My Realistic Expectations for February

February was a good month… Other than “failing” at my original focus and monthly challenge.  But, I also did a bit of soul searching and adjusting of my expectations of myself.

I used to read this blog called “A Slob Comes Clean” and one thing that she always expressed was that when things started getting crazy around the house, she would return to the basics (or survival mode, as she puts it), the one thing that was the key to keeping things from tumbling down in to the depth of clutter and mess for her was to run her dishwasher every night.  And that idea stuck with me since then.

Partway through February, when I missed a few blog posts and was feeling overwhelmed, I decided I should enact my own type of survival mode.  I decided to not attempt to create any new habits or take on any new projects, but just try my best to keep up with the ones that I was already struggling with, or even let go of some of them until I felt better in control.

So, what did my survival mode look like?  What did I do?

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February Fitness Update

Just because I’ve given up my mini-fitness challenge for February and instead given myself a focus of decreasing stress and a challenge to relax and read for the month of February, doesn’t mean that I’m not wanting to keep up on my fitness.  Do you remember the running goal I made myself for 2017?

In case you missed my original personal goals post for 2017, I have signed up for a challenge to run 1000 km in 2017.  When I first posted about it, I had only been on 1 run, and so my total was 3.5 km.

After that, I can’t say I made huge progress, but since my normal running partner is super pregnant, and my back-up running buddy has had a couple issues with hamstring injuries, I’ve had to rely on my own personal motivation (not the best…) to get myself up in the mornings in time for a run.  Add to that we’ve had some very atypical weather for our area which brought snow and ice to our normally mild climate, I have had some difficulty getting out running…

But… That doesn’t mean I have made some progress… Let’s see my January calendar:

Learning to Say “No”… to Myself…

You may have noticed that after my “Whoops” post on Tuesday that I didn’t even post anything on Thursday… There goes my streak of consistent posting…

But, here’s the thing.  I decided not to post on Thursday.  Yes, I could have stayed up late on Wednesday evening in my hotel room, writing up something about my monthly focus or monthly challenge for February, but I told myself that it wasn’t worth it.  It’s not that I don’t love this blog, and that I don’t appreciate those of you that stop by regularly to read, but I was finding that I was putting too much pressure on myself to do too much; to be too productive and successful.

Yes, I did create this blog to hold myself accountable to be a better person, but am I really a better person if I am stressing about a self-imposed deadline or task?  I don’t think stress make anyone a better person.  So, I gave myself permission to not post anything on Thursday, and to not worry about it.

But what about my focus and monthly challenge for February?  I’m glad you asked…

February 2017 Financial Update

I set some pretty challenging financial goals for 2017, and it’s time to do the 1 month check-in.  This will be really short and sweet because I don’t really have much to report…

#1 – Emergency Fund

Not much progress on this one, but if we don’t use any of the emergency fund money, that’s sort of a win in itself, right?

Human Emergency Fund = $6300 (+$100)

Pet Emergency Fund = $100 (+$100)

January Focus Review: My Morning Routine

I had planned to have the conclusion of my Mins Game published today, but I’m still behind… So that will have to wait… Doesn’t really bode well for my year of monthly challenges… But we won’t think about that today… Anyway… Let’s discuss something else…

When I published my post on my updated morning routine, I had no idea what sort of response it would get, and I was definitely not prepared for the popularity of that post. It was a Pinterest sensation! Remember when I mentioned that I was getting near 10,000 views for all of 2016?  Yeah, with that morning routine post, I have already almost reached that in just a month. I even had a couple days with over 1000 views each!  Craziness!  (I realize that this might not be a lot for other bloggers, but it is a huge jump up for me!)

Anyway, the point is that it was obviously something that many people were interested in, so I figured that I should do a follow up to discuss how my January focus went, and what I learned from it.

Another Mins Game Update…

You are probably getting sick of these updates now… But I need them to keep me accountable.  I commented on my last update that I was getting behind because of a busy weekend, and so I need this push to catch up and keep going…

For those just tuning in, I am doing the Mins Game as my monthly challenge for January.  I have done 2 updates so far (here and here).  We resume the reporting on day 19…

Tracking My Friends & Family Goal in My Bullet Journal

A couple weeks ago, I posted my personal goals for 2017.  The first of these goals was to visit or spend time with family and friends at least 2 times a month.  The intention of this goal is to be a better friend and a more active participant in these relationships.  It does sort of go back to the post that was the inspiration to my first goal like this for 2016.  I have less and less time to spend with these people who are so important to me, so I want to make sure to take advantage of any time I have.  And I know that my friends make me a better person, so if I can be a good friend and add value to their life, they will add value to mine.

Anyway, so far in January I have definitely been successful with this goal, but I wanted a way to keep track of what I’ve been doing and also to see the holes where I need to improve.  The solution came, as it tends to do these days, with my bullet journal.

My Mins Game Continued…

On Tuesday, I posted the first 10 days of my “Mins Game” challenge, which saw over 55 items leave my house, and I promised I would continue with it, so let’s just keep trucking along… Today I bring you days 11 to 18…

My Mins Game So Far…

Today is January 17th, so it is day 17 of my “Mins Game” that I set as my January monthly challenge when I discussed my personal goals for 2017 last week.  If you haven’t heard of the challenge, check out this page on the Minimalists website.  I guess technically I’m not playing the game right because I’m doing it alone… but whatever.  I’m  going to do it.  Feel free to join in and make it so that I’m not alone…

So, 17 days in, my grand total is supposed to be 153.  Let’s go over what I’ve gotten rid of so far…

A New Morning Routine

On Tuesday, I posted about my personal goals for 2017.  Goal #4 was to complete a monthly focus.  For January, I have chosen my mornings.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my old morning routine is no longer working out as well… The new puppy has added in a whole new set of tasks and requirements.  And I wanted to re-think it, and re-work it to fit my life now… Of course, as she always seems to do, just when I needed some inspiration on the topic, Cait Flanders posted about her slow morning routine that she is working on for January.

Unlike Cait, however, I am not trying to slow down my mornings… As much as I would love to…  I’m more interested in making sure that I get the important tasks completed.  I already naturally have very slow mornings… If I make a cup of tea, I sometimes just sit and drink it staring out the window…  And that is fine, if it fits in to the timeline of getting to work on time.

 

So, what do my mornings need?