2011 Goals Check-Up: March

Photo by Jo Pearse

I don't feel like I'm quite ready to be home yet. I just returned from a week in Cuba celebrating the wedding of friends, (yes, this was our "weekend" with no commitments for April) and I guiltlessly slept in, ate, drank (but not to "Pub Golf" levels), lazed around in the sun shade (but I still have a bit of a tan) and read a bit about parenteral nutrition for good measure. Fortunately for me I didn't have to go into work until tomorrow, so I had a couple days to recover from a less-than-optimal flight home (7 hour layover overnight in Toronto, yeesh!) ...and do my taxes.

Perhaps a little more sleep, then I think I'm ready for real life, which should consist of...

7.5 hours of sleep per night - Towards the end of March, B. and I resolved to call each other at 10 PM to remind the other person to go to bed. The first call failed miserably - at 1:42 AM I texted "Finally in bed. Good night!" and the reply I got was "Me too :( Just turned lights out". Our results improved slightly over time, but we never got to bed before 11 (...for 6:30 AM wake-up, so I guess I achieved my goal somewhat?)

Drink as much fluid necessary to have clear pee - I find it easier to try to force myself to drink at least 1 L of water a day (I know, I know, some of you out there drink 4 L... I'm not very good at this!) just so I have some sort of a benchmark... I don't always achieve it, but I do have clear pee for the most part. But it's probably better to change this goal to Drink at least 1 L (one water bottle) of water per day and hopefully increase it back to last year's goal of 48 oz once I get better at it.

Continue increasing number of blog posts per year - I wrote nine posts in March 2011 vs. seven in 2010, but I'm still far behind the year-to-date count.

Read at least 12 books this year - I finally finished The End of Overeatingwhile in Cuba. It was a little clunky to read, but Dr. Kessler does make some good points toward the end. Full review to come soon. My next book will probably be related to socialmediafor my work, but part of me is yearning for some fiction. Why isn't The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nestout in paperback yet? What have you been reading lately?

Win a kickboxing/Muay Thai fight - I gained 2 lb in Cuba, which isn't too much, but I still feel lazy and out of shape and seriously need to kick my training up several notches if I want to fight within the next few months (my trainer says possibly as soon as a month from now...)

Cook at least one recipe from every cookbook I own - I recently realized that B. and I haven't cooked together in a while. That makes me sad.

Put my savings/RRSP somewhere where I can make more money - On hold until I know how much I'm allowed to contribute this year. The Calgary Herald published a good (to a savings n00b like me) article on investing. I like the idea of setting goals for the money, and I know those have definitely changed for me within the past year.

Create more/Participate in another creative/reflective project this year - I am still loving the #reverb11 monthly prompts and resources. Honestly, if you need just a little nudge, plus some reading (and videos and audios) to keep those creative vibes flowing, you should sign up for their mailing list! April's prompt is simple - "What's blossoming?" I'm envisioning a colourful collage with flower-shaped cutouts of things that are happening in my life and in the world. *sigh* I still have my annual horoscope that I clipped in January that I've been meaning to make into a collage. I've just been letting other things take priority over journaling and blogging. Ironically, I'm reading the horoscope again now and it says my mantra for this year is, "I'm not giving up things. I'm lightening up!"

Set aside one weekend every month with no commitments - At the beginning of March, B. and I were still away on the China trip. Despite the lack of formal commitments, I still felt like I stressed myself out over "commitments" I made to myself to see as much as we could and I worried when I felt like we weren't doing everything, or not making it to sights because we chose to sleep in. Cuba was different; I can't wait to write about it at the end of this month!

Rewards
What did I achieve in March? I guess I slept for 7.5+ hours for a night or two and had clear pee... So Cuba was my reward. While we were there the groom said something that I need to remind myself because I know I make this mistake all the time - he thanked us for travelling down to the wedding because "there are lots of reasons to choose not to do something. We don't give ourselves enough credit for choosing to do something."