Future Me, January 2022

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours, 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 August 2021, with a number of wins, and several misses.

I had plenty of non-hospital months since then, which should have meant that I could hit most of my goals; however, between parental hospitalizations and a death in the family, my time was definitely not my own.

With all that, how did I do with my goals over the past 5 months?

Exercise

Perhaps not explicitly stated in the past: I want to keep my body healthy. So I can enjoy now, and when I am older. How am I going to back pack around Europe if I can’t walk or carry anything?

My original goal was to get 150 minutes a week of exercise, with plans to ramp up my strength training (see: CDC guidelines for exercise). 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.

How did I do?

Quite poorly, in fact.

I only once met my strength training goals since I stopped yoga classes in June. Hmm.

I did meet my time goals in 9 of 23 weeks. This is pretty sad, especially considering that I wasn’t working much in the hospital.

To be fair, I was dealing with a weak hip (my gluteus medius, I think) since the summer, which really did cut into my ability to exercise.

I think it may be time to adjust my goals.

At least for the winter, a more workable goal would be to aim for 150 minutes a week for clinic weeks and 90 minutes when working in the hospital. Especially since my hip is still bothering me if I walk too far.

More importantly, since I have physical therapy exercises to do, but I am not actually doing them, I will incorporate them into my goals. The plan will be to do PT (at home) at least 3 times a week (more is better, of course). I hope know that if I do that, I will be in much better shape to increase my exercise once it’s warm enough to be outdoors more.

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.
• Clear another shelf’s worth of books from my collection (25 books, or so) to make room for the ones that are being acquired.

Remaining box of things to give away: gone! Mr. PiN disposed of it for me at a Goodwill (it feels like cheating, but he wanted the car).

For 2022, I am adding a big goal here: I want to clear away my desk in the living room, and replace it with… a piano!

Clearing out the items on top of the desk, below the desk, and in the desk drawers seems feasible, but I suspect it will take some time. I would like to get this done by Spring, which is a good time to give away furniture and bring a heavy but delicate item into the house.

If I clear out any closets or my bookshelves, this will be a bonus.

Connecting with friends and family

I know that seeing friends and family makes me very happy; it is actually good for one’s health, too. This section was a reminder to me to get out and spend time with people I love.

My goal in August was pretty low: keep up with my weekend Zoom calls and regular phone calls to family. Any live socializing was to be a bonus.

How did I do?

Visited with C outside on the patio.

Mr. PiN and I went to N and D’s house for dinner . We spent 3 hours eating and gabbing.

Saw my parents for a weekend, very exciting.

Three weekends in a row I walked with B in a park we don’t usually go to. This was a triple play: exploring the city, and exercising, and socializing.

Also, before her mom’s health went downhill, I went out to dinner with my sister-in-law at the beginning of her long visit, and had her over for dinner (while she was staying in a hotel). Once she moved in, I am not sure I would count time spent with her as visiting, exactly.

By my count, this was 2 meals out, 2 meals hosting at home, one patio guest, and 3 walks with friends. Over a period of 5 months, this is more than one event per month, so not bad.

I also did manage to send out holiday cards before December 31, which is my yearly goal. Hooray for me!

With the Omicron variant sweeping through town, plus Delta not clearly gone, I am not sure how much socializing I am comfortable doing these days.

I might keep my goals simple: weekend Zoom meetings and calling family. Everything else is still a bonus.

Local Adventures

We had a golden spring, with new vaccinations and falling cases. Nationwide, cases hit a nadir around July 4, and life seemed almost back to normal in many ways.

By fall, with a rise in cases again, and the delta variant followed by omicron, we have been staying closer to home. I do not want to be sent home from work or, worse yet, find out I infected some of my more vulnerable patients. I decided that anything managed here would be a plus.

I can count our tennis trips (to other parts of town) as local adventures. They weren’t quite what I had in mind, but the trips did get me out of my rut.

The road race that runs through my neighborhood was on again this year, so I came out and clapped for a while. Though I admit I was wondering how safe it was with a couple hundred runners exhaling vigorously so close by.

Explored the far away park with B (see above).

Going forward, I have a feeling that I probably shouldn’t be out and about while Omicron is peaking. Though there is a local exhibit that goes through the end of the month I would very much like to see. I will have to think on that.

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.

Done! It was a little tough to follow since I kept putting it down for weeks at a time, but I still had plenty to chew over once I got to the end.

I am not sure if I want to put another goal out here. The last few months have been difficult for me, and I am not sure if I have the mental fortitude right now to read very challenging books. If I do finish one, I will call it a win. Stay tuned, but don’t hold your breath.

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:

1. Finish a photo book for any of the following years: 2018, 2019, 2020.
2. Continue knitting, or possibly restart quilting.
3. Keep blogging.

I kept knitting, and blogging.

The baby blanket has kept me quiet and engaged through many a Zoom meeting. At the end of December it is 34 inches long, up from 24 inches (so, I am adding about 2 inches per month). I think it ought to be 36 to 48 inches long, so I am getting closer to being done.

I feel pretty confident I will keep knitting and blogging, at this point. Making an effort to put together a photo book would, I think, make me feel I accomplished something.

I took a look back at my initial post from 3 years ago, and see that I left off a number of items I didn’t think I would have time for. It might be time to think about tackling another item off the old list. I might think about photography classes in the near future; one of my holiday presents was a year’s subscription to Masterclass. We will see.

Connecting with the community

My goal for the fall was to attend on weekday religious service (via Zoom).

This was a big fat fail, again. I know I feel better when I go, but clearly I have some issues with prioritizing this.

I will keep this goal on my list; I think managing this will be more of a bonus than an expectation.

Financial tasks

I had very few financial goals for this time period: make sure that my Roth IRA and Mr. PiN’s Roth IRA actually get invested, and to start a donor advised fund.

All three goals were met! I think this is the only category with a 100% win.

I will try to make the goals for the coming months equally winnable: to once again put money in our backdoor Roths (as long as it is still legal), and to get that money invested. [This is somewhat easy, as I have the money for the funds already put aside.]

TL;DR

In short, my goals are to:

• Do my PT exercises, and try to meet my adjusted (easier, more realistic) exercise goals.
• Clear my desk, to make room for a piano (so excited about this plan!!!)
• Socialize weekly via Zoom; in-person events are a maybe until we see what COVID is doing next. Leaving my limited routine (home-work-neighborhood walk) also depends on COVID activity.
• Read books that I enjoy to maintain my sanity. If that includes reading classics or books that were given, that will be a bonus.
• Keep blogging, keep knitting, and also fire up Shutterfly to make some photo books. Possibly learning more about photography techniques.
• Attend services via Zoom at least once.
• Arrange his-and-hers backdoor Roths for 2022 (if still allowed).

Do you have any big or little plans for the coming months? If so, how much do they depend on COVID activity declining?