I usually start the new year with a list of goals for the year. I post them on Facebook to keep myself accountable, and I post daily and weekly updates to track my progress. I first started doing this in the year 2020.
I’ve kept doing this over the years because I have found that it has helped me achieve some of my goals. My goal of reading 30 minutes a day has helped me finish more books. Some years, my weight loss goals were achieved, or at least progress was made. I decluttered my house using the Marie Kondo method, I completed two manuscripts for books I would like to publish, I started a website and a blog, and my dog now gets a walk every single day.
This year my goals were to live within my means, read 30 minutes a day, lose 8 pounds, build my author’s platform by writing a weekly blog and posting to my author social media pages, and I was also going to send out queries to two agents per week to seek representation for my two manuscripts. I had one other goal to work on photo albums. I take thousands of pictures every year, another one of my hobbies, and I am years behind in getting those organized into albums.
Right now, I’m in a bit of a rut in my goals. First, I think I have too many. There is just not enough time in the day to complete all these things in addition to working full time as a middle school teacher. I also got behind on my goals because this year we completed the process of closing my mother-in-law’s estate and selling her house. My house is now a lot fuller than it was with many of her items coming over to my house. My craft room/office is still full of boxes to go through, and my garage has boxes in it too. Since school started, I just don’t have the time or motivation to go through those things.
I’m also failing at my weight loss goal. Instead of losing eight pounds, I’ve gained a pound, and there are only a couple months left of this year. I’ve read 16 books so far this year, but not as many as I could have if I could carve out 30 minutes a day to work on this.
I have also had a hard time keeping up with blogging, social media posts, and querying agents for my goal to build my author’s platform. I spend at least an hour on Sunday writing my blog post, but I haven’t been able to carve out more time to do anything else. It’s discouraging, and it makes me wonder if having all these goals is even worth it.
If I didn’t have these goals, I could just do whatever I felt like with my spare time. Maybe I should just give up some of these things.
These last two weekends I had something that I rarely have, hours to myself. My husband is a musician, and he plays in the Oktoberfest during two Saturdays in late September and early October every year. The gig is from 12:30 to 5:00. I enjoy the event, so I go with him, but I don’t need to spend all those hours there both weekends, so I have started a tradition of walking the downtown area of the town where the festival is held and doing a little early Christmas shopping. The first Saturday, I walked up one side of the main shopping street, and the second weekend, I shopped on the other side of the street. It was glorious! I wandered in and out of those stores at my own pace. I read all the cute little sayings on cards and novelty items, I found a few early Christmas gifts and a few things for myself, and I did it without having to worry about anyone being bored while I wandered. No one needed anything from me at that time, and it was beautiful.
Being a teacher, a wife, and a mother, I am in the business of doing for others. It is in my nature, and I am constantly attempting to make sure everyone has what they need. I love my family and my students, and I want them to always be happy.
Sometimes, though, my quest to make sure everyone has what they need comes at the expense of time for me. I think that’s why I’m feeling frustrated with my lack of time to attend to my goals. Those goals are for me. I want to be healthy, so that weight loss goal is important to my health. I love to learn, and I enjoy reading, so reading time is something I value so much. This crazy idea of publishing some of my writing is a lofty goal, and it takes a lot of time, but it is something I feel called to at least try to do.
So, now what? I keep trying to carve out a little bit of time to work on those things that are just for me. Dolly Parton, my hero, has always said that she gets up very early to work on her writing and other goals. I don’t think I can get up any earlier on weekdays. The alarm already goes off at 4:30 AM, but maybe I can try to get up a little earlier on weekends.
I’m frustrated with my lack of progress on my goals this year, but I’m not ready to give up just yet. There must be some time somewhere that can be carved out, so I can have the time to work on the things that are just for me. I think that is so important.
