Summertime!! Time for some Summer Goals!
As we roll into another summer, it struck me that I often start out each summer with lots of exciting ideas of all the fun activities I want to do. But, pretty much every time, by the end of the summer, the opportunity to do all those fun things has come and gone and I won't have done any of these fun things.
I’ll have put them off and put them off, until it’s September and there’s no way I’m going to devote time to them.
Here’s an example of how this happens. At the beginning of the summer, I’ll tell myself I’m going to go roller skating. I really like roller skating, it reminds me of my childhood in that fun, carefree kind of way, and I even own roller skates! (Yes, the ones with four wheels, or “quads” for those in the know.) I also want to support roller rinks because they’re going the way of the dinosaurs and print media.
Every year, I say I’m going to go. Do I ever? No.
At least not for the last few years. Sometimes I even make a plan to go with other people that inevitably falls apart. Or I never even make a plan because I’m always preoccupied with work (of which there is always more!), other people’s events, being lazy, or sleeping.
This year, I’ve decided to take a different strategy.
Since I’m extremely into goal setting, I figured why not use goal setting for fun things (or not-so-fun, but still important things that are, say, health-related) that I tend to procrastinate on?
For updates on my progress and actual proof that I’m achieving my
Summer Goals, go to my Instagram and check out the
Highlighted Stories labeled 🎯!
Well, one obvious reason is that it’s such a dorky – and seemingly un-fun and uncool – thing to do. But this is me, after all, so why the hell not?
A few weeks ago, I started thinking about what I wanted to focus on. There were lots of discrete activities I wanted to experience this summer, but I wanted to figure out what my overarching mission was with these Summer Goals. As I reflected on it, I figured out that everything I wanted to do fell under 1 of 3 subgoals:
to have more fun
to take care of my relationships, and
to take care of my health.
For now, I've narrowed it down to the following 18 specific sub-subgoals (a nice #18for2018, if you will!):
Have More Fun | Take Care of My Relationships | Take Care of Myself
Do 1 outdoor activity per week (can include: hiking, camping, working, journaling, drawing, walking outside)
Take a road trip
Go to archery once
Go roller skating once!
Take a pottery class
Make another cork board
Do another printmaking project
Paint or draw something once
Give 3 high-quality hugs per day (with consent, of course!)
Call my parents once a week
Send a postcard to someone from any / all of my trips
Send a handwritten letter to 1 friend per month
Do 1 phone date per month with a friend
Do more physical activity (can include a light, at-home workout, my physical therapy exercises, doing a weekly tap class in the summer, doing a fun workout class)
Eat at least 1 fruit and 1 vegetable per day 5 days out of the week (I know, this is kind of a sad goal)
Go to the eye doctor (I haven’t been in over a decade!! 😱)
Donate my clothes and things that I don’t use or love anymore
Wear clothes that make me feel good, instead of simply picking up what’s lying around
I’m really excited for these goals and am hopeful that having specific benchmarks will help me have more fun, strengthen my relationships, and improve my health! I also anticipate adding additional sub-subgoals going toward these 3 meta categories, but I didn’t want things to feel overwhelming and turn into something NOT FUN, so I’ve left it here, for now.
Curious how this is going to go?? Me too!
For updates on my progress and actual proof that I’m achieving my Summer Goals, go to my Instagram and check out the Highlighted Stories labeled 🎯!
If you want to do your own Summer Goals project along with me, drop me a line at cynthia@embracechange.nyc! We can hold each other accountable!
