I’ve always looked at my late June birthday as a bit of a sanity check. It’s a chance to step back, take stock and make sure I’ll be happy with my year’s accomplishments. Matt Cheuvront over at Life Without Pants urges the same thing.
Last weekend, while cleaning off my desk at home, I found my hastily jotted New Year’s “to do” list. Some of the items are resolutions, others more household chores. But let’s see how I’ve done:
Drylock & Paint Basement – Um, not yet. Though every time it rains and I tiptoe downstairs, fingers crossed that everything’s dry, I remind myself I need to do this.
Apply for (and get into) Grad School – Well, the application’s done… now the waiting part.
Finish New Rules of Lifting for Women – Nearly there. I started NROLFW last fall and absolutely love the challenge. (Basically, it teaches that women should put down the pink Barbie weights and lift really heavy things.) I’ve finished six of the seven stages but took a break to focus on running while the weather turned nice. I plan to tackle Stage 7 in the coming weeks.
Paint or Stain the Fence – I put up a new fence late last fall and was told to let it weather for at least 4-5 months before painting, staining or otherwise weatherproofing it. It’s time.
Relaunch My Blog – Here it is!
Get More Sleep – Ha! But actually, I’m starting to do better with this. I function so much better on 7 hours of sleep than 5.5 hours. I’ve been trying to get upstairs by 11 on weeknights, with light out no later than 11:30.
Run a 5k – Done, and itching for another one! I ran the Elgin Fox Trot 5k on Memorial Day and notched a 30:32. Now I’m looking for a good race to break the 30 minute mark.
So I’m doing okay. But there are a couple to add:
Discover New Music – There’s nothing really WRONG with the fact that most of the music on my iPod is the same stuff I listened to in high school. But there’s so much more out there! I’ve started occasionally downloading Amazon’s daily free mp3, and I want to make this more of a habit.
Read More – I never thought this would have to be a stated goal, but I really am happiest when I’m in the middle of a good book. I need fiction in my life to balance out all the newspapers and work-related reading. (I just tore through all 371 delicious pages of The Kite Runner in two days and it felt awesome.) At the same time, I do want to mix in the occasional “business” book.
Talk to Strangers – Just saying “hello” to strangers and allowing myself to engage in conversation is a good thing. I need to do more of it.
Plan My Meals – Rather than randomly strolling through a grocery store and grabbing food willy-nilly, I occasionally have actually sat down and planned out the menu for a week. It’s been hugely successful. Let’s make it a habit to try to eliminate the Thursday night PBJ.
I think that’s a pretty good list. What are you trying in the second half of the year?
Adventures of the Former Elginista 