Brian and Libby's Blog

2007...

So, like most of American I've made vows to resolution-ize some things this year. I have conveniently waited until 19 days into the new year to make these goals public...just to make sure I am serious about them...and so if they're sure-thing failures I can weed them out instead of publicizing my defeat. But so far I think I'm off to a good start. I've been learning that if you have a vision but don't specify what benchmarks let you know you're on your way to accomplishing the goal, you probably won't get there. Furthermore, if you don't specify the daily steps you'll take to accomplish those goals, you'll never get there. So, I tried to do both.

I basically took a mental inventory of the things that bother and distract me every day. The things I want to change but look back on every year and have remained pretty much the same. So, like a large percentage of the world, one of my goals involves health and wellness. Specifically, I want to get back to what I weighed in high school (as if I'll publicize what that number is, or what I have to lose to get there). I also want to start running again. Running the 5k was a huge accomplishment for me. My whole life I've told myself I'm "not a runner" and guess what, I never was! So for me to run 3 consecutive miles without walking at all (or falling flat on my face for that matter) was pretty much equivalent to walking on the moon. Now that I know I can, in fact, run, I want to run run more. A 10k...this October. That's the goal; a quite reasonable one considering that I "trained" for the 5k in 11 days (not a recommended training regimen by the way, hence the 2 months my knees punished me for the abuse) and now I have 10 months.

One of my other goals is just to get some control back in the day-to-day stuff. It seems like I'm always "too busy" lately, and as a result, all I want is downtime. Always tripping over laundry, grabbing fast food, racing from one place to the next, and stressed out in the process. And if I cut out anything to allow for a little margin in my schedule, I feel guilty for it. Skip out on an obligation, feel guilty. Cancel on friends, feel guilty. Cut out my workout, feel guilty. Leave work on time even though things aren't done, feel guilty. Can I get a witness? So, I've made a daily change that will help with this AND miraculously help me achieve my first goal too. I, the girl who barely gets out of bed by 7 (embarassing, I know) and is always rushing to work, was going to go to the gym BEFORE work and still get there at 8. Estimated wake up time = 5:30am. Yikes. It is still dark at 5:30.

So I started last week, and guess what? I loved it. I was at work on time, raaaarrrring to go (spelling?), and all day, I knew that even if I didn't leave right on time, it was ok, because I didn't have to rush to the gym before going wherever I needed to go that night. And, as a result, I have two, sometimes three, weeknights totally free. And on those nights, I can actually go home and take some time making a healthful dinner, something that relaxes me and I truly enjoy, and then do all those things I never get to on normal days. So far so good...it's been great. I'm not going to lie...today I wasn't up until 6:20 but I managed to rip myself out of bed and still get a workout in and get to work at a decent time. And after work...the evening is all mine!

So anyways, I've obviously made a conscious decision to make these resolutions public, and I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't considered the repurcusions of slacking off and, perish the thought, failing. So I consider it all of your responsibility to check up on me from time to time and make sure I'm taking steps towards accomplishing my 2007 goals!

posted by Libby @ 10:46 AM