This year I decided to make a new goal set: Every day this year (aside from possibly during sickness, vacations, etc.) I will complete one goal from each of five categories: Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Social and Creative. Why five categories? Because I remember someone, long ago, describing your life as a table with legs - strengthen one area while neglecting the others, and everything slides off of your table. I am a person who gets SUPER overly-focused on one thing, ignores all of the others, and life kinda falls apart. I'm hoping this system will prevent that - even if each "leg" only gets 5 minutes of attention, that leg won't die? (Using this analogy, I have 5 legs, and gangrene in at least one. This is a bit disturbing!)
So what are my goals for January:
Spiritual - Read my Bible every night
Physical - Exercise each day to strengthen my core (even if it is literally one exercise, done once.)
Mental - Watch one ASL lesson per day
Social - Log on to Interpals each day
Creative - Sew each day (even if it is just one stitch.)
Why did I chose these?
I chose sewing because I always look at sewing as a task that requires SOOOO much time and focus - if I'm going to sew I wait to have a long block of time (like, a vacation.) It really isn't that deep though, so I'm hoping this will help me see sewing as more attainable on days when I don't have 6 hours of time blocked off.
I chose my physical goal because I heard that if your core muscles are weak, it completely screws up everything. I know this month I will be short on time (scary court hearings coming up) and motivation (snow and cold and yuckiness get to me.) so I thought some exercises I can do here and there between tasks would be perfect!
I chose my social goal because I know that if I log on to Interpals, the penpal replies I have will rope me in and the next thing you know, I'll have replied to all my pals! I feel like this is a bit of a cop-out, because the social area of my real life is consistently neglected and by far the most likely to fall apart - but I just don't feel like I have it in me to do a goal that requires more of me this month. This area is such a struggle for me - an area where I have absolutely no confidence, and always feel like I'm inadequate. So this month I will start with something fun, and next month maybe I will move on to something with the real people in my life - intimacy with my husband, keeping connected with old friends, communicating with one family member per day, etc. Right now though the thought of any of those makes me so anxious I feel physically sick.
I chose my mental goal because I really would like to take my ASL 2 class again, for the 3rd time, and finish it feeling like I'm ready to ASL 3. I've tried watching an ASL video each day for the past 2 months, and invested a lot of time and energy with literally no gains. My vocabulary level is so low that I can't actually get anything out of the videos yet, so I am just spinning my wheels and getting frustrated. I'm hoping that if I go back to the basic videos, I will be be learning more words in the same amount of time each day.
Spiritual... I honestly struggled with this goal more than the rest. Why? Because I wanted it to be something reasonable, attainable, and daily - not "pray until I feel right with God" (that could take five minutes or hours,and I might not have hours that day!) or "go to every church service available" (that's not daily.) or even "read a devotion each morning." (Sometimes I wake up late, or the cat vomits on the throw rug, or I completely forget a morning appointment, or....) I'm not really feeling like I got that goal "right" but I have 30 days to figure out a new goal, so... whatever.
So what are my goals for January:
Spiritual - Read my Bible every night
Physical - Exercise each day to strengthen my core (even if it is literally one exercise, done once.)
Mental - Watch one ASL lesson per day
Social - Log on to Interpals each day
Creative - Sew each day (even if it is just one stitch.)
Why did I chose these?
I chose sewing because I always look at sewing as a task that requires SOOOO much time and focus - if I'm going to sew I wait to have a long block of time (like, a vacation.) It really isn't that deep though, so I'm hoping this will help me see sewing as more attainable on days when I don't have 6 hours of time blocked off.
I chose my physical goal because I heard that if your core muscles are weak, it completely screws up everything. I know this month I will be short on time (scary court hearings coming up) and motivation (snow and cold and yuckiness get to me.) so I thought some exercises I can do here and there between tasks would be perfect!
I chose my social goal because I know that if I log on to Interpals, the penpal replies I have will rope me in and the next thing you know, I'll have replied to all my pals! I feel like this is a bit of a cop-out, because the social area of my real life is consistently neglected and by far the most likely to fall apart - but I just don't feel like I have it in me to do a goal that requires more of me this month. This area is such a struggle for me - an area where I have absolutely no confidence, and always feel like I'm inadequate. So this month I will start with something fun, and next month maybe I will move on to something with the real people in my life - intimacy with my husband, keeping connected with old friends, communicating with one family member per day, etc. Right now though the thought of any of those makes me so anxious I feel physically sick.
I chose my mental goal because I really would like to take my ASL 2 class again, for the 3rd time, and finish it feeling like I'm ready to ASL 3. I've tried watching an ASL video each day for the past 2 months, and invested a lot of time and energy with literally no gains. My vocabulary level is so low that I can't actually get anything out of the videos yet, so I am just spinning my wheels and getting frustrated. I'm hoping that if I go back to the basic videos, I will be be learning more words in the same amount of time each day.
Spiritual... I honestly struggled with this goal more than the rest. Why? Because I wanted it to be something reasonable, attainable, and daily - not "pray until I feel right with God" (that could take five minutes or hours,and I might not have hours that day!) or "go to every church service available" (that's not daily.) or even "read a devotion each morning." (Sometimes I wake up late, or the cat vomits on the throw rug, or I completely forget a morning appointment, or....) I'm not really feeling like I got that goal "right" but I have 30 days to figure out a new goal, so... whatever.
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