Mid-year Review

Can you believe we are half way through 2017? It sure is going fast.  I wanted to take a few moments and see how I'm doing with my goals.

First lets look at the difference between a goal, a task and a habit.

A goal is usually something that requires a set of tasks to accomplish. It is something you work towards to achieve.

A task is something you can do now. Completing tasks is the main way to make progress on a goal.

A habit is something you do (or want to do) repeatedly.

My 2017 word of the year:

This year's main goal:  to buy our travel trailer, live minimally,  intentionally focusing on working towards our 3 year goals.

☆We downsized and it's amazing! Letting go of over 5,000 things last year was the best thing we could have done. The house is never a mess. I know where everything is because everything has a place.

☆We are making progress and moving towards our 3 year goals. Of course it's slow, that's why they're 3 year goals and not this year's goals LOL.

☆We haven't purchased our trailer yet. It is still in the plan.  Hopefully by Christmas,  but it may get pushed back to next spring depending on money.

Now, on to individual goals in each of my three life focus areas: home, health and hobbies.

First my goals as written in January and then my progress and thoughts.

HOME
1. Household management - move, maintain housework routine.

2. Finances - pay off $5,000 debt, build savings.

3. Family, friends and pets - connect with family and friends regularly,  one monthly "out of the house" date night, work with the dogs to help them adjust to the move and more leashed walks.

☆1. We moved in February,  but will be moving again at the beginning of July.
I'm not sure why I listed "maintain housework routine". This is something I always do. It's a habit actually,  so no need for it to be on my goals list.

☆2. We have reduced our debt by $15,000 already this year, so crushed this goal!  Because we are reducing debt as much as possible,  the savings account is only growing minimally,  but it is showing some progress.

☆3. I talk to my mom 5 days a week and the kids usually once a week. I do text with my DIL a few times a week.  We don't have a lot of friends, but we see one of them usually once a week and a couple others once a month.

☆We started the year great with our dates, but when R was in the hospital so much in March we put this on hold. We usually have at home movie dates each weekend.

☆The dogs adjusted to the move pretty quickly. I hope they do the same with this upcoming move. I didn't really work with them on the leashed walks.  They aren't really social and hate leaving the yard or having people over. I've got to get started on this because I'm not sure if our next house will have a fence or not.

HEALTH
1.  Physical - lose 40 pounds, walk 300 miles.

2. Mental - meditation,  reading,  hobbies.

3. Spiritual - study, practice and celebrate.

☆My physical health has been my biggest focus so far this year. However,  I haven't made the progress I was hoping for with the weight loss. I have made improvements with my eating, water intake and activity  level, so I'm happy with that. As of June 15th I have walked 193.17 miles this year. That's over half way to my goal. Only 106.83 to go!

☆Mental health - the things I listed aren't really goals, more like things I could do in that category.  Hmmm what was I thinking?

☆Spiritual - these are goals, but not really specific enough.

HOBBIES
1. Cross stitch - complete one small piece each month and link with the Smalls stitch-a-long. Have birds finished this year.

2. Planners and journals - attend planner classes at Michael's each month, keep up with my 3 year journal and my bullet journal.

3. Other - make time for fun, try one new thing this year.

☆I have completed a small each month so far. Haven't started one for June yet, better get on that!
I haven't been working a lot on my birds, I don't think it will be done by December.

☆The only planner class I missed was when R was sick. I love going to these classes.
I missed a few days in my 3 year journal, but I think I can go back and fill it in using information from my bullet journal.  If not, then those days just stay empty for this year.
Still love my bullet journal! It's not as fancy as some others I see online, but it is very productive and therapeutic.

☆I have been enjoying my "fun time". Amazing how this one ties back in with mental health.
I have a couple of crafty things in mind to try, just haven't bought the stuff yet. Still 6 months to get this done.

***
I think overall I'm doing pretty good this year. Some things could use more of my attention, but the things I've focused on have shown progress.

I realise that not everything I wrote was a goal. But maybe I did that subconsciously because I wasn't really going to work on that area anyway?

I am the only person responsible for my life. I am learning to take small baby steps that lead me in the direction of my goals. This year I am intentionally making better choices in all my life focus areas.

So far, this year is looking good!

***
Wow,  this turned out to be a very long post. If you read all the way through, thank you. I shared this with you because I realize that the support I receive from my online friends is important and beneficial to me. It's a part of my growing process.