Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I’ve typed a first paragraph a few times and deleted it. What do I want to say about the first three months of 2021? They happened. There has been good stuff and difficult stuff. I never made a post about what my goals are for 2021. That’s okay. I will just jump in here and tell you how I am doing with them. I made progress on some goals, and I read some books. Let’s talk about that.
Goals So Far
Activity. One goal is to attend another 125 Pure Barre classes by the end of the year. That will get me to 250. I have taken 34 classes so far and need 91 more to hit my goal by the end of the year. Quite doable. I am taking tap dance class weekly and am planning my costume for recital. It sparkles!
Coaching. Another of my goals was to get coaching training. I hope to get certified in two of my support communities but BLE training is not available yet. I was planning to start PBT training when I got a bonus or tax refund, but there was a special offer in January, so I decided to adjust my plan and start then. Turn out, it was a good idea to get started because I wouldn’t be getting a bonus or tax refund. Not only that, but owing taxes led me to discover that I never adjusted my tax withholding last year when I got divorced. I am glad I didn’t wait on better finances to start the program. I was able to start and finish the training and pass my test and case study by the end of March. I will be starting as a coach in the community May 1st. That’s sort of like volunteer work, but there is potential for income and it will help me build my coaching skills in a safe space. I did purchase the url for a coaching website that I will develop in the future.
Home improvement. I will lump a few things into this bucket. First, I had the tree taken down in front yard. It had some tree disease that wasn’t going to kill it. It caused issues, and I had it taken down during the landscaping off-season. One thing done! I have done some rearranging of furniture, but I want to move my desk and finally put up the bookcases I bought last spring. That still isn’t done. I don’t have much energy, but I am hopeful that I will get some and make it happen. I have done some yard work and planted flowers. I figure it is best to prioritize outdoor tasks while the weather is lovely and leave the indoor things for the heat of summer so I will have an excuse to stay in the air conditioning. I wanted to have the deck and a couple of trees taken down this year, but… (see aforementioned financial bummers.) I could take down the deck myself, but they can use it to reach limbs to help take down the trees, so I will leave it until I can have it all done.
Summer Sleep. It might seem weird to talk about summer sleep during a first quarter update. Last year I had difficulties that I don’t want to talk about publicly, but I will say that it taught me the importance of sleep. Not only do I need to get enough sleep, but I need quality sleep. I believe that lack of sleep during the long days of summer has perhaps caused my summertime Seasonal Effective Disorder. It’s barely spring, but the days are getting longer and the shift to Daylight Savings Time has already messed with my sleep quality. Some of the efforts I have taken so far this year have been reading “Why We Sleep” and researching and purchasing blackout shades for my room. When I took down the old shade, I discovered cracks that needed caulking, so file that under home improvement. I only did that earlier today, so it technically falls into Q2. I hope to install the blind in the next day or two.
Financial. I committed to not using credit cards for anything at the first of the year. So far so good on this one, despite the again aforementioned stuff. The time I took off work last year had caused me to have to use my cards during the time frame that I was waiting for my short-term disability to be approved. Most of that is paid off. I was hoping to repay my savings account and to pay off one of the cars this year. Those will likely be adapted to 2022 goals. I am claiming success that I was able to pay for the coaching program without using credit or borrowing from Squid. One other thing that I will put here… I sold my little car. It was the first thing I bought on my own as an adult without any help from my parents, so it had a special place in my heart, but it was time for it to go. The man who bought it owns about six more, so he was the perfect person to receive it. And the money from selling the car paid part of the cost of cutting down the tree.
Books. My goal for 2021 is to read 45 books – one for each year of my age. The four books below that I finished in March bring my total so far this year to 18 books. I am well ahead of schedule, which is good. More on January’s books here and February’s here.
Books I read in March
The Hazel Wood and The Boy Who Didn’t Come Home
I read The Hazel Wood for my local book club’s challenge. I picked this one for the task of reading a book with a beautiful cover. I thought this was a very unique story for being a twist on fairy tales, and I enjoyed it. Alice was pretty likable for a teenage protagonist. Maybe it was her anger issues that made her seem more realistic than a lot of similar characters. I enjoyed the journey and the world. This is the first book in a series. I’ve read so many “book ones” that it’s hard for me to ever say if I will continue with a series. The audiobook had a bonus novella of volume 1.5, The Boy Who Didn’t Come Home. It wasn’t as interesting to me as the first book, but it was a fun add on.
The Body Keeps the Score
This was my second time listening to this audiobook. This is not an easy one. It’s about how trauma takes root in our bodies, so it is especially not easy for someone with trauma. I have to imagine that it’s especially, especially difficult if that trauma was sexual in nature. There are some areas of the book where that is the topic. It’s hard. But I find the ideas and the information so valuable that I am able to push through. I think it helps that I use the audiobook and my brain can go a bit fuzzy during certain parts if it needs to. I knew I missed a lot the first time I listened, so I wanted to listen again. I thought about putting it right back on hold as soon as I finished, because it is in high demand and has a long wait. I decided to give myself time to read and listen to some other books before getting back on the list for this one. I should buy one or the ebook to have for reference. If you have chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, or myriad other symptoms that seem to have no cause, I highly recommend this book. I also highly recommend having a good therapist, because this book is hella triggering. Proceed with caution and self-compassion.
Far From the Madding Crowd
This was another for my book club reading challenge. The task was to read a classic book. One of my coaches mentioned the movie on her community call and I realized I always wanted to read this but hadn’t. It took me a while and there were times that it seemed so slow, but I think that is the nature of a book that was originally serialized. They had to meet the requirements for each installation versus focusing on the book as a whole. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book in the end, but I was pleased. I hadn’t read Hardy since Return of the Native in high school, which I loved. I wish I had read this one sooner. There may be more Hardy in my future.
Up Next
I am currently reading a handful of books. I only finished four in March, but I am currently reading four books and should be able to finish three of them in April. The fourth is a read-along I’m doing with my 20-year-old. I don’t put too much pressure on finishing that one, because it is literally a book about dealing with anxiety. Adding pressure is not the way too go. I can pressurize myself and leave the poor kid out it.
I also have some goals that include self-care and making sure I get that sleep I talked about. The next three months will be the critical test of my hypothesis.
I also need to develop a routine around coaching and build my website for that. The website might be a longer term project, but this blog was started a few years ago as a way to practice using WordPress with the intention of building a coaching site at some point. Buying a new url felt like a huge step.
There’s lots more to do around the house. I would also like to get out of the house more. It still doesn’t feel safe to commit to some of my annual trips, so I am planning some smaller trips. I really hope that concerts will be a thing again soon. I want them to be safe and smart, but I really miss live music.
I would love it if you left a comment to let me know how your 2021 goals and reading are going so far!