Writing annual goals is a great way to ensure you are living life according to your own terms. Living life in a way that is meaningful to you. Living a life that keeps you on your own personal path. Sharing my goals with you keeps me accountable and on my path of health, wealth and happiness. I also secretly hope to inspire you to strategize your own life by figuring out what is really important to you, how you want to live and developing a path to get there.
As always, I categorize my goals into 3 sections titled health, wealth and happiness. Here are my 2020 goals. You can read about what is most important to me on my Start Here Page.
I work as an Occupational Therapist and have been in the field for 20 years. I have worked in a hospital, in an outpatient clinic and in several nursing homes. I have met a ton of interesting people who have faced some difficult health challenges. When I was a kid, Mother Fran thought I should be a nurse. I always laughed at the notion and reminded her that I fainted at the sight of a lot of blood. Maybe I should have listened to her! When I look at job opportunities, the positions that are of interest to me often require an RN degree. I have no desire to go back to school but if I did, nursing school would be on interest. Like Occupational Therapists, they work in a wide variety of settings and with many different populations of people.
It is that time of year again when we decide we need to eat better, exercise more, sleep longer, spend more time with loved ones; to be healthier, be a better person, and be happier.
On January 1st, many of us made one or more resolutions to improve our health, wealth and happiness. Now it is the middle of January and I would venture that at least 50% of these have been abandoned, forgotten or put off for another time. I gave up on making New Year’s Resolutions several years ago.
In my last post, I wrote about having company over for the holidays and cooking several dinners for up to 6 people. Whenever I talk about cooking, people naturally want to know what I made, how it turned out and if I winged it or followed a recipe. So this post will answer those nagging questions!
In a recent post titled Don’t Be a Stranger, I wrote about my being a bit more complex than I tend to admit to others or accept for myself. I usually think (and write) about how I like to wing it. This applies to certain areas of my life like cooking. In other areas though I keep a pretty rigid schedule and this keeps me on top of my work life and helps to ensure I remember to have a social life and some fun in my week. Interestingly enough the ability to be flexible helps me with winging it and scheduling it. Not simple at all!
I don’t know how Mother Fran and Papa Jack did it but they managed to raise 9 kids who all love to read. How does that happen? In 2019, I had a goal to read at least 20 books. I am happy to report I easily met this goal. At the beginning of the year, I tracked the days I read for at least 5 minutes but no longer bother to do this. That helped me get in the reading habit and now the habit is firmly established! I thought I would share the books I read and put them into my favorite categories. Yup, you guessed it! Health, wealth and happiness!
The holidays are here and that means many of you have been doing a lot of baking. I have been doing my part to keep up with the bakers by eating a lot of yummy cookies, brownies, fudge and cake. I would guess over the last week, I consumed quite a few extra calories per day and my pants are getting a bit snug. That is ok though because I know what to do. I also know I don’t go down this familiar path for as long or with as much intensity as I used to!
I am not worried about the extra calories or even the tight pants because my honey suggested we complete a Whole30 for the month of January. If you are not familiar with the Whole30 check out this page for more information!I have lost track but think this is our 4th or 5th Whole30 and I still love the experience. Maybe I don’t love giving up my wine but the rest of it is easy!
I like to think I am a simple person, someone who is not complicated. Someone who puts on no pretenses and what you see is what you get. I lived in this fantasy world for most of my life until I went through a particularly challenging time and those rose colored glasses were scratched and then smashed. At least that is the time that I believe I started to wake up to my own complexity.
About 10 years ago, I went through a 1-2 year span where I lost five important people in my life. They ranged in age from 29-62. I felt numb for a long time and then I went through a difficult break up. Until that time, I was always able to put on a happy face. I could pull myself together and present myself as a composed, happy, easy going person. But by the end of that 2 year span, after losing 5 people who were too young to die and having my relationship crumble, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
Regardless of whether you are bold, strong, arrogant or brash. Whether you are meek, mild, timid or passive. Whether you are foolhardy, risky, daring or crazy. Life is going to knock you down. Other people are going to pull your kayak off-course. People you love are going to hurt your feelings. Your boss or co-workers are going to bug the living crap out of you. Accidents will happen, mistakes will occur. When life knocks us down, some of us whimper and cry, some of us swear, some of us yell. Some of us shrug our shoulders and move on.
I get knocked down but I get up again. You are never gonna keep me down.
Would your life be different if money was not a concern? Would you be different? How would things be different? Would you behave differently? Would you still be you? So many questions this morning. Sometimes when I read books or listen to podcasts I take notes so I can go back and review them at my leisure. This can be the catalyst for a blog post, for some introspection and for some inspiration.
I was checking out a document on my computer that I saved under the title – “Things I Want to Do” and the first section looked like this:
We often use money as an excuse for not doing something we claim we want to do. It is true that money is an important tool to getting what we want out of life but it is not the only tool available. As a tool, it can be used in a variety of ways to help us reach our goals. How we choose to earn money, spend money, save and invest money all have a impact on how much is available to address our needs as well as our wants.
I spent 20 plus years working for the same company. Most of that time, my job didn’t pay well and the benefits were just okay. I saved a little, spent a little and invested a little. Mother Fran was my early financial mentor so I always had enough to cover my monthly bills and a bit set aside for emergencies. But for some reason the thought of leaving that job to pursue another in order to increase my income didn’t really occur to me! I did meet some pretty amazing people some of whom are still my close friends.
I digress – if money was not a concern what would you love to do? Make a list of your top 10 things. Hell list out your top 20 or 50 or even 100! This is a day dreaming type of exercise afterall! Really do it now, it only takes 5 minutes. After jotting down the list above, I remember staring at it and thinking “what can I do now? What can I do today to get one step closer to each of these 10 things?
Then there was one of those AHA moments where I kicked my ass into gear and made another list! It looked like this:
Next step for each of these:
Talk to my niece about her internship (in Alaska)
Read up on National Parks and pick 3 to start learning more about
Spend 1 week this year in Florida – increase time in warm climate next year
Email Linda(an acquaintance of my honey’s) who owns a home in Costa Rica
Do the yoga DVD at home that you have
Help Child #7 (my sister) with her outdoor kitchen idea at the lake
Continue to research for outdoor kitchen and yard ideas for home
Reach out to 1 blogger who has posted about earning money from their site.
Talk to my honey about bike/kayak trip.
Play ping pong at the YMCA
Figuring out the first step for each item on my list cost me nothing. What it did do was help me realize that my dreams were possible and that I could complete some of them sooner than I thought.
My honey and I traveled to Alaska in September 2017 with 3 of my family members.
In 2018, we traveled to Acadia National Park with Number 9 and his wife. This year, we went to Shanendoa National Park and spent a day with Child #2 and Child #3. We also got to visit one of my nephews and his wonderful family.
Last year, we spent 1 month traveling South to get away from the cold, ice and snow of the Finger Lakes. We visited nieces, nephews, friends of my honey’s. We stayed several weeks with Mother Fran and Child #7, and got to spend time with my brother, Child #5.
I have not been to Costa Rica yet although I did reach out to someone who has a home there.
I completed a 3 month Tai Chi class and learned the series of 108 moves!
I continue to live in suburbia but I spend lots of time at Mother Fran’s lake house in the summer months.
My yard is a work in progress. My honey had new patio built and a new garden bed built for me. I expanded the existing flower bed and hope to plant a vine that will grow up a trellis in the coming year.
I have done nothing to monetize my blog but continue to create good (hopefully) content.
Bike/kayak adventure – In 2019, we kayaked in 4 locations in Florida, 3 of the Finger Lakes in NY and on a small lake in PA. We biked on the Erie Canal in May and several times on a path closer to home.
Ping Pong – I can’t say I have gotten any better but continue to love the game. I did go to the YMCA once to play with others but did not enjoy playing in that environment. I prefer playing with my honey in our garage.
“Sometimes not doing what we think we want to do is less about money and more about inertia!”
