SixEight Life

Goals- May and June

Photo Credit: Jenny Poole (creative commons)

Well, two months have come and gone. Since I was such a slacker in May with blogging, I decided to combine May and June and report on them together. As usual, some goals are going well, some okay, and some…not so well. But I’m trying and I’m holding myself accountable. I’m proud of myself for making it this far, yearly goals have always been a struggle for me and I’m still going strong halfway through the year. Here’s the report.

1. Run a Half Marathon – May and June were pretty awesome months for this goal. I managed to average at least two runs per week and have increased my yoga frequency. Gearing up to start increasing my distance and speed.

2. Innovation as a professional every month – So, May and June weren’t really the best months for innovation. Summer seems to be quiet in the fields I’m involved in, so there hasn’t been a whole lot to do. And honestly, I really thought I’d be in a different place during these two months, so that’s been a challenge. I did, however, get some great volunteer work in and had some great times of networking and brainstorming. And I have an interesting addendum to add to this goal for July.

3. Read 24 books:  May and June were pretty great for this goal. I read two books in May: Why Can’t We All Get Along by my friend Shelley Hendrix (see the review here) and Tribes by Seth Godin. I read three books in June: Seven by Jen Hatmaker (life changing, wow, so good), Every Woman’s Marriage by Shannon Ethridge (good, I had some good takeaways. Not earth-shattering), and Captive in Iran by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadah (so very good, highly recommend it). I’m at 13 books so far this year, over halfway to the goal.

4. Get Biscuit certified as a therapy dog Still putting this off for budgeting purposes. Hopefully the late summer/early fall will result in Biscuit taking the needed training class. Finances are really holding us back, so if anyone knows a dog trainer who would like to work pro-bono let me know! Biscuit needs to get trained before he can take the test to be certified.

5. Encourage two people a month with a handwritten note   I sorta accomplished this goal…. most of the notes written were thank you notes, which can encourage, but it’s a stretch. I’ve been thinking about this goal lately. Why have I struggled with it so much? I think because this is well outside of my comfort zone and it’s just not something we do very often nowadays. But, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t do it. I’m trying to do better in July.

6. Write 60 blog posts Two Posts were written in May, and four in June. This brings the total to 31 so far this year which is just over halfway to my goal. I’m happy with that, even though I feel like I should be writing more.

7. Get to know people who different from me  I think it’s outside of my comfort zone, much like the letters. I also find myself thinking too much on the perfect opportunity and not enough time just doing it. However, I have found that I’m developing closer relationships with my neighbors, which is pretty cool. That’s not how I envisioned this goal so I still have plans to step outside myself for this one, but I’m thankful for the ministry of community.

8. Enter into a mentoring relationship Had some great meetings and conversations with older, wiser women in May and June. It was encouraging and empowering. I love this goal. I’m still praying that God would bring an older couple into me and Brent’s lives to mentor us.

9. Pay the car off – This goal is the only one that I am now finding a bit discouraging. I just don’t know how it will feasibly happen. Finances are tough and sometimes with random expenses or a lack of income, it’s out of your control. Praying that God will continuously show me that I need to rely on HIM and not my financial plan.

10. Increase my political activity- first name basis with elected officials – Check this one off, even though I will continue to cultivate relationships. Our bill got signed into law in May, which was exciting!

11. Publish a professional article (or at least write one)– Picking this one back up, my research/writing partner and I have discussed it and we’re going to get back at it soon.

12. Memorize the book of Philippians – I think I’m afraid of failing at this one so I’m not really trying that hard. I need to just enjoy relishing in God’s word and meditating on it, and not focus as much on messing up the memorization. Committing to spending at least a few minutes every day in Philippians in July (hold me to it!)

13. Love my husband in a new way every month – Parts of May and June run together, but two things stand out. One: I cared for him. Brent experienced some intense back pain that resulted in me carrying the full load in our home for several weeks. It felt like one of those ‘worse’ and ‘sickness’ times you say in your vows. But, I felt a closeness in caring for him. The other one is simple and much more light hearted. You see, we have a Chickfila Cow Calendar. June’s coupon was for a milkshake. There was a discussion about who got to use the coupon because we wanted different flavors. Later, I used part of my ‘allowance’ money and surprised him by getting us both shakes. It was a small gesture but he enjoyed it.

So there you have it, two more months done. I think scheduling is my word for this next month. I have the time, I just need to make the schedule. I’ve done pretty good with scheduling times to run and other goals, and have turned the TV off to read and write more, I just need to schedule time for some of the less time intensive goals, like note writing and memorization. It will take me mere minutes to write a note, but I think I need to schedule that time so I really stick with it.

So how are your resolutions/commitments/goals going now that we’re halfway done with 2013? Any lessons you’ve learned that you’d like to share? Do you do scripture memorization as a habit? How do you stick with it?