I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.
My last update was in April 2021, with a number of wins, and several misses.
I’ve been busy and tired since; took a vacation; worked in the hospital in July; and asked for another pay cut to reduce my hours after they crept up again to 100%.
With all that, how did I do with my goals over the past 3-4 months?
The Goals.
I am trying out a number of things I think I might like doing in retirement. My goal in practicing now is partly to see if I actually like them, and partly to work on enjoying myself now, rather than putting it all off until later.
As time goes on, I have added some tasks or activities that just need to get done.
Exercise.
My original goal was to get 150 minutes a week of exercise, with plans to ramp up my strength training. Over time, I decided I wanted to increase my exercise time; however, it became clear that I just can’t exercise as much during my weeks working in the hospital. Setting an unrealistic goal was a little demoralizing, so I set a two-tiered goal:
- When I am working in the hospital, my goal is to get 90 minutes of exercise a week. It’s not the recommended amount, but it is definitely a stretch for me.
- When I am working in the clinic only (and have weekends off), my goal is to get 210 minutes of exercise a week, of which at least 60 should be strength training. I choose to include yoga under the strength training category. If you worked with my teacher, you would understand why.
I pulled something pretty badly at the end of May, which kept me from meaningful exercise for at least a month. Also, though I worked with excellent interns this July, my hours were quite long as they did need more support than seasoned April and May interns.
In my 14 weeks since the last update, I met both parts of my exercise goals (time exercising and strength training) in just 3 weeks. I met or exceeded my time goals in another 4 weeks; so overall, I did well about half the time. Not great, but my injury kept me from getting much (any) exercise for about half the remaining time; suggesting that I really only blew it due to poor effort in 3 of the 14 weeks.
Yes, that last paragraph was all hand-waving.
In the coming months, I won’t be working in the hospital very much, leaving more time to exercise. As long as I don’t injure myself again, I think my goals are very reasonable. Though, a change in schedule means it will be harder to attend my Zoom yoga classes; I may have to reconsider my strength training goals. Stretching would be good for me, I will have to consider where I want to put this in my plans.
Connecting with friends and family.
I am not as good at staying connected with people as I wish, and I know that seeing friends and family makes me very happy. This section was a reminder to me to get out and spend time with people I love.
The pandemic has upended everything.
One bonus, though, is that internet has helped me be more consistent about socializing with friends. Every Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon, I log on to see my friends’ smiling and maskless faces. One year and 4 months into the pandemic, I am so grateful we decided to set up regular meetings.
In April, with vaccinations on the rise, I had hopes of meeting people in person. I didn’t want to be too ambitious, and hoped to average one in-person meeting per month.
I also thought maybe I would study MKSAP with my friend on the weekend (via video), enough to pass one or two subjects before CME expired on July 31.
How did I do?
Had B and T over for dinner over Memorial Day Weekend. What fun!
Saw my parents! Saw my brother and his children in person too!
Celebrated my MIL’s birthday by seeing her and my FIL for the first time in a long while. Saw the step son and my SIL as well around this occasion.
Saw V and her family, in from out of state!
Plus, I kept up with my Internet meetings (except while I was away).
By my count, that was at least 5 in-person events, exceeding my goal. Finally, something I did well!
MKSAP, however, was a total bust. (I am OK with that.)
Going forward, I am not sure that I can make goals for in-person socializing. Stories about the delta variant infecting vaccinated people, and concerns about the possible need for a booster, mean that I may need to stay home more often this fall. I hope not, we will see.
I think my goal will be to keep up with my weekend Zoom calls and regular phone calls to family. Any live socializing will be a bonus.
Let’s hear it for setting the bar low.
Local Adventures.
This goal was absolutely on hold until Mr. PiN was vaccinated, which he was in April.
As the Spring and Summer wore on, and cases dropped locally, I actually did something. In fact, several somethings!
A few weeks after Mr. PiN was fully vaccinated, we stopped at our local museum for a short visit. It was great to see art again, and interesting to see how pieces had been moved and reinterpreted since our last visit.
While Mr. PiN was out of town, I stopped on my solitary walk home from work to enjoy some free culture. Our local arts group had put up a stage, and I got to see about 20 minutes of dance performance before I got up from the lawn and finished my commute home.
And, then, we went on vacation! Beaches! National Parks! Old (for America) cities! Art museums! I don’t think we will equal this trip for quite some time.
Again, with the rise in cases, and the delta variant in particular, I am not sure if our local adventures will be advisable this fall. I will count anything we manage in this category as a plus.
Reading.
Reading fiction makes me very happy. When I don’t read for a while, it makes me very cranky.
I decline to set a goal for overall reading (X books in Y months) to avoid spoiling my reading time. But I do want to work on reading “worthy” books. I have been working on reading either classics or some of the high brow books my friends and family gift me.
My goal for this period was to finish The Age of Innocence and to start on another book–either a classic or one given to me by family.
I still haven’t finished The Age of Innocence. I did make progress while at the beach, but I preferred running around on the sand and dipping my toes in the freezing waters. Also, it is a bit denser and slower to go through than my usual page-turners (of which I have read quite a few during this time).
I am determined to finish that darned book before the end of the year. Possibly early enough time to try out something else from my TBR (to be read) pile.
Clear the Clutter.
One benefit of staying home (more) during the pandemic has been clearing out spaces that have been stuffed full of… stuff… for years.
My goal for the last quarter was flexible. I just wanted to finish any one of these projects:
- Clear out the linen closet.
- Clear out the guest closet downstairs.
- Give away/dispose of the remaining box of things to give away.
- Continue to off-load the books I culled months ago (they have been going to the local Little Free Libraries, but they need to migrate more quickly).
- Clear another shelf’s worth of books from my collection (25 books, or so) to make room for the ones that are being acquired.
At the last minute–inspired by finishing this post–I did give away the remaining grocery bag and a half of books that I culled in March 2020. Previously, I had off-loaded some books to the Little Free Libraries, and did give away a bulky item (not on my list above) via my Buy Nothing Group.
Going forward, I would like to knock off one more item (maybe two?) from that list. I am sure the list will grow, too.
Creative Activities.
I realize that although I listed more crafty/arty projects here, what I really wanted to do was use different, and maybe new, skills. Different from work, anyway.
I had three goals for this period:
- Finish a photo book for either 2018 or 2019.
- Continue knitting, or possibly restart quilting.
- Keep blogging.
I kept knitting, and blogging.
The baby blanket has kept me quiet and engaged through many a Zoom meeting. I realize I should measure this blanket, to get an idea of how much progress I have made: at the end of July it is 24 inches long. I think it ought to be 36 to 48 inches long, so I am at least half way done.
As for the blogging, I kept plugging, even when I could see that no one was really reading any of my posts. I was chuffed recently to have 3 posts featured by much bigger sites, which was a shot in the arm to keep going.
In thinking back on what I’ve done since the last update, I realize that picking up tennis again–though not really a “creative” project, hits a lot of the goals I associate with these projects: building skills and being able to look back and say “I did that.” I started out very rusty, and got to see progress as I kept practicing each week. I don’t think that I am skilled enough yet to play a game for fun–too many of my hits go to the wrong court–but I am excited to see that my racket hits the ball more often than not these days.
I feel pretty good about sticking with my goals; as long as there are remote meetings, I will have time to knit.
I will keep blogging a bit longer, which means I need to pay up soon to keep the site. I probably should also learn more about Word Press, because it is apparent I am behind on some important things.
I would very much like to get some of those photo books done.
I will keep playing tennis while the weather permits, barring another injury.
Maybe in 2022, if I can work on finding some extra time to strain the brain cells, I may even put a different skill-building exercise on this list. Practicing chess, or piano, come to mind; but tennis came in out of the blue, so we will see what actually happens.
Connecting with the community.
My goal for the fall was to attend on weekday religious service (via Zoom).
This was a big fat fail. I had more video visits on work from home days, and on the other days, I didn’t really want to get up super early.
I will keep this goal on my list, as the few times I managed it, I felt much better for a while. One service is the goal, if I manage more I will be thrilled.
As a reminder, volunteering (somewhere) was on the list before the pandemic started. If/when things calm down in my area, I should really work on moving forward with this as well.
Business goals.
I had very few financial goals for this time period: set up and fund my 2021 backdoor Roth IRA with a new provider. Get Mr. Pin’s backdoor Roth IRA invested, now that it has been funded.
There’s nothing like a deadline to get this going. I started the process of setting up my Roth as I was updating this post, and finished funding it on Friday. I just need to put the money in the market as soon as I am allowed, I think I can do it this week. We will see if I can persuade Mr. PiN to make some decisions in time for post publication.
Depending on what gets finished by Monday, goals for the rest of the year will be:
- Invest my 2021 Roth IRA money.
- Ensure Mr. PiN gets his Roth IRA in the market.
- Start (and fund!) a Donor Advised Fund.
TL;DR
In short, my goals are to:
- Keep exercising.
- Socialize weekly via Zoom, and try to add in-person events if this can be done safely.
- Finish The Age of Innocence and start (maybe finish) another “worthy” book.
- Clear out a closet or two. Or else find a way to give away the contents of my donate box.
- Keep blogging, keep knitting, and also fire up Shutterfly to make some (belated) year books.
- Attend services via Zoom at least once.
- Get Mr. PiN’s backdoor Roth invested.
- Study a lot of MKSAP.
I’ll plan to report in before the end of the year.
Do you have any big plans for the coming months? If so, how much do they depend on COVID activity declining?