It’s Q2 of 2023, friends! How did we get here already? I have been pretty satisfied with the way the first quarter turned out, especially as it relates to my goals. I got a lot accomplished! However, as I’ve been thinking about my goals, I’ve been craving simplicity. Setting 10 goals every month is a lot, and some of them were really just placeholders (do I need to tell you I’m going to recategorize another year of my blog, or can I just fill you guys in when I do my yearly goals update at the end of every quarter?). So, I’m shaking things up a bit and have settled on five goals for April. Much simpler, much more doable.
But before we get into April, we need to look back on how I did in March!
MARCH GOALS
1) Put my bedframe on Facebook Marketplace. Not complete. Well, technically, I did put my bedframe on Facebook Marketplace, and within 30 minutes, I had multiple offers. So, I realized that a) maybe I priced it too low originally ($50) and b) I need to wait to put it up for sale until I’m ready for it to be gone. It will probably sell much more quickly than I anticipated!
2) Recategorize all 2013 blogs. Complete!
3) Do the 30-day fitness challenge (found on Elisabeth’s blog, who found it on Kyria’s blog). LOL, no. I made it to day 12 or 13 and then gave up. I started to notice that I was putting off my Peloton workouts because I was so focused on this goal, and had to ask myself which was more important. In the end, I decided my Peloton workouts meant more to me so I willingly gave up on this challenge.
4) Do a few plantar fasciitis stretches every morning. Not complete. Maybe I’ll move this to the evening and combine it with my nighttime routine. I am wearing my PF slippers more often, though! I don’t wear them all the time, only when my heels start hurting, but they definitely lessen the pain.
5) Do a Goodwill drop and get rid of the old cat tower. Complete! I felt a little bad about getting rid of the cat tower since the cats liked to use it from time to time, but it was time to give it up. And now I feel like I have so much more room in my living room! I also did a nice little Goodwill drop last month – felt great to do that.
6) Work through the Anxiety Toolkit that my psychiatrist sent to me. Didn’t even open this once in March.
7) Order new bedding. Complete! It’s all ready and waiting to be made up on my new bed.
8) Watch a 90s classic rom-com. Not complete. I chose to watch silly reality TV shows rather than watching a movie.
9) Stand up for one hour each workday. Not complete.
10) Limit myself to two Ubereats orders and two takeout orders per week. Complete! I’m really proud of myself for making this happen.
APRIL GOALS
1) Keep a food journal. I need to start eating better, but I want to do it in a way that feels good. To start, I want to keep a food journal where I can list out what I ate in a day and how it made me feel. I don’t care about how many calories or carbs or macros I’m eating… I’m just curious if I can find any patterns in the way some foods make me feel.
2) Replace my bed. I’d really like to finally get this done in April! There is some coordination that has to happen, like having my brother order the bed through his work and then having him deliver it and put the bed I ordered together. But I should be able to make it happen this month!
3) Schedule a LASIK consultation. This is one of my 2023 goals. I don’t have to make a decision about LASIK this year, but I do want to know what my options are and how much I can expect it to cost me.
4) Work through the Anxiety Toolkit that my psychiatrist sent to me. Rollover goal.
5) Set a biweekly budget. I did not meet my savings goals in Q1, and that’s because I don’t have a concrete plan for my money right now. It means I’m more apt to spend money when I should be funneling it to my savings. I think setting a budget every two weeks (since I get paid every two weeks) should help rein in my spending a bit.
I tell everyone who’s thinking of getting LASIK to go for it! You’re roughly the age I was when I had it done, and I thank goodness every day 20+ years later that I can wake up and see right away, no fussing with glasses or contacts. My sister and brother both had it too, and highly recommend it. The process itself was not the most relaxing thing I’ve ever done, but it’s over quickly.
All I hear are good things from people who have had LASIK done. It would be so nice to be done with glasses and be able to SEE without them! I’m hoping it is something I could potentially do next year, depending on the price.
Great goals! My older son is also thinking of booking a LASIK consultation – I don’t think he’s quite ready, but I’m letting him just do it himself. I had LASIK when I was 25 and it was such a good decision. I had perfect vision until recently; now I need reading glasses, just like everyone else in their 40s. But reading glasses are nothing compared with my vision in my youth!
I am looking forward to the LASIK consultation and hoping there will be an easy (ish) way for me to finally get it. Two friends recently got LASIK and it was such an easy process for them, so I hope the same holds true for me!
Sounds like a pretty great month!
I would LOVE to get Lasik, but I am so frightened at the idea! I am hoping that your experience will help it seem less scary.
It will be so interesting to see the results of your food journal. I have been making an effort to eat breakfast, which I HATE. I have been eating a scrambled egg every morning. And I think it is really making a difference in my fullness and even my energy level throughout the morning? Anyway, definitely interesting to a) see how foods make you feel and b) see if any changes you decided to enact make a difference.
When my friend Mikaela recently got LASIK done, she refused to see any of the diagrams/videos of how it’s performed, haha. She was like, “Just tell me how much this will cost.” So that’s one way to do it if you’re terrified!
I have LASIK surgery scheduled for May! This was one of my goals. It’s going to cost a lot (sigh), but I have a really high prescription and need an eye exam, and new glasses + sunglasses, so that would cost a small fortune anyway?! It has been almost 4 years since I got new glasses, and about 6 years since my last set of prescription glasses. I can’t imagine a world where I can actually see without glasses. I’ve worn them daily since I was 7!!!!
I started wearing glasses when I was 9! We are almost kindred spirits there. 🙂 I’m excited that you have the surgery scheduled! I hope you’ll talk about how it goes/recovery/things to do beforehand. I’d be interested to read all about it!
And yes, just think about how much money you’ll be saving on eye exams, glasses, prescription sunglasses, contacts (if you wear them)! SO MUCH MONEY!
I was wondering about that 30-day challenge. It looked intense to me!
I would be interested in the logistics of your food journal. Are you doing this by hand or electronically? How are you tracking how you feel, physically and emotionally? I know you probably have some spreadsheet set up for this, so I want to know the deets!
TBH, I haven’t started this yet (eeks) but I think I’m going to do it by hand and track how I feel after eating, both physically and emotionally. The goal is to do it for 30 days straight and then analyze what I learned from the experiment. 🙂
Five goals seems much simpler to me too! Good luck in food tracking! Have you done it before? Are you using an app or notebook?
I am very curious what they tell you at LASIK since Steven had PRK done in December!
I’ve only done, like, calorie counting – not food journaling in a way that’s not trying to eat as little as possible to lose weight, lol. I’m going to use a notebook and jot down what I’m eating/how I’m feeling by hand.
5 goals seems way more doable! 10 is a lot!! But I am all about fewer goals in general given my complicated relationship with goals which you know all about!
I need to do a goodwill drop. We have a pile of kid stuff that I would love to get out of the house. It’s in a storage space so is kind of out of sight/out of mind but it always feels good to get that stuff out of the house!!
It felt so good to do that Goodwill drop last month! It’s such a freeing feeling.
So good that you adjusted your goal setting when it wasn’t working for you. I am a believer that setting out to do anything is better than doing noting.
I think you did pretty good though.
All the best for your April goals.
Oh, my goodness, yes – five is so much more doable than 10! I love your ad hoc approach to the food journal, and focusing on how the food makes you FEEL vs. how many calories or macros or whatever it has. It might be interesting, too, at the end, to see what kinds of foods you gravitate towards, and whether they make you feel your best (physically, emotionally, etc.) or not.
I hope that the bed goal(s) are met! That would be a fun thing to cross off the list.