Second Quarter Check-In, 2018

I made an executive decision to delay my second quarter check-in by a few days this year. Because: World Domination Summit!

We just got home and we have the holiday off, midweek. A lot of very exciting project ideas came out of our WDS this year. Here at the midpoint of the year, it feels very strongly like we’re getting a fresh start, which we could really use.

As usual, I’ll start out with all the obstacles and hassles of the quarter. These are the sorts of things that make me want to quit, that feel like legitimate reasons to give up on not just these goals, but any goals at all. I got the flu AGAIN (different version), plus a week-long cold and a five-day stomach bug. That one happened while my husband was out of town. I’ve spent four weeks of 2018 being sick. I got bit by a dog, tore a nail slightly away from the nail bed on four separate occasions, and got a fat lip in kickboxing class. I have a bald spot again because that’s apparently what happens when my upstairs neighbor interferes with my sleep for several months. Our dog ran away while we were on vacation, and we found out just as we were sitting down to dinner on the first night.

What’s going well? Everything else! My hubby got approved for his first patent. We may be on track to save 40% of our income this year. I got the area directorship I wanted in Toastmasters. The night our dog ran away, it turned out that he had run straight back to our apartment, where he was patiently waiting the whole time, because yeah. Most of all, we’re settling in and building a social life. One of our favorite things in life is to mentor young people, and we have some of that going on for the first time in a few years.

My personal goal for the year was to explore a martial art. The premise behind my personal goal is to seriously push my limits in a direction I’ve never gone before. It’s supposed to be something drastically uncharacteristic that feels so uncomfortable I want to quit. Martial arts was a fantastic choice! Only halfway through the year, I’ve gone through my first belt promotion (orange belt in Krav Maga) and my second (another orange belt, for Muay Thai) is coming up this month. So far I’ve noticed dramatic effects in raising my pain threshold, changing my body composition, popping out muscles I couldn’t even identify when I first saw them, and causing most general social friction to feel irrelevant. Basically, if a random person is rude to me, I feel, “Oh yeah? *snort* LOL”

My career goal was to launch a podcast. This is now officially eating my brain. I wake up in the morning and my brain is immediately preoccupied with framing a new episode. Creative projects feel like this to me, a steadily building pressure that needs to be released before it quite literally starts commanding my attention every waking moment. All this was already going on when my husband and I got the idea that we should do a show together, also. This makes it more likely to happen, since we’ll both be going through the learning curve together and we can split the research.

My physical goals were to run Shamrock Run 2018 and build a daily stretching routine. I knew not to aim bigger because this year, my personal goal is in a physical arena. Best to leave it open-ended. At the midpoint of the year, not only am I attending advanced classes at my martial arts school, I’m also riding my bike nearly five miles round-trip. I feel worse on rest days than I do on class days, just stiff and indolent. I can do physical things that I didn’t even know were a thing. My husband asks me to open jars, because it’s funny. I have no idea what I’ll be doing with my body six months from now, and I’m just dwelling in that uncertainty because it’s so weird and exciting.

Our home goal was to lower our rent. That was a success, a quick and easy one. The ramifications have been mixed, though. We’re crushing it on our financial goals, but living in a studio apartment has been, well, disastrous. Our upstairs neighbors have a deep-seated need to do all their housework between 6 and 8 AM every day of the week. We had to go to the property manager and complain. Now they generally wait until 8:01. Things did get a bit better when I identified the key gossip of our apartment complex and put it out there that “I have a sleep disorder and my hair is falling out.” True, generally private information but true. Our new home goal is to figure out where we want to move when our lease is up.

Our couples goal for the year is to go on an international vacation. Now it’s time to start making firm plans and booking tickets. We just got home from our week-long WDS trip, so travel is on our minds.

My stop goal is to stop losing focus on incomplete projects. Right now this is not working, not working at all, because instead I keep ADDING MORE. I am a glutton. I had an insight on this, though, which is that I think I prefer open-ended projects (like a blog, a podcast, holding a volunteer office) rather than Maker-type, “know what done looks like” projects. That’s probably why I published over 1000 pages on this blog in 2017 rather than publishing a 250-page book.

My lifestyle upgrade is to upgrade my laptop. Pretty sure I actually want a desktop rather than a laptop, partly because of the type of digital work I want to be doing and partly because I eat through keyboards.

Do the Obvious: Speak more slowly, with more pauses. I finally listened to audio of myself, and I think I’m where I want to be! I’m not getting anything about slowing down in my speech evaluations any more, and in fact I got one from a visitor to our club that mentioned long pauses. Amazing to think that something like this can be an approachable goal.

Quest: Travel in Asia or a fifth continent. In planning phases.

Wish: To find an amazing pet sitter. This was a success, and then... she moved. I’m reframing this as wishing to be surrounded by cheerful people who will delightedly watch our critters for us.

Mantra: PAUSE AND BREATHE. Still.

Personal: Explore a martial art - SUCCESS
Career: Launch a podcast
Physical: Run Shamrock Run 2018, build a daily stretching routine - SUCCESS+
Home: Lower our rent - SUCCESS
Couples: Go on an international vacation together
Stop goal: Stop losing focus on incomplete projects
Lifestyle upgrades: Upgrade laptop
Do the Obvious: Speak more slowly, with more pauses
Quest: Travel in Asia / a fifth continent
Wish: To find an amazing pet sitter - SUCCESS
Mantra: PAUSE AND BREATHE