Goals Update - October 2020

                Seeing as I have missed the past two weeks of blogging, this is a good time to review my goals. Things have certainly been busy. I work full time teaching hours and then an evening part time job. My hours there may be going up as well. That leaves me with no time during the week to do many personal things. Also, I just want to relax.

               Last weekend, I decided to relax and take the pressure off. I don’t HAVE to do everything during the week. It’s OKAY if I want to sit back and watch Grey’s Anatomy with my family instead of sitting down to write book reviews. Instead, I’ll use my weekends for personal things that don’t have deadlines.

               It’s all part of readjusting and finding time for my goals. I know what is important to me, but rest is just as important as everything else. I believe this reframing has allowed me to be way more successful in the smaller parts of my life. Proof is below.

Bedtime

               I have had to reimagine what this looks like so many times, but I can say that I have been successful at it. Sometimes, it’s not possible to get to my 10:30 bedtime. As long as I do the rest of my routine, I consider my bedtime a success. The big part of this is that I am a lot more conscious about when it is time to switch off and get ready for bed. It’s a mental process for me that starts at 9:00. I have to have the full hour and half in order to sleep better. Overall, my sleep has improved as a result.

Movement

               This is my latest goal! I am on day three. As I said before, I don’t have a lot of time in the week. It has been my excuse forever that I don’t have enough time. However, doing a 15-minute walk is better than doing nothing. I’ll do what I can, when I can. The truth is, I’m really finding myself missing the walk to and from school that I did for the past two years. They were excellent mental resets, and I want to bring that back into my life. I feel good about this goal because I’ve readjusted the expectations of it.

Next Steps

               I was so into Duolingo for a while, but I haven’t been focused on it at all lately. I really want to get back into it just because my Nonna loves it when I can pick out certain words in the conversation she has with my dad. I really do want to be at least conversational in Italian at some point in my life. Before I dropped off, I was actually doing pretty well! I can see myself doing it as soon as I come home accompanied by my after-work tea and snack.

Successes

I have officially meditated and journaled for 42 days in a row. Sometimes, I have the time to sit down and do a 10-minute meditation course or a full journal entry and sometimes, I do a one minutes winddown and quick paragraph in my journal. Either way, I have been massively successful at both. I have reaped the benefits of having this as part of my regular routine.

I’m rather proud of myself. This has very much become an exercise in changing what I expect in myself. I think I held myself to a standard that was so high that I set myself up for failure every time. Taking it one step at a time and then reflecting on what goes wrong has allowed me to think ahead and anticipate excuses I will have for myself. I feel strongly about the point I’m at right now.

What have you been working on lately?

-Daniella