Goals: 2Q15 Update

At the end of last year, I reviewed 2014 goals and set 2015 ones. And since accountability accomplishes, let’s see how I’m doing, now that we’re halfway through the year. RAI treatment was a giant monkey wrench, so honestly, this is a bit dispiriting. But it’s important.

1. Become healthier. Be proud of what I eat. Get undetectable Tg (the marker for thyroid cancer) and < 20% body fat.

• Updates: My weight bounced up during withdrawal but is back down again. Logging with My Fitness Pal is part of a bigger mindset shift in which choices are practical decisions, not guilt-racked failures. It seems like a healthier mind comes with a healthier body. Nutrition has a massive effect on my mental health (alongside exercise, water and sleep). The point of the last three months was for RAI to work, though – so that’s been the most important part of being healthy.
• Work to do: Praying hard, eating great, working hard. And in the fall I’ll check that my Tg level has finally zeroed out.

2. Become a better CrossFitter. Get a strict pull-up. Deadlift 250, snatch 100, bench 150, squat 175, clean & jerk 125. Get skin-the-cats, consecutive double-unders, and free-standing handstands or handstand walks. Compete on a scaled team at Test Your Metal.

• Updates: The weight I could move stayed consistent through 12 weeks of preparing / having / recovering from treatment. But my aerobic capacity tanked, and my emotional capacity too. I didn’t compete – but at least that was because stuff needed doing, not because I physically couldn’t. I don’t mind – I love the cameraderie but hate feeling “on stage.”
• Work to do: Keep showing up.

3. Become a better martial artist. Write down forms (something I did for years and fell away from). Spar at least once a month.

• Updates: I was “grounded” from martial arts for a couple of months to protect my immune system so I really flatlined here.
• Work to do: Get back on track slowly and thoroughly. I’m not sure I’ll be able to test this year but I’m okay with that.

4. Become a better runner. Run a half-marathon and a sub-30 5K.

• Updates: I’d planned to do a half in June, but couldn’t.
• Work to do: Same as above: keep showing up. Nice and slow and thorough. Sigh.

5. Become more flexible. Get full front and side splits, backbend, cow face pose.

• Updates: This is getting depressing. Here, too, my progress has not just stalled but reversed. Ugh.
• Work to do: More showing up and doing the work.

6. Become a better freelancer. Make 15% more than 2014. Be more prolific on my own blog. Strengthen and diversify my client base. Get a new certification.

• Updates: I wasn’t able to work much in the second quarter. Nor was I healthy enough to travel for that certification. But I postponed that till next year, and I did have a few new client experiences which were, by turns, exhilarating, disappointing, amusing and exciting. Never a dull moment!
• Work to do: Adjusted goal: same annual income as 2014. That will mean a lot of work in 2H15, but that’s good with me.

7. Become safer financially. Rebuild emergency savings. Restart retirement savings. Find the best insurance to replace COBRA. Save for home projects.

• Updates: I suppose cancer treatment counts as an emergency – but the bank accounts were emptied. Retirement savings are still on hold. Optional projects won’t happen for a couple of years. But my friends shocked me with a fundraiser, which makes me tear up every time I think about it. And I did get new insurance… though I wouldn’t recommend that nightmare in the middle of RAI withdrawal.
• Work to do: Retirement savings. Home projects. And a great many thank-you notes.

8. Become a better human. Be kind. Assume the best. Meditate daily. Pray. Simplify. Create less garbage.

• Updates: At least I choose attainable goals, right? “Be a better human.” You idealistic fool.
• Work to do: Seriously, though, meditation helps. So much. With everything.

9. Be more creative. Draw people and words. Take pictures. Cook. Bake. Write stories.

• Updates: Drawing, snapping, kitchening – has all happened.
• Work to do: But stories? And drawing people? Yikes.

10. Be more fun. Sing. Visit a new country. Have a party. Do new things. Spend time loving the people I love. Be less shy with new ones. Stop buying things I don’t love. Laugh.

• Updates: No big trips this year, and no parties, but I’ve gotten my event-planning thrills. After a chunk of time being not so fun, the last few weeks have been tremendous, in spite of (because of?) all the catch-up I’m jamming in. As for getting more honest (which is basically what becoming more loving and less shy means)… well, I think I’m getting better at trying.
• Work to do: Fun. Just plain fun. Nothing fancy or faraway, but that’s fine. And I’m having a wonderful time daydreaming about a trip for next year.