{Goals: One month, One week}

Time for another goal check in, and asking myself how I'm doing.

• to listen to my body, intentionally.  

Mostly, I feel like I'm succeeding well in this area.  I've had a few moments of weakness, like when I couldn't stop myself from eating that extra slice of pizza, but overall, my evening munchie times have decreased a lot.  Until I got sick this week, and then for the last 3 days, all bets have been off.  It's funny how when you're sick and it's when you really should be eating well, that that's the moment when all you want is comfort food.

I'm really challenging myself to make time to make dinners from whole ingredients, rather than using a lot of processed mixes, pastas, and sauces. I've lost a couple of pounds since the first of the year, but weight loss isn't really my overall goal here, it's being healthy and being fit.  I'm also listening to days when my body needs time off of working out and when it's wanting to work out.  Most days, I have at least 15 minutes for a good sweat session, which releases toxins but also releases negative emotion. I just finished a 30 day fitness challenge, have started teaching Oula again, and am really looking forward to springtime when I can begin running more consistently again.  I began training for a half marathon in April, and then have had to take a few days off due to snow (literally everywhere!!!) and sickness, but I'm looking forward to getting back in this week.  I am certainly enjoying feeling stronger, and am excited to start my next challenge to push myself toward being more healthy and fit!

Hubs and I after a quick run this Fall.

• to intentionally give myself structured down time.  

Meh.  Some days this is going great, and other days it all goes out the window.  When I come home from a particularly stressful day at work, I don't want structure.  I literally spent all day Saturday and again on Monday (sick day) sitting on my couch curled up with books.  Sometimes it's just what you need.  On particularly stressful work days, I just want to bury myself in a book and escape to a far off land when I get home.  And some days structure works for my schedule, and other days it doesn't.  While I've been trying to stay away from social media at all hours of the day, I still find myself on my phone frequently when I'm a passenger in the car, though, so that's my next area of challenge to myself...  Putting the phone down and interacting with whoever I'm with.  I know myself, and this will be a tough one.

• to challenge myself to share more of "me" with those around me. 

This one has definitely been challenging.  The hubs and I have made some intentional decisions about how we are spending our time lately, and this includes inviting more people over more frequently.  January has definitely felt very busy, but it has also been very enjoyable.  I've also been helping him lead a class at our church, and have felt more confident in stepping out and giving my input, sharing from my own experiences.  I have some other ideas that I've been really trying to get my mind around how best to share, and I feel like some of that is starting to gel, which excites me.

We have also been through some difficult emotional times the last couple of months when we had some misunderstandings with friends.  This experience has stretched and grown me in ways that were very uncomfortable at times, yet also very good.  Some days, though, I have felt like the answer is to shrink back and not be vulnerable to others.  It is a difficult thing to hold your heart and feelings out for others to trample on...especially when they take advantage of that opportunity! It's definitely a process of pushing and pulling, of taking steps forward and backward, to try to figure out this thing called life!

And while we've been more intentional about being with people as a couple, I can definitely reflect that I haven't been the best at reaching out to my friends personally over the last couple of weeks.  I've definitely been in more introvert mode, and maybe that's myself trying to balance for the busyness in other areas of life.  So that's a goal for the next little phase of this experiment.  To reach out to others, and let them know what's going on with me.



How are you doing on your New Year's Goals?  Have you all but given up?  Or still going strong?  What steps will you take this week to get back on track or continue to push forward?  We are all in this together!!

xo,
Becca