Goals for July 2022

 

Yesterday I shared with you the updates of how I did on my June goals. Today I want to tell you my plans for the month of July! I can't help but think of the Proverb that says, "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." This is something my plan-loving mind needs to remember. I am placing these goals before myself this month, because I work better with accountability. But I'm also placing them before the Lord, recognizing that He might have other plans and goals for me instead!

1. Try out some regular office hours at Love INC.

Ryan's office manager has a week off this month, and he has asked me to fill in for her while she's gone. I'm really looking forward to this, because it will help me learn much more (and probably much faster!) about the work he's doing and the work I will need to do as I settle into my role there. I also have some plans to spend some additional days with him at the office (aside from her vacation) so we can see the pros and cons of working onsite vs. at home. 

2. Return to a regular workout schedule.

Back when we were still at WillowBridge, I spent several weeks meeting with a health coach. I learned so many valuable things from her, and one thing she told me regularly was this: If nothing changes, nothing changes. Since we left WillowBridge, I have been working very slowly to make changes to my life in keeping with the things I learned from her. She felt strongly that work stresses were preventing me from making any kind of healthy changes in my life, so my first stop post-WillowBridge was to simply rest. Sleep. Sit. Breathe. Enjoy. I did that for about six weeks, and I didn't really worry about anything else in that time. Then I increased my water intake and started walking regularly again just to get movement into my day. It wasn't power walking. It was just moving. Then this last month, I started stretching. Now it's time to work out again. I considered starting super small - with just a day or two each week. But then I reminded myself that several years ago, I jumped into daily workouts, and I managed it. There's no reason I can't do that again. So to start, I'm following this plan, which I can do at home at whatever time works for me! (Fun fact: I actually picked this out a couple of weeks ago and decided to start it this week, even though it's not July yet. So I'm ahead of schedule already! I'm also reminded how painful it is to begin a workout after you haven't worked out for a long time. Everything hurts.)

3. Continue making plans for our tenth anniversary.

I've already started this, but I would really like to lay out as many of the plans as possible during this month. If there are things we want to do that we need to save for, I want to know what they are and how much we'll need to budget. If there are things we need to make reservations for, I want to make sure to get that done before slots fill up. Because it is so far out on the calendar, there are probably some things that haven't yet been advertised. I'll have to keep checking as time gets closer. But I want to do as much as I can to have the planning done. I've learned that when I take time to plan ahead, I am often quite grateful later when things get busy without warning and I no longer have the time! 

4. Try one fun hair thing each week.

This one may sound silly to you, but I'm putting it on the list. I think I mentioned in a Saturday Six not long ago that I've been watching some of Josie Balka's hair tutorials. I have gotten so lazy (compared to high school, if that tells you how long I've been lazy) about DOING things with my hair. It's clearly been so long that I actually don't even know HOW to do things with my hair anymore. I am confident there will be some clear disasters that are worth nothing more than laughing at and perhaps preserving with a picture, but I still want to try. I won't have the time or patience to do this every day. I'm probably better off starting with days when I don't have to go anywhere, just in case the results are disastrous. But I do want to start somewhere. So...once a week it is! 

5. Do a couple more of my top ten house project items.

Perhaps I'll surprise myself by what I choose to do, but if I had to guess, I would say that this might be a good month to figure out the lamp situation in the guest room and hang the pictures in the foyer. I mean, really, how long could either of those take? Maybe it would be a good month to do the accent wall in the foyer, if I get to feeling really adventurous. Come to think of it, it might actually be a GREAT month to do that, because we're stuck at home watering for at least another month, if not longer. 

6. Work on decorating Ryan's office at Love INC.

Speaking of decorating...Ryan's office needs some! He inherited Claudia's office after she left, and it's basically just a bedroom in a house that has been turned into an office. It has all the practical pieces (desk, chairs, table, bookshelf, etc.) but nothing at all that has any pieces of his personality in it. Since we're going to have several days together at the office this month, it might be the perfect time to make it look a little more like home. Happily, we have many decorations left that we didn't have room for in our house, so I have lots of things to "shop" to spruce up the room. I am really excited to do this. Ryan is really excited that he doesn't have to do it! Ha! 

7. Start my Love INC training.

In the coming months, I have some specific online and in-person training to attend for my new role with Love INC. But before I do those training sessions, there are some prerequisite trainings I need to do at my own pace. I would love to start going through those so I can learn the nuts and bolts better and hopefully support Ryan better in his role! I should have time to do those this month, so I'm making it a goal to knock out at least one set of them!