Report on my goals

In January I set the goal of overall health (or wellness).  That's broad, so each month I've tried to write out smaller goals to target five areas: mental, physical, spiritual, social, and emotional health. At the end of the month I evaluate my progress and set new goals.  This method of goal-setting has been really helpful.  I enjoy having new goals to work on each month.  Here's how it's been going:

I met most of my goals in January, with the exception of one visiting teaching visit.  I read two books, and decided that reading is a good goal to keep me mentally engaged.  (It's amazing how much time I waste if I don't have a book to grab.)  I started Nutrisystem and exercised 4+ times each week.  One of my most interesting goals was doing 10 minutes of quiet time every day because it forced me to stretch, think, meditate, etc.  My tendency is to always be doing something, and my brain does well to slow down for a few minutes.  I didn't do it in February or March but plan to start again in April.

February brought with it a weight goal.  I started losing weight in January, but wanted to be down 10 lbs by the end of February.  I lost 10, but gained back almost 2, so there's still room for improvement.  Because of my back problems in January, February was my recovery month.  It was frustrating that it took that much time to feel back to 'normal' (and I'm still not feeling 100% normal) but physical health can't mean strong muscles if you can't even move.  Baby steps.  Keeping a gratitude journal was a good exercise in perspective and counting my blessings. 

My big success in March was doing weekly yoga classes.  It puts me in such a good state of mind when the instructor says, "Forget about what happened this morning, or what will happen tonight.  Just think about where you are right now."  I also appreciate that yoga is about loving your body and doing what feels good; that provides good balance to my exercise the rest of the week.  An additional goal for March was not scrolling through social media on Sunday mornings.  Sunday mornings are so hard, and eliminating any distractions helps me focus more on my kids and be fully present to deal with their tantrums more patiently.  Sundays are still so hard, but it's a huge help.  My one failure Sunday was when my kids woke up at 5:30 am!!!! I needed to do some numbing to get over my bitterness of being up so early, so I just fumed while scrolling mindlessly through Facebook.  Eventually I got over it and acted like a normal parent.

It's interesting to see what helps, and what's good but not great.  My biggest challenge is being social.  I want to set goals that will help me be a better friend instead of sitting around feeling lonely.  (I did plan a girls night out for this week, and we might be 10 people.  That's a success in my book... and as a bonus, I get to try a new restaurant.)

I need to figure out a better goal for spiritual progress--I want to keep progressing through the Old Testament, but that doesn't always give me a spiritual boost.  Maybe by December I'll figure out the perfect spiritual goal.
 

Goals

I sat down a few days ago and thought about what I wanted 2017 to look like.  I've heard of others picking a single word to focus on during the year.  The first word that came out in my 'brainstorm' was "survive".  But I hope to do more than just survive, so I eventually landed on the word healthy.

I'm talking about total health, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health.  My hope is that each month, I can evaluate how I'm doing in each category and make short-term goals accordingly.

Physically, I'd like to lose a few (or 20) lbs to get closer to pre-pregnancy weight.  (How many years can pass after a pregnancy before you can no longer call it pre-pregnancy weight??)  This includes exercise, but I also need to eat better!!  That will be a focus starting in January.

Mentally, I need to find things to stimulate my brain.  The easy goal is to read... and I generally target 12 books a year.  I also want to find a hobby that helps me relax but also forces me to use my brain in some way or another.  I'm open to suggestions!  Articles I've read also suggest researching interesting topics and doing mind puzzles.

Emotionally, I'm not really sure.  And yet, I feel like this will be the biggest wild card while Hyrum is gone.  I have no doubt that I'll survive this upcoming deployment just fine, but getting through it while simultaneously choosing to feel joy will be the challenge.

Spiritually, I want to take more time this year to disconnect and be still.  I want to spend more time thinking and pondering.  More concretely, I'm setting a goal to finish the Old Testament, which I started (and then dropped half-way through) a few years ago.  I also am committing to reading all of the lessons from the new President Hinckley manual.

And lastly, socially.... again, I'm not really sure.  I'd like to figure out ways to socialize with adults, and develop more meaningful relationships.  But this category could use some work.  (I did find some activities for the kids to get involved in, like gymnastics, so maybe their socializing will rub off on me!)

That's my overall plan, and hope that by targeting my overall health I can be a better mother, wife and friend to others.