Friday, June 29, 2007

Happy Late Anniversary to Myself

What! I apparently missed my one year anniversary of blogging on June 14. Happy late anniversary to myself. In celebration I thought I would revisit some of the past year, but after starting to do so I realized it was only making me sad and I'd rather focus on 12 things I want to accomplish/do in this next year. Here's the list I came up with:

1. Start a real career. Not a lame job to pay the bills, but an honest to goodness real job.


2. Focus on positive things. I know this sounds very general, but it's not really. Lately I've been falling into a bit of a thought trap. Too many critical, unhappy thoughts. I've decided that I will think the absolute best of people no matter what. It'll be hard, but I'll be happier and people will enjoy my company more. This also includes not dwelling on past things and thinking about what I can do to move on or make the situation better.


3. Write thank you notes to share my gratitude. I feel like I have a good start on this one. I try to get thank you notes out and always show gratitude, but sometimes I get lazy about it and I can do a better job.


4. Write 2 songs that I'm really proud of. Guitar, piano, harmonica... Doesn't matter, but I think it'd be nice to be able to say "I wrote that" when people fall in love with my wonderful future songs.


5. Make and keep a budget. We're talking a serious financial system that would even make Banker Chic proud. Not just checking online every other day.






6. Sort out my religious thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. This one is sure to take a long time and hard work, but I've been treading water for far too long in my beliefs.






7. Enhance my relationships with family members. Not that they're that terrible right now, but I've always been closer to the female members and I should put more effort into all of them.




8. Bike a century (100 miles), run a 10k (this is far for a wussy runner like myself), and do several triathlons.




9. Give up refined sugar and caffeine permanently. Let the withdrawals begin.





10. Become more honest. I had an interesting conversation with Scrabble Boy tonight that really made me think about the whole concept of honesty in general. I've been unknowingly operating under the philosophy that sometimes lying is necessary when feelings are involved. And I still think that is sometimes it is necessary, but that those times are far and few between. I'm going to try to be brutally honest with myself and just plain honest with others.



11. Read one new classic a month. I tend towards contemporary literature although I have typically enjoyed classics in the past. Here's me broadening my horizons.





12. Develop my artistic talents. I used to be a photography major, but after I switched I stopped taking my "real" camera with me everywhere looking for good photo ops. I'd also like to learn how to draw more accurately and quickly, especially faces.




They're not easy goals and I won't be able to tackle them all at once, but I think with some hard work and determination I can succeed. woohoo! here's to year #2!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Admirable goals. I would just like you to note my most recent experience with looking at the good in people too much and not seriously noting thier bad traits. Don't let that one get you into the same trouble that I got into.
I'd like updates on the financial goal. Would a banker chic really be impressed?
Also, writing thank you notes is a quality that yuu already possess and do better than just about anyone I know.

Diane said...

Wow. That's quite a list.

I'm bad about thank you notes. I make my list and then, forget about it. I'm generally a year behind, regularly in mailing them out.

If you adjust your finances while your young, you will be way ahead of most of us.

We have a savings account that doesn't have an ATM card and isn't as convenient. All extra money, rebates, expense checks, etc., go in there and we TRY to never touch this money. It's one of the easiest ways for us to save besides an automatic deduction every month into our money market account.

Good luck, great goals to strive for.

Anonymous said...

This was so inspiring that I feel like snapping my fingers & saying you go girl, & that's out of the ordinary for me, but I'm sure you can do all of this!

Unknown said...

Ohmygoodness, that is amazing! Wishing you all the luck and love in the world; and I'm feeling your pain on the no caffeine/refined sugar... sigh. Woe to us and our lack of chocolate. ;)

xoxox

LEstes65 said...

Wow. That is some list. I support you 100% in all of them. Not that support from Texas will help you. But I've done #9 and it was harder than quitting smoking or drinking. But so worth it!

Allie said...

Great goals! Ambitious, but definitely not impossible.

Trish Ryan said...

What a great list! Can we play? We could make a group called "the bee's knees" or something, and take turns writing blogs about how we're doing on 1-10 on your list.

I probably won't give up sugar and carbs, but I love the idea of more thank you notes circulating in the world :)

Stacy said...

Wow, that's impressive. #9 strikes fear into my little heart.

j said...

sam - no worries. mostly i meant not talking negatively about people and trying to build them up. as for the financial bit, i'll be sure to give you updates and take advice.

diane - that's a great idea with the savings account. kind of like the no parking spot on monopoly :)

sarakastic - actually, you're the one who inspired me to make such a list. i was reading one of your blogs and thought, i should make list!

Heidi/Lynette - I've given up both before (though not together) they're both quite difficult, but i'm starting out gradually. hopefully i'll be able to quit for good this time.

allie - thanks for the support. i tried to pick ones that would stretch me, but not kill me.

trish - sure! i love having the support of people who share my goals. i'm only actually giving up refined sugar. So bread, fruit, etc. is still okay. I don't think i could ever give up pasta or bread. wayyyyy too painful.

stacy - it is quite frightening isn't it!