this year (and yes, I have included a cliched exercise goal here). I’m hoping, as a mom, that the residual effects of these practices will be good for my family as well. Sort of like putting on my own oxygen mask in an airplane depressurization before I assist those around me.

1. To write every day. Blog, free-write, handwritten letters, story planning. Something written. I’ve decided not to count email, unless it’s a post of significant length. This mainly because I want to have substantive writing each day.

2. To do some combination of running, walking, or yoga every day. The meta-goal here is fitness. Short term goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes four times a week (I’m building up to that over eleven weeks). The long term goal is going to be distance running. Perhaps a marathon next year?

3. To get enough sleep. To be in the bed for seven to eight hours every night. In many ways, this is the toughest one for me. I like staying up late. I like talking with my partner, chatting with friends, reading, knitting, sometimes watching a movie. In the quiet house. The one where the children are all sleeping. So it is very easy for me to stay up to midnight. This is not so good when I have to get up at six or six-thirty to get a child off to school. It’s also not so good for the influence it has on my partner, who regularly gets up at five. So (deep breath) I’m going to try to be in bed by 10:30 on school nights and 11:30 on other nights. This is the goal I have the most doubt about, honestly. I’m laughing at it right now.

Wish me luck.

How about you? Any goals you want to share?

Comments

[astraea126]

Those are good goals! Kudos to you on the running thing. I wish my knees would tolerate such a goal. :)

A few of mine:

1. Do some more-than-usual fitness activity 2-3x/week, for at least 45 min. each time. (Corollary 1: make certain one of those times is a yoga class. Corollary 2: make certain one of those times involves weights.)

2. Focus more on the positives, each day. Because of your #3 challenge (getting enough sleep) and work stress, I get beat down and thus more negative. I felt like a little stormcloud most of 2006 & 2007. I am going to try to be more positive; it's a return to the "old me."

3. Listen more. I've gotten into a nasty habit (from attending and participating in too many "old boy" meetings) of talking over people or interrupting sometimes. Just...yuck.

4. Don't be afraid to love. I never used to be, but after this year, I feel a little gun-shy. If you never risk though, you never gain.

Miss you!

xo
Cass

[eglentyne]

Positive is good. Fit is good. Listening is good (well, effectively communicating, in general, is good). Love is really really good.

How about instead of the "old you," consider the "fresh you," with all of the nuances of meaning you can pile on there. ;) "Old" sounds, you know, old, and rhymes with mold, and in our humid climates we just don't want to go there. :D

Let's be fresh, and re-a"firm" our spirits and our bodies, and be open to whatever we might encounter this year. Whaddya say? *smooch*

D

PS It is still unclear whether my creaky knees will tolerate the running thing. And you might have noticed over the years that I'm not exactly the most athletic girl on the planet, which makes this an adventure of a different sort for me. I prefer to think of my heretofore lack of athleticism as lack of encouragement and opportunity in my youth. And now that I am supposedly a grown-up, it is my own responsibility to make my own opportunities. So here goes. As you say, Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :)