It’s July, and I think I’m ready to add goal-setting back into my life. I’m not really sure what is going to happen in July with COVID-19 case numbers rising so drastically—will we go back to a shelter-in-place order or scale back our reopening process? We’ll see.

I’m setting five easy-to-accomplish goals for July, things that won’t be affected if we do go back into lockdown. It feels nice to think about goal setting again and to have the emotional bandwidth to want to accomplish a few goals this month. That feels like a great achievement!

1) Work on my novel (and ONLY my novel) during my weekly writing dates. I have fallen into a bad habit of not actually working on my novel during my weekly writing dates with M. Sometimes, I do some writing for work, and other times, I use it to work on blog posts. But, in July, it’s time to get back to shutting down all my other tabs and cutting out any distractions so I can solely focus on working on my novel for two hours.

2) Sell my cat carriers. I have two of those big plastic pet carriers that I bought way before I adopted my girls. They are bulky and take up so much space. Plus, I’ve always hated using them when I have to take the girls to a vet appointment. (So uncomfortable to carry!) I have a much more comfortable carrier now, so I want to sell these carriers to someone else who can use them.

3) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. Earlier this year, I used the Warby Parker try-on program to order new eyeglasses (and finally purchased them in May!) Now it’s time to upgrade my prescription sunglasses. The sunglasses I have now are too big for my face and I don’t really like them, so I’m hoping I can find sunglasses I like from WP.

4) Take Ellie on her first walk. I bought a little harness for Ellie so I could take her on walks, but I have yet to take it out of the package! Oops. I think she’ll lose her goddamn mind to go outside and roll around in the grass, so I need to make it happen.

5) Launch a new blog theme. It’s time for a fresh look here on the ole blog. I’ve had this blog theme for nearly three years now, and I’m ready for a change. I use Etsy for new blog themes because they are reasonably priced and easy to install. So be on the lookout for something new here soon!

Well, we made it to Friday, although I don’t think days really matter that much anymore. Plans for this weekend include napping, cleaning, reading, and probably a trip to Publix at some point.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to set goals for April because… what is even the point? But I made a few simple goals that are mostly centered on maintaining my sanity during this unprecedented time. That’s all we can really hope for, right?

First, let’s take a look back at the goals I set in March. (Remember that innocent time before we were all locked down due to a global pandemic?)

1) Don’t eat fast food. Complete! I’m actually very proud of myself for abstaining from fast food this month, especially when things got crazy and stopping at McDonald’s might have been an easy choice. I’d like to keep this up!

2) Work on my novel for 30 minutes every day. Not complete. Ugh, my novel has completely fallen by the wayside. I’d like to get back to it in April.

3) Work out 17 times. Not complete. I worked out 11 times in March, eeks! I am falling behind on my goal of working out 150 times this year, so fingers crossed I can get caught up in April.

4) Read Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue. Complete! It was an enjoyable book, but I did put it in the stack of books that I’m going to give away at some point. A good book, but not one I necessarily feel like keeping on my shelves.

5) Go kayaking. Surprisingly, I made this happen in March! My friend who organized the trip said it wasn’t “true” kayaking since we were basically pushed downstream and rarely had to paddle, but I’m still counting it. 🙂

6) Order new glasses. Not complete. Another goal that completely fell by the wayside due to the pandemic.

7) Buy a desk. Complete! This purchase has become more and more necessary now that I’m working from home full-time for the foreseeable future. I’m glad I finally have a desk!

8) Sell my cat carriers. Not complete. For obvious reasons.

9) Cancel checking plus. Lololol, again no.

10) Wash and vacuum my car. Not complete. I didn’t get it done before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and I am surely not doing it now. My car currently has a tint of green thanks to all the pollen and it’s driving me crazy, but not enough to use a public car washing station.

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April Goals

Here are the five simple goals I’m setting this month:

1) Go for a daily walk. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes, I need to get outside and move my body.

2) Make a daily schedule. My days feel incredibly unstructured when I don’t make a schedule every day. I don’t have to follow it precisely, but it can help to add a little bit of structure to my days.

3) Exercise 17 times. If I can make this happen, I will be back on track for my working out goal for 2020. My workouts aren’t all that exciting since my gym is closed and I’m not keen on going to public parks right now. (I’ve been too lazy to look up streaming workouts.) But getting exercise has become even more important since I’m working from home in a tiny 515-square-foot apartment. (I’m pretty sure I walk about 100 steps a day now.)

4) Adhere to my 30-minute Instagram limit. I set up a reminder notification on Instagram to alert me when I’ve been on the app for 30 minutes. This is my cue to get off the app and put down my phone. I’m not always the best at doing that, though, and I think for my mental health’s sake, I really need to in April.

5) Order new glasses. This goal is not so much about self-care, but it will make me happy to have new glasses delivered!

Do you have any goals for April? 

It’s the beginning of the month, which means it’s time for a goals update. I’ll admit that February wasn’t a great month for goals, as I only achieved half of what I set out to do. Womp! But February always seems to be a rather lackluster month, at least for me, so this isn’t entirely surprising. It just means I can come back with a bang in March, right? Right. Let’s review:

1) Eat one serving of fruit every day. Nope. I was remarkably bad at this goal! I really need to get my act together about eating fruits and veggies on a daily basis.

2) Write 12,000 words in my novel. Nope. I wrote maybe 2,000 words and then I hit a major roadblock in my story. I’m nearing the end of the novel so I really need to figure out how I want things to end. I started to write a scene that causes my characters to break up (called the “dark moment”) but it felt so inauthentic and I didn’t want to write myself into a hole. So I decided to spend February brainstorming about my novel rather than writing so I can come back to it in March with fresh eyes. (Time will tell if this strategy worked.)

3) Work out 14 times. Nope. I worked out just 10 times in February so now I’m behind on my goal of working out 150 times this year by four workouts.

4) Read The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver. Yes! Finally, something I can mark as complete! I read this book to fulfill the February category for the Unread Shelf Challenge, gifted to you. I loved this book immensely and am so glad I read it!

5) Participate in a mud run. Complete! It was a highlight of my year so far. So much fun!

6) Order Warby Parker try-ons. Complete! I ordered them towards the end of the month and had such a fun time trying them on and modeling them for people.

7) Schedule vet check-ups for the girls. Complete! Scheduled and done. Ellie only needed a wellness check and Lila had to get two shots, poor thing. But I’m glad that’s over and done with for the year!

8) Develop a nighttime routine. Not complete. As I sit here typing up this post at 10pm, yeah, the whole “developing a nighttime routine” isn’t going so well for me.

9) Cancel checking plus. Not complete. This is such an easy task! Why can’t I get it done?!

10) Switch over my files. Complete! Yay! 2019 files have been moved over to my big filing bin and I also organized that bin, getting rid of a lot of stuff I had been keeping (like school transcripts and some online courses I had done in my early-to-mid twenties).

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March Goals

1) Don’t eat fast food. I eat fast food a couple of times a month, which is a bad habit I really need to break. It’s just so easy to whip through the drive-thru on a Friday afternoon—it’s become a little “treat.” So my healthy challenge for March is going to be to stop eating fast food (and hopefully, it’s a habit I can keep up well after the month is over!)

2) Work on my novel for 30 minutes every day. Rather than a word count goal this month, I’m setting an easy time goal. And this can be anything from brainstorming or outlining to writing. A very doable goal!

3) Work out 17 times. I’m behind on my goal of logging 150 workouts this year. To get back on track, I need to log 17 workouts this month. Fingers crossed I can make it happen!

4) Read Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue. March’s challenge for the Unread Shelf Challenge is to read the book that’s been on your unread shelf the longest, which is this book. I won it in an Instagram giveaway years ago and haven’t ever felt compelled to pick it up. It has a 3.37 rating on Goodreads so I don’t have high hopes for this one, unfortunately.

5) Go kayaking. This is my “try something new” goal for March, and one I know for sure will get checked off as I’m planning an outdoorsy weekend with a group of friends this month. We’re going to go to a natural spring to go kayaking and paddleboarding, and since it’s a 3.5-hour drive from where we live, we’re going to make a weekend out of it. I’m both looking forward to it and having lots of anxiety about it because, ya know, that’s how social anxiety works!

6) Order new glasses. I am still debating between three separate pairs, but since Warby Parker glasses are so inexpensive (compared to Visionworks and the like—my last pair of glasses was around $400), I may go crazy and buy two pairs.

7) Buy a desk. A few weeks ago, I decided that I really want a desk and I haven’t been able to get the idea out of my head. I’m imagining having a space to work that’s not my kitchen island and a place to organize mail and important documents. I’m thinking something really simple.

8) Sell my cat carriers. Now that I have a new and improved cat carrier, I want to sell the bulky kennels I bought before I got the girls. They should be pretty easy to sell, I’m thinking, and it will be nice to have more room in my outside storage closet!

9) Cancel checking plus. Back on the list it goes. Maybe the third time is the charm?

10) Wash and vacuum my car. Is anyone else ridiculously bad about vacuuming their car until it absolutely needs it? Oof. This month, my car needs a little extra love at the car wash.

What’s something you want to accomplish this month?