17 Goals in 2017 Check In

In the blink of an eye January has passed by and even almost half of February.  It is amazing how quickly time is slipping by.  I wanted to take a few minutes and do a check in on my 17 goals in 2017 plan. If you want to read the original list you can check it out here.  It is my hope that in doing some monthly check-ins it will help to keep me on track and working towards completing them this year.  I have to say that so far it is going pretty well.

1. Do at least 5 different hikes this year.

I haven’t crossed any of these off yet but it has been cold and snowy, although after seeing some pictures of friends who have taken to some of the hiking trails I really should consider doing some winter hiking.  I do have a couple hikes picked out for this year though so hopefully this one should be no problem to achieve.

2. Get paid to take photos for someone.

Well my niece did give me a gift card for her maternity photos but that doesn’t really count.  I am making progress towards this goal though.  I have done another photo shoot for a friend which reaffirmed my desire to do more of this.  I have been slowly putting the pieces in place to be able to set up a webpage.  I have also been studying and practicing my photography to help build my skills even more.

3. Visit somewhere in Alberta that I have never been.

A trip has been planned.  I will be doing a vacation with some friends in Banff and Jasper.  I have spent lots of time in Banff but none in Jasper so I’m really excited for this.  It’s going to be even more fun because I will get to share it with some friends.  It’s been a long time since I did a vacation with friends. 

4. Volunteer somewhere.

Still on my list to do this year but not sure where I want to do this yet.

5. Try a new recipe each week. 

I haven’t kept up with doing one a week but figure I will have time to play catch up on this one because as long as I have tried 52 new recipes when the year is over I will be happy.  I’m really enjoying this goal.  So far I have tried 4 different recipes.  It has already brought a couple new recipes that I think will become regular occurring in my future meal planning.  Today will bring the total up to 5 as I attempt to make my Nan’s date square recipe.

6. Learn to meditate. 

I haven’t started to work on this one yet.

7. Read one book a week.

I need to read shorter books if I want to get through one a week but so far I’m pretty close to being on track.  I’m just behind by 1 book.  Like my recipes I will be happy if I hit 52 by the end of the year and so I might just have to spend some of my vacation time this year curled up with books.  Hehehe.  As of this morning I have just finished my fifth book.  I have been making a solid effort to set aside time to read each day.  I have also been trying on weekends to finish whatever book I’m reading so that I can start a new one each Sunday.  So far my favourite has been a re-read that I did of The Book Thief.  I loved it as much as I did the first time I read it.  I have so much love for that book.

8. Host a dinner party each month. 

This one might have been a bit too big of a goal to actually pull off.  I forget that I don’t tend to have a lot of free time.  I did have my scrapbooking girls over in January so I got to cook a yummy dinner for them but looking at my February I have no clue with only two weeks left where I would fit another one in. 

9. Do a 10k Run. 

This one still scares me but I am back to run training which has been kind of fun.  It has been nice to focus on something again to help drive me forward.  I need to work on my consistency in my training but I have a few months and hopefully I will be good to go in May.

10. Plan trip to New York and create a budget for it. 

I haven’t started working on this in any concrete form but am starting to put together a list of ideas of things that I would like to see and do when I do get there.

11.  Meet my great nephew.

This one hasn’t happened yet either but as Mathew was born on February 8^th I’m a lot closer to getting the chance to cuddle him. 

12. Do something in British Columbia that I have never done before. 

I need to figure out when I’m going to BC first but then I have no doubt that I will be able to find something cool and new to do.  I even already have an offer from a friend out there to meet up and help.  Hehehe

13. Declutter the house and start planning and packing what I need for my new house.

I feel like this goal is puttering along.  I’m not getting to do as much as I wold like because I keep procrastinating on it but it will get done because at some point it has to.  LOL

14. Take 1 hour a week for quiet me time. 

I think I’m the most happy with how this goal has been progressing.  Each Sunday I have been able to sit down and read or write for an hour in a silent house.  I find that I’m quite enjoying getting to have that silent time.  I’m also finding that I’m turning my TV off more during the week as well and trying to have more quiet at work (especially in the last hour of my day once everyone has gone home).  I find that I’m really starting to relax into the quiet and I’m finding myself enjoying it again.

15. Create a bucket list. 

This one should be the easiest to cross off my list and yet it still sits waiting to be started.

16. Go on a date.

I really should try to do this one and yet as much as I like the idea of starting to date again I find it’s hard to make it a priority.  Since it’s not a priority I haven’t done anything to make it happen.  I’m also not really sure how I want to go about this one.  Online makes sense but I can’t quite get my brain excited to start sorting through all the crazy that seems to show up.  LOL

17.  Host a family game night. 

I haven’t really figured this one out yet either.  I really love the idea of it but making it happen seems a bit challenging.  I guess I should just pick a weekend and put the invite out there and see what happens.

I know that it is still early in the year and I am a bit concerned with having so many things to focus on might end up working against me but I’m feeling pretty good with how things are moving forward so far.  I’m excited and enthusiastic to see how this year will turn out.

Struggles

It has been ages since I wrote about my weight loss and my weight loss journey and I figured it was time to open up and write about it again.  I haven’t written about my journey because for a long time now I feel like I’ve lost my way.  I have a hard time admitting when I’m struggling and right now that is what is going on.  I have actually written one version of this blog or another several times over the last year but have never got to the point where I felt like I could share it but I think sharing it will help me get back on track.

In the last year I feel like I have struggled to find my motivation to keep moving forward.  It has become easier to make excuses than it has been to continue to do the work I need to in order to move forward.  Sure there have been some very real obstacles and setbacks but I’m letting those define me.  This creates a problem because if I’m not working to move forward then I’m actually moving backwards because nothing stays the same.  The backslide I’m on is starting to be noticeable when I look at the graph of my weight.  It’s been bouncing around up and down but the overall trend has been to creep ever so slowly up again.  I am not willing to accept this.

Tonight I decided it was time to find my motivation again.  I needed to spend some time looking at where I am, where I want to be and what I stand to gain and lose if I do or don’t make permanent changes in my life.  I’m not ready to share all my answers yet but these are the questions that I have spent some time working on.  I do plan to share the answers to these questions in my blog as soon as I get them to the point where the answer is the most coherent, the most complete, the most honest and most truthful that I can make them.

The questions I asked myself tonight were:

1. What is my why?  What do I have to gain by losing weight?  I know that the answer to this question has to be strong and concrete because ultimately this is what will help give me my motivation especially when I’m struggling like I am now.  It is from my why that I will find the mantra that will fill my brain.

2.  What is getting in the way right now?  What obstacles do I see that are currently stopping me from moving forward and how can I get past them?  The list that I came up with is a mix of excuses and legitimate obstacles.  I don’t have the solutions for all the obstacles but I’m hoping in having them written down it will keep them in my mind so that I can work on finding solutions.  As for the excuses it is amazing how silly they seem when written down so with a little bit of reframing I hope to change these excuses into something that I can use to my benefit.

3. What changes do I need to make to live a healthy life and achieve a healthy weight?  For this question I’m really just looking at the baby steps I need to change.  I have made a lot of changes already in my life and the ones that have stuck are the ones that I thought out and worked on one at a time.  So with a list of changes I need/want to make it will let me prioritize what to do and when to do them.

4. Who can I reach out to when I’m struggling?  I wanted to create a list of people that I can reach out to.  I struggle to feel connected to people and I know in a lot of cases it’s my own mind getting in the way.  Not only that but I also struggle to ask for help even when I know that I have a lot of people in my life who know a great deal more than me about many things.  I figure having a go to list of people who I know I can talk to, rely on and who I can trust with my emotions and struggles will make it easier to reach out (well with a little practice anyway.)

5. What are the things that I really love about myself as I am today?  What parts of myself am I ready to leave behind and work to change?  This is a question that I think is important not just now but hopefully will also be important as I keep moving on this journey.  Much in the same way I had pictures taken at my heaviest that I love, I wanted to have a list of characteristics that I love about myself so that I can remind myself even on my worst days that I am made of some pretty good stuff.

6.  The last question I set out for myself was how do I want to reward myself?  This one I still need to spend a lot more time on.  I have a few big rewards for myself that I see happening towards the end of this journey but I also want to find things to reward myself with along the way.

My go forward plan over the next few days and into the weekend is to take these questions and answers and keep working on them.  Once I get them to the point where they are clear, organized and more complete I am going to commit them to a bullet journal.  When I first discovered the idea of a bullet journal I knew it would make a great tool to be able to use on my weight loss journey.  I want something that I can carry with me that I can hold on to, look to and become an anchor.  It will contain my progress, my struggles and my triumphs.  The plan is that it will contain everything I need to create success.

I have been writing about changing my life for far too long.  It is time I take everything that I have learned and all my desire and hope and make this happen.  I started 2017 knowing that this was going to be my year and I’m going to make it happen.  I’m not wasting any more time because I’m tired of looking back and seeing wasted time and effort.