Saturday, January 7, 2017

A plan for the year

It's been a strange past two weeks. Well, maybe not strange. Just different enough to keep me busy and unable to focus on my plan for the year.

Today I celebrated my last 2016 Christmas with my roomie and his family. It was a great, busy day. My house still needs to be put back into shape--and I don't want to think about my kitchen--but I wanted to take a moment or two to discuss my plans for 2017 before the first week ends in a few minutes.

Here are my goals:

Health
-- Get new glasses.
-- Get my diabetes under control.
-- Exercise daily.
-- Take my meds regularly.
-- Control my meals.
-- See a dentist regularly.

Life
-- Read at least two books a month.
-- Continue learning about art.
-- Finish one of the Great Courses.
-- Keep my budget under control.

Writing
-- Post on the Stephen B. Bagley's Books blog at least once a week for the entire year.
-- Post on the 51313 Harbor Street blog at least once a week for the entire year.
-- Publish "Floozy Comes Back."
-- Publish "Murder by the Mile."
-- Query three magazines for articles or essays.
-- Publish on Kindle six short stories.
-- Submit six short stories to traditional markets.
-- Start a new book.
-- Writing group meeting once a month (weather permitting).

It's going to be a busy year! But a wonderful, productive year. I  hope yours is, too!

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Welcome to 2017

My overarching goal is Harmony. Harmony with myself, others, and Mr. L. I find myself feeling too unsettled in my interactions with others. Can you believe people have the audacity to disagree with me sometimes? Go figure! I want to relax, laugh, enjoy, and meditate more. I want to achieve inner peace and be a better, more attentive listener. I'd really like to recognize fun when I see it and be able to participate in it. That may be asking too much.

I have four sub-goals that tie in with Harmony. The first is True Health. This encompasses physical as well as emotional health. I'm proactively planning in LoseIt! this year. As we all know, if I enter what I plan to have for dinner, I can more effectively choose what I eat earlier in the day to stay on target. I have adopted three mantras which as helping me feel better about this whole process.

  • I eat before 8 pm. This has been enormously satisfying. I felt challenged for the first couple weeks when I implemented it earlier in the year, but now, it's a no-brainer. My body and my subconscious have wholeheartedly accepted this as fact and rarely if ever question it anymore.
  • I move in the morning. This applies to yard work, walking, riding the recumbent bike, or DDPYoga or P90. Whatever it is I'm going to do, I get started in the morning, so I feel good about getting my moving taken care of early. 
  • I skip afternoon snacks and feel victorious! This is my latest implementation. It's rapidly becoming incorporated into my daily routine. My two big problem areas used to be snacking after 8 pm and feeling voracious hunger mid-afternoon. I have conquered both of these, and believe it will pay huge dividends in 2017.
 Next, we have Travel. Mr. L and I want to complete traveling on all major Amtrak routes by 2025. This is more likely to happen by 2018. We have a lot of travel planned for 2017, beginning with Grand Tour 2017 in May and continues with taking the AutoTrain to Florida after the Hershey trip in October. I'll also be visiting Mom and Dad again this year. And we're excited that they are renting an RV in April and heading south to see my brother, west to see us, and north to see my other brother and his family. They're bringing my mom's sister with them, so it should be a fun visit with them.

No plan would be complete without Writing. I have revision and new writing planned. I have struggled in the past with this, and I need to devise a positive affirmation for writing and revising time to ensure I Get 'Er Done. Still working on that.

Lastly, I have decided decluttering is not a useful term and have revised it to Prioritization. I am prioritizing the things in my life and making decisions accordingly. We want to clear the ranch of our possessions and sell it before the year is over. We need to travel to Mississippi to purchase some auto parts solely for resale at the Giddings Swap Meet. We plan to have a yard sale again this year. I need to maintain the house, and I need to decide what household contents need to stay and which ones can go and in what manner.

I have not mentioned the cats. I guess they fit in Harmony and Prioritization? The cats are a priority in my life, and they will be staying. I continue to work with all of them to ensure they are healthy and happy.