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 January 2022; it is clear to me that waiting 6 months between updates means that I don’t do as much to meet my goals. (I was definitely one of those students staying up late to meet my deadlines.)
So, what progress did I make over the past 6 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 goals have changed over the years. The 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. So I set a two-tiered goal, of 90 minutes a week when working in the hospital; 150 minutes a week (including 60 minutes of strength training).
Once I stopped attending my weekly yoga class, that just didn’t pan out. And I kept getting injuries. So at the beginning of the year, I cut back a little and added a PT goal:
- For non-hospital weeks: 150 minutes exercise, 60 minutes strength training, 3 sessions per week of PT.
- For hospital weeks: 90 minutes of exercise, including 3 sessions per week of PT.
Did I do any better with easier goals?
Not really.
Out of the past 24 weeks, I met my time goals for 8 of them. A 33% success rate.
I never hit 60 minutes of strength training.
As for my PT exercises, I did keep up for the first 2 months, then petered out. This is actually not so bad, as I did feel better, and doing it for about 3 months was actually my plan.
Lessons learned:
- I need to update this more frequently (it prompts me to actually work on my goals).
- I exercise more when on vacation and if I have a live lesson. I would prefer to go on vacation more often, but may have to settle for lessons/coaching.
- I could tell the difference in my fitness this spring, after months of missing my goals.
Going forward, I think I will keep my time goals (150 minutes/90 minutes), and work on getting more than 30 minutes most weeks of strength training. I am still figuring out how to get this done, but just making it a priority should help.
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.
- Clear another shelf’s worth of books from my collection (25 books, or so) to make room for the ones that are being acquired.
- Clear my desk to make room for a piano.
How did I do?
Mr. PiN and I did clear out one guest closet, and promptly used it for other items (toilet paper and vacuum cleaner storage). I do feel better about that space, though it would no doubt work better for us with some additions (wall hooks, shelves, etc.)
I also started clearing out a number of items on top of my desk, and made inroads on the vast pile of unread journals. (I know, I should just throw them out; but I always worry about missing something good.)
Going forward, I would be happy to make progress on one or two more of these items by the end of the summer.
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.
With Omicron going around in December and January, I was fine with just keeping up with my weekend Zoom calls and calling family on the weekends. Anything else was a bonus.
How did I do?
I kept up with Zoom calls nearly every week. (We all agreed to cancel on Easter Sunday.)
We had dinner and N and D’s house again, and had the step-son over for dinner at least once. My sister-in-law stayed with us twice. And we visited with my parents on vacation.
Going forward, especially with summer weather coming, I suppose it would be good to plan on seeing more people in person. Probably planning a minimum of once a month would be fair, with a stretch goal of twice a month. Or just trying to see non-family members once a month. (I feel very hermit-like. Hopefully that will pass as the summer goes on.)
Local Adventures
At the beginning of the year, Omicron was spreading like wildfire and our hospitals were (over) filled. I did not make plans to do anything.
And I didn’t, hardly.
I was very sad to miss a local exhibit I had been looking forward to seeing.
Months later, I did visit our local museum, and was wigged out by the number of visiting school children who were not masked.
I am torn between worrying about developing a phobia about going out, and being careful not to catch COVID and spread it at work.
I see a lot of issues with going out this summer, but maybe setting a goal of attending 1 or 2 events (or sights) would be good for me.
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 Americanah and to start on another book–either a classic or one given to me by family.
I made progress, but haven’t finished any of my more challenging books. There’s always next check-in.
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 any of the following years: 2018, 2019, 2020.
- Continue knitting, or possibly restart quilting.
- Keep blogging.
I kept knitting, and blogging, though the blogging definitely slowed down this spring.
The baby blanket is basically finished, I just need to weave in the ends.
It’s been a few months since I (mostly) finished the blanket, and find myself antsy during video meetings. It’s clearly time for me to start another project. I’m thinking a scarf would be good (I could finish in time for winter, maybe).
I should also use my gifted subscription to Masterclass. We will see what I end up choosing.
Connecting with the community
With COVID running around, I didn’t really want to connect with anyone (live).
I suppose there are other communities–blogging, Buy Nothing–but somehow they don’t seem to satisfy what I was looking for when I listed this.
I may take this off the list until I feel better about meeting strangers in person again.
Financial tasks
I had very few financial goals for this time period: to once again put money in our backdoor Roths, and to get that money invested.
The money was put in the Roths, I think none of it was properly invested. Given the drop in the stock market, that might actually be a good thing. But I should address that before the next check in.
TL;DR
In short, my updated goals are to:
- Figure out ways to meet my exercise goals (that might mean paying for lessons that I won’t skip).
- Tidy up more, socialize weekly via Zoom, pick a new knitting project and watch lessons on Masterclass.
- Finish at least one challenging book. And read fun stuff so I am less cranky.
- Work on getting out; COVID has not been good for my psyche.
- Get the 2022 Roth fund invested.
Do you have any big or little plans for the coming months? If so, how much do they depend on COVID activity?