2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for April/May

Wow is all I can say about the last two months.  I have had some amazing moments in those months and have been kept fairly busy.  I have been adapting to a fuller schedule as I continue on my journey to become healthier.  I am loving life right now though and wake up each morning with a smile on my face, even though I am waking up at the crack of stupid.

If you want to read a bit more about my resolutions feel free to check out my previous posts:

New Year’s Resolutions Past and Present (the first post)

2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for March

1) Move More/Lose More
I am feeling the most proud of this goal right now.  I am consistently hitting 10,000 steps each day and on at least half of the week I am also hitting over 11,000.  The biggest change in the last two months with this goal is the fact that I joined the gym and am going most mornings to use the treadmill.  It is a bit challenging especially on weekdays because in order to get the work out in before starting my job, I’m getting up at 4:30am.  I will admit that there are days I question my sanity and my drive to do this but what has kept me going is the knowledge that the more work I do now the easier it is going to be to do my first 5K in September.  I have taken to visualizing how good it is going to feel when I cross the finish line to help keep me moving.  It makes even the hardest days on the treadmill a little bit easier.

I’m also incredibly excited with the ‘lose more’ part of this goal.  In the last two months I have done extremely well with my weight loss.  Since the middle of April, when I started regularly going to the gym, my weight has for the most part been steadily going down.  The total weight loss for 2014 now stands at 14 pounds (with 10.9 of that being lost in since the middle of April).  I also hit a huge personal milestone this month and finally lost all the weight I had gained when my friend Will passed away.  You can read about that here. 

2) One Day a Week Vegetarian
The last couple of months have been bad for this goal.  As my schedule has gotten busier and my time shorter I have to admit that my meal planning has lacked a bit.  As soon as meal planning lacks my meat free days tend to fall to the sidelines because I don’t have as many recipes yet that I can just make at the drop of hat and know that I will love.  I am trying though and have made it my mission to get back to full meal plans each week instead of the quick ones I have been doing which will also mean getting back to my meat free days.

3) Regular Blog Posts
Writing blogs much like meal planning has been a challenge.  I am learning that I have far too many hobbies and things going on in my life to keep up with it all without plans in place.  I’m working on find a new balance that will let me get the things I really want to do done.  So for the month of June my mission for this particular goal is to post a blog entry once a week which will mean 5 entries including this one – only four more to go.

4) 365 Photo-a-Day Project
I am very happy that this goal is still running along smoothly.  I have continued to take photos each day and have started the process of getting them turned into digital pages that I can print.  I really do love this project and I love looking back on my 2013 pages.  As a side I also finished the last of my 2013 pages so I just have to send them off and I can officially say last year’s project is done.

5) Read 50 Books
I am now up to 18 books read this year, which apparently puts me 2 books behind schedule for hitting my 50 by the end of the year.  This doesn’t worry me yet because I think I’m still doing better than I was last year at this time.  I have been reading quite a mix of books and have found a few new favourites in the last two months.  The two that stand out most in my brain are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Skinny by Donna Cooner.  Both were easy reads but both had me in tears at the end for different reasons.  I am continuing to make reading a priority and try to read at least a chapter a day.  In order to hit my goal though I really need to spend a little more time reading on my weekends so that shall be the plan for June.

6) Nanowrimo challenge Complete a Draft of Conor’s Story
Well I attempted to do the Nanowrimo challenge in April but just didn’t have enough time to get it done.  I may have done better if I had used Conor’s story rather than the story that came from my dream but oh well.  I did learn that I really am a planner.  As interesting as it was to try and write a story I hadn’t planned I struggled a great deal with it.  I like to know the story fairly well before I try to write it so that when I start writing it just flows.  This allows me to feel like I’m making progress and not just messing around.  It is not a complete loss though because at least now I know how to best channel my creativity to get results.  It is all about outlining and planning.  I’m just a geek that way I guess.  Hehe!

As for Conor’s story well sadly I haven’t had much of a chance to work on it, well at least not with pen and paper anyway.  I have discovered that the treadmill is a great place to work on the ideas in my head.  I am slowly filling my phone up with notes taken while I’m walking.  It has been pretty wonderful.  When I get the chance to sit down with Conor’s story I feel like it will flow well.

At the end of March I wrote that I was feeling excited about the way my life was going.  I was looking forward to starting at the gym and I have to say that the last couple of months have not disappointed.  I have been feeling strong, positive and driven.  I have been feeling like I can take on any task that I come up with and that I will find success.  I am amazed in a lot of ways how truly positive I feel about everything right now.  It gives me hope that this year really will be the best year of my life to date.