ballet

Day 69: Happy October!

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Eek! It seems like I was just doing one of these at the beginning of September. It positively flew by and now we’re here – October 1.

I know we just had a monthly check-in, but there is an update!

  1. Become a Novelist
  2. Ballet
  3. Promotion
  4. Credit Card debt
  5. In a relationship

That’s right! There was a job open and I was waffling about applying for awhile, but I did and I got it. It’s a bit too soon to celebrate since we’re still discussing salary, but I think it’s just they’ll give me what I ask for or they’ll keep it the same. There’s not a danger that I would turn down the job or that they’ll un-offer the job to me. 🙂

Hooray! What good news for the start of the month. Of all the goals I’m slacking on the most I think Ballet is the one I’m having the hardest time with, so I want to make October my ballet month. I’ll do my very best to get back on track this month and I’ve made a few adjustments to my schedule, so it should be easier (ahem…should be…but we’ll see how that goes.

Perhaps in a few months I’ll be able to cross off one more of these. Nothing happening yet! Just wishful, positive thinking.

Until tomorrow.

Day 48: Another Challenge

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Of all the goals I set for myself the one I have the most trouble with is EXERCISING. I have no idea why except that I have never really had an exercise routine, but I can barely even start one before it falls apart. Also, I do all my exercise alone, which means accountability is really, really hard.

This week I’m going to try my best do exercise EVERY SINGLE DAY (except Thursday because I have my art class and I paid a lot of money for that and could not possibly bring myself to skip it). I’m exhausting already thinking about it, but if I do it for at least three or four days, that’s better than nothing and if I do it all the days, then I’ll know what it feels like to lead the exercise level life I wish I did. That’s all for now. Starting tomorrow I’ll be a fit, but fatigued machine.

Until tomorrow.

 

Day 15: The Problem is the Journey

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Literally. Another Tuesday and another failed attempt at going to dance class after work.  I enjoy it. I really do. But it’s just a tad bit too far to be considered “convenient” and that is really the block in the road. The journey is the difficult part; the ending is the part I actually enjoy. Last week I said the lure of greasy food would be the place that gets me there, but that clearly isn’t the case.

Next week I’ll try breaking it down into smaller steps:

  1. Finish work
  2. Go into the bathroom
  3. Change into workout clothes
  4. Get in car
  5. Get on the highway (in the right direction – no towards home)
  6. Arrive
  7. Dance

Lucky number seven!

I’m the kind of person who really enjoys crossing off To-Do lists, so hopefully this will actually get me there!

Until tomorrow.

Day 9: Guilty

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I started the week off so well by going to yoga on Sunday. I had the best intentions to go to barre class today – I packed my bag, made sure I had a snack for before class and got a full tank of gas…but the end of work rolled around and my eyes were hurting for some unknown reason and I forgot to turn in my rent check this morning. So instead of going to barre class, I just went home and watched more of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. All the best intentions and none of the follow through.

I really want to got to class. And as soon as the clock ticks one minute past the start of class I feel really guilty for not going, but somehow I just can’t motivate myself to go. Especially after work. So I’m going to try a few different methods in the coming weeks to see if I can make it to class.

For next week I’ll let myself buy this fast food after class that I normally don’t, but like so much. There’s not one close to where I live, but there is one close to the studio! It seems counter productive to eat greasy, unhealthy food after I exercise, but it’s a small reward for something I find so hard to do! And  after I make my exercise into a habit, I can drop the reward. Stay tuned next week!

Until tomorrow.

Day 8: Downward Dog

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I suppose it may be impractical to think that I’ll blog every day. I can try my best, but it’s almost inevitable that I’m going to miss a day or two. Part of living the life I have is to also forgive myself when I fall short of my own expectations. (All the time.) So it’s okay if I miss a day here and there. Maybe some people can blog every day without fail, but I’ll just have to accept that I’m not one of those people.

While I’ve been dog sitting, I haven’t been keeping up with Goal #1(Finishing my book and getting it published) so well. Having a dog is really very time consuming. Also, she likes to stick her nose in my ear during the night to make sure I’m okay and still alive. One she discovers all is well she goes back to sleep, but that still doesn’t prevent her from doing it the next night too.

I did go to yoga today, so that’s something! I’ve been wanting to go for awhile and then putting it off and putting it off and putting it off. So instead of going to barre class like I said I would, I went to yoga. Well one or the other, at least I did something. So at least I did some work towards goal #2 (Moving up to the next level in ballet).

Tomorrow dog goes back to her own and I can get down to writing (hopefully).

Until tomorrow.

Day One

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07/23/2018

I was driving to work this week and for some reason it dawned upon me that I don’t particularly like my life. Sure, it’s fine, but there’s very few things I do on a day to day basis that I enjoy. Reading, watching Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, writing in my journal. Those are all fun (solitary) things, which enjoy, but the life I currently lead is vastly different from the life I have in my head. (Maybe not vastly, but some hyperbole is allowed.)

So I’ve decided to change my life. Today is (music swells) the first day of the rest of my life. And a Sunday to boot, so how fortuitous – unless you think the week starts on on Monday.

But, back to changing my life. This day next year, I want my life to be closer to what I want. Closer to who I want to be. So here’s what I want.

  1. Novelist – I’ve been working on a novel for the better part of the past year. It’s a children’s book which I find amusing, but I’m not sure if anyone else will. So this time next year I want agents to have been queried, publishers to reject me and hopefully one who’s accepted me. Maybe I’ll have a pile of rejection letters, but at least it’s out there in the world.
  2. Ballet! I wrote a few posts about ballet and have not really done much. Work and life gets in the way, as it does to all things. This time next year I want to have moved up to the next level at my studio.
  3. I want a promotion. This is a bit tricky because someone has to leave for a position to even be open unless they add more teams and jobs. But too often I get in my own way and curtail my ambitions, so if I position comes open, I’m going to apply.
  4. Get out of credit card debt – Ugh this is the worst. I racked up a bunch when I was unemployed and I’ve been paying it off pretty aggressively, but I think by this time next year I should be out of it or almost out.
  5. In a relationship – This would be nice, but would be like a bonus to my life (the frosting on the cake, as it were) rather than something I really truly want to aim for.

So there we have it. The things I really want out of the next year. Of course, there’s tons of other things I want to do as well: learn French, how to fly a plane, go on a trip, learn to play the piano. But those are other things for other days and other years and right now I’ll just focus on these. Maybe on July 23, 2018 I can put some of those on my list.

Until tomorrow.

Ten Thousand-ish

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Ballet

 

For the past few years I’ve been taking ballet classes off and on. Adult ballet classes. I never took them as a child, but I always wanted too. I remember at a young age asking my one ballet friend all about class and performances and what being part of a production was like. To me it just seemed like magic. Even as a teenager, I looked for adult classes I might be able to join. Sadly, there weren’t any in my area.

Then one day a few years ago I suddenly realized – I’m an adult and I can do whatever I want, whenever I want (for the most part, as I am very law-abiding and rule oriented). So I signed up for a beginner class! By myself. It was scary doing something new and all alone, but I loved it! It’s been a few years since I took that beginner class and so I want to get back in the saddle (or rather in the shoes). I’ve been having trouble making it to class for the last year or so and I want this blog to be some sort of accountability. I know I’ll never dance on stage, but I’d at least like to make it into pointe shoes! At least once.

They say you need 10,000 hours to become an expert at something. Maybe I’ll never make it there, but I want to get as close as I can. (I even have a tracker on my phone. It’s called Mastery.) So here’s to the start of 10,000 hours and some sort of accountability. And practice. Lots and lots of practice. I’ll update my progress along the way with some other blog posts thrown in about things I love. This is – after all – a blog about finding things in life which bring me joy, however small.

xoxo