Better Late Than Never: Four Simple Goals

Sunday, September 12, 2010


A month ago today, the fantastically creative Elsie of A Beautiful Mess wrote up her "Four Simple Goals" for the remainder of 2010: four ways to make her life richer & happier before the year ends. Since then, dozens of bloggers throughout the interwebz have posted four simple goals of their own, & each one has inspired me just a little bit more than the last. After a refreshing vacation week in NYC & Philly with my best friend, I've come up with a few goals of my own to start off the Jewish new year of 5771 & this new (unemployed) phase of my life. So with a little bit of thought & a lot of commitment, I present you with my four simple goals for the last three & a half months of 2010.
  1. Embrace disconnectivity.
    My iPhone is an extension of my arm. It plugs in behind my bed & rests just next to my pillow at night. It's the last thing I see before I fall asleep & the first thing I head to when I wake up. I have zero unread emails. I've tweeted nearly 18,800 times & have 1,200+ Facebook friends. The other day, I stumbled upon an e-card (ironic or apropos?) that read, "Enough with the iPhone. It doesn't love you back (there's no app for that)." Indeed, I fear I've been ignoring face-to-face interaction in favor of thumbs-to-screen interaction, foregoing human connections in favor of online connectivity. I think it's time to take a break, even if it's small steps: not bringing my phone with me to the bathroom (TMI? You're welcome), plugging it in across the room overnight, not checking it when I'm mid-conversation. It's the little things, right?

  2. Make healthier choices.
    September has been quite a month - of eating. Just 12 days in, I have already consumed so much deliciously fattening food. But the result of that? Well, it's self-explanatory. And it's not just that: I'm simply not feeling my best, & I want to pay attention to what my body needs. It's the only one I've got, y'know? It would be easy, upon my return to the Midwest, to indulge in the fast food & chain restaurants that run so rampant, but I can't let myself take that path. I'm not saying I need to lose a billion pounds or start barfing up pizza or running marathons, but it's time to start treating myself a little better, even if it just means choosing yogurt & granola at brunch sometimes over French toast & bacon. Eat better, eat less, move more - feel better.

  3. Indulge in hobbies.
    My time will surely be filled with job-hunting, it's true, but all work & no play has the all-too-real potential to make Kate both a dull & a depressed girl. Everyone needs a hobby or two, right? I want to knock off a few things on my 101 in 1,001 List. Maybe I'll take a (cheap) pottery class or take up running (again) or bake something from Love & Olive Oil's delicious-looking recipes. Maybe I'll teach myself a song on my guitar (finally) or attempt to knit. Indulge in my creative side, make some jewelry, start an Etsy shop? So many options. I don't need to do them all, of course, but I'd like to give some new things a try - & when better than now, when spare time abounds?

  4. Believe I can - & will - succeed.
    Unemployment is terrifying. Like, super-duper, insanely scary, particularly the not-having-health-insurance part. I am prone to moping, & I'm sure it will be tempting to sit around & lament my newfound joblessness. But I'm too good for that, a fact I need to bear in mind as I face this new phase of my life. It's time to figure out not just what I need but what I want, to find something that will both satisfy me & support me. This means not listening to everyone else, not fearing the future, & not settling for something I know isn't right for me. And trusting the process.
What do you want to do before the year ends? 

    2 comments:

    1. I love this post! Seriously I'm the same way with my iPhone. It's so bad to the point where I want to do something on my iPhone then by the time I unlock the screen, I forget what I wanted to do. I always have 1-3 unread emails because I'm always constantly checking my iPhone so I wonder what number it would be at if I didn't check it for a long period of time. Good luck with that!

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    2. Oh how I love this post. It’s sort of my brain. Except cleverly worded and well organized, with a pretty picture.

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