Thoughtful Thursday: Time to Review My Goals

It's that time of year again. The television shows constant weight-loss program advertisements, fitness centers are advertising New Year's specials, and all work-out apparel and equipment are on ridiculous sales!! Many people are thinking about their New Year's resolutions, and I've decided to check up on my New (School) Year resolutions. These are my personal resolutions. I have another list of professional resolutions, but they are pretty boring - continue to develop the internship program, continue to provide music therapy services, etc. Yawn! So, here are my personal resolutions and intentions.

I always start my intentions at the beginning of the new school year because that is my major checkpoint. January is simply the middle of the school year for me, so I've found that resolutions made in January are not nearly as effective for me as the ones that I make in August. So, here is an update on my goals from August. The original text is in black type and the updates are in dark green type. I have edited a bit, so you can read the entire blog post by clicking here, if you are interested.
  1. Daily happiness: Over on some of my other social media feeds, I have a practice of finding something in my life that is a positive... I'm going to keep up this practice. I am still doing a daily daily happiness post, though I have missed a couple of days recently due to illness and inability to get out of bed. I find that this practice is something that helps me focus on the good rather than dwelling in the bad minutiae. I'm doing very well with this goal!!
  2. Eat better: This is a constant goal of mine. I do not always go for the green things that I should. This is something that I continue to struggle with, and I gave up on the consumption log after about two weeks, but my freezer does have significantly more vegetables. I will continue to work on this as well. I am making progress, but it is slow progress.
  3. Exercise daily: Again, this is something that I want to do more often. I'll keep track of this in my regular bullet journal and give myself a tick in my tracker when I finish this task. I have a new exercise bike, so I have no excuse not to exercise except that I am lazy as all get out. This has been the one that has not even started yet. I am taking this one as my primary home focus for the next several months because I want to do more healthy things, and I have the equipment, so there is absolutely no excuse other than I am lazy. To make exercise a bit more palatable for me, I am going to combine my YouTube addiction with my exercise. I will only watch Bullet Journal Plan With Me videos on the exercise cycle.
  4. Write to Mom and Kelly weekly: My sister has been complaining that she never gets letters, so I am adding her to my goal of writing to my Mom every week. Guess she won't be able to complain as much if she actually gets letters now. I did this really well until just after the AMTA conference. Now it has been an entire month since I've written letters to my mother or my sister. Time to start this habit up again!
  5. Save money: This is also a constant goal of mine. I feel that I am doing well on this front, but I can always do better.
  6. Clear stuff out: I was able to clear out some of my extraneous stuff, but not nearly enough. I want to keep going with this goal. I want to clear something out every week. Nope - haven't done very well on this front either. So, something out of the house every day before I get to watch YouTube videos and work out! Ugh, but it is something that I absolutely have to do!
  7. Challenge creativity: This is where my graphic design interests and other crafting, composing, and creative explorations will fall. I want to post things to my website and to my TPT store on a weekly basis. I want to be challenging myself to be creative, even when I don't feel all that creative. This is really vague on purpose because I want to see where it goes. I am making progress on this front, but I am not up to weekly posts and products at this time. I'm at about 2 per month right now. Progress towards a long-term Desired Outcome, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
  8. Sew and crochet new things: This is another creative goal. I like sewing and crocheting, but I often do the same things over and over again. I want to expand my repertoire to include more than prayer shawls and bean bags. Most of my "Maker" focus has been on paper crafts lately. I do want to work with fabric and yarn more often. Maybe I'll focus an hour of Sundays on this goal. Bean bags are easy to make, and I have plenty of recycled fabric to use to make them - again, I just have to sit down and make some time. Sunday afternoons would be a good time to do this. I could sew while the laundry is going...hm.
I have other things I want to accomplish this year as well. I am going back to using the library every other week. I want to buy a house. I want to move out of my apartment into something that I can make my own, so I will be exploring this process. I also want to be healthy and happy and try new things.

One of the things that some bullet journalers do (which I know because I spend SO much time watching those Plan With Me videos) is establish a word of the month or year or day or something. I've chosen my word for 2019.

Courage

That's it. That's my word, and I am interpreting it to mean doing things that I've never done before and putting myself out there for others to see more and more. I will be looking at my current life and at what I want my life to be, and I will be courageous in my journey into unknown territories and new horizons.

It is time.

What are your goals for yourself? For your music therapy self? Are they the same? Are they different for you as a human and for you as a therapist? Mine certainly are!! 

Courage, dear ones! Courage! Let's step into this new calendar year together. See you there!!

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