As you may recall, at the beginning of the year, I committed myself to getting stronger in 2015. I finished 2014 feeling a little beat up and I was ready to stop trying to do all the things. Here’s how it’s going so far:
Mind
I have a semester and a half left of grad school, folks. I will be done by September. I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this fact. I’ve been working hard the past couple months to complete all my work, hence the lack of posts sometimes, and I’m really excited about my research topic.
Meanwhile, I’m working on some of my other skills goals as well. Last weekend I took a photography class through IS183, which was something I’d been planning to do for literally years. I haven’t had much time to practice, but I feel like I have a clue about shooting in a manual mode and I’m looking forward to sharing pictures that reflect that. I also developed my interior painting skills this month…and I’m still looking forward to doing some more.
Body
Oh, body. I wrote in January that my goal was to do yoga 6 days a week, but that only lasted like 2 weeks before I started missing days. I keep promising myself that I’ll jump back on the bandwagon, but it’s been a struggle (though I’m up to 2 days in a row!) Scheduling is part of the issue; ideally, I’d spend some time on the mat first thing in the morning, but I’m just slow in the morning and I’m trying to get in the habit of making myself a real breakfast as well. It just doesn’t seem possible to do everything I want to in the morning. I’ve no issue with working out in the afternoon, but my schedule has been so erratic that it makes routine difficult. Hopefully the next two months work great!
Spirit
My spirit is so much better than it was last fall. A lot of that has to do with circumstances, but I’ve also done a few other things. The current She Reads Truth study is a 47 day study on Lent that’s been excellent. Speaking of Lent, Brian and I both chose to stop working on Sundays. This may sound like an easy and wonderful thing to give up (like, giving up washing dishes or something), but I realized that part of my stress and my inability to relax was the fact that I was working all the time. If I wasn’t doing work for school, I was reading for grad classes or writing blog posts or completing tasks for my part time job. I love to work and I love getting things done, so stopping has been a sacrifice and a struggle (as Lent should be), but the rewards have been great: I manage my time better and I actually relax at least once a week.
Relationships
Relationships are difficult to strengthen; everyone is so darn busy! I did get the chance to visit with some friends in the past couple months, but the relationship I have seen the most improved is the one I have with Brian. For one, the no-work Sundays have provided us with the opportunity to spend time together. We’ve made the afternoon a “Date Day” – last weekend we went out to lunch and to The Clark Art Museum – and it was awesome. In addition, we started using You Need a Budget at the end of January and it’s been awesome. We never fought about money, but we definitely viewed it differently sometimes. YNAB is not only helping us achieve our financial goals, but it has provided an impetus for many productive conversations that have put us even more on the same page.
Looking forward to the next couple months!
