2021: Third Quarter Goals Recap

I’m having a really hard time believing that it’s officially fourth quarter. Fall used to be my favorite season but now it marks the beginning of our “busy season” and I always want to rush to the new year. This year I want to really stop and enjoy myself instead of rushing through the rest of the year.

Before I set my goals for fourth quarter, here’s a quick recap of my Q3 goals.

1. Be kind to myself. When I’m going through something hard I tend to be really hard on myself too. I’ve noticed this especially when it comes job. I’m never good enough or doing enough. I’ve been trying really hard to be kind to myself and give myself grace. I feel like I did okay at this but I want to still focus on doing better at it.
2. Setup health appointments. This has been such a fun goal that I set for myself. I’ve been poked and prodded so much this last quarter with even more to come. But I feel good knowing that I’m taking steps in the right direction for my health.
3. Spend time with friends and family. I didn’t do great at this to be perfectly honest. I did spend some time with family but I’ve realized that I don’t really have any friends to spend time with and that’s been weird to figure out. I do have friends but we don’t live close so it’s hard to spend time together. I have been trying to check in with them more at least!
4. Celebrate 10 years with Brett. We had a nice long weekend in a nearby beach town to celebrate our anniversary. It’s still hard to not see Brett the majority of the week due to our work schedules but I’m hopeful that will change soon!
5. Read 3 books. I read several books and it was so nice! I go through phases of not reading much and then phases of reading constantly. There’s something so relaxing to me to be able to spend a few minutes each day reading a book and getting my mind off of the real world. Have you read any good books lately? I need some recommendations for Q4!

I’m currently working on my goals for Q4 and should have them posted soon. I keep looking back at my old posts and I’m really glad that I’ve captured so many of these quarterly goals. It’s easy to sit back and think that I haven’t really accomplished anything over the past few years but these posts remind me of just how far I have come.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Creating Healthy Habits

After graduating from college in 2016 I really struggled with creating healthy, sustainable habits. Once I entered my full time job it was even harder to balance work, life, and my health. Recently I’ve been focusing more on some of the small things that I can do to create daily habits to make my life easier and more enjoyable.

Here are some of the things I’ve been putting in place

• Loading the dishwasher as I go. Instead of waiting to do the dishes when the sink gets full I’ve been rinsing off and loading the dishwasher as I go and running it at night once it’s full. This has been much easier than spending a few minutes every couple of days loading it and being annoyed that I have to take the time to do it. It’s a super simple change but it’s made a big difference!
• Doing a load of laundry a day (if needed). I used to do all of our laundry in one day over the weekend. Now I’ve been trying to do a load of laundry every day and folding it right away. I’ve found that I don’t always need to do laundry but splitting it up makes it easy to deal with.
• Setting a step goal and sticking to it. Having a desk job makes it so hard to get in a healthy number of steps a day especially on the days when I work from home. I’ve been working hard to set a step goal and work towards it. If I’m working from home I try to walk on the treadmill during my lunch so I don’t have to try to get in all of my steps after work.
• Going to bed by 10 pm. Having a nighttime routine has been one of my favorite things that I’ve incorporated in 2021. I feel much better when I go to bed at a decent time every night so I can make sure I’m getting in enough sleep. This also helps me to wake up earlier the next morning!
• Taking breaks away from my computer. I am the worst at taking a lunch when I’m working from home. It got to the point where Brett was bringing me lunch most days because I couldn’t even spend a few minutes to make it on my own. Now I try to take at least 30 minutes away from my computer for a lunch break and a few minutes every hour for normal breaks.
• Reading at least one chapter of a book per day. I love reading but tend to spend long periods scrolling through my phone instead of reading. I’m trying to put my phone down and read instead of scrolling through TikTok.
• Doing a 15 minute house re-set every night. I like to spend 15 minutes before I go to bed folding blankets, wiping down counters and tables, putting things away, and just getting my house in order. Then I can wake up to a clean house and go about my day.

I recently read Atomic Habits by James Clear and one of the things that I took away from it was starting small and trying to improve by 1% daily instead of rushing to 100% improvement. This feels more sustainable to me and will hopefully help me create some lasting healthy habits.

One another note, I’ve really been missing blogging and feel like I might be getting back into a better place to start writing more. Hopefully I’ll be back soon!

Photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash

Our 10 Year Anniversary

I remember the day I first starting talking to Brett like it was just yesterday. I was at my friend’s house after a marching band rehearsal when another friend said she wanted to introduce me to a guy she knew. She gave him my number and we talked constantly for days before meeting for our first date. I’m sure people thought I was crazy at the time but here we are a decade later.

I was 17 when we first started dating and was so immature even though I thought I had it all figured out. I wanted a partner who I could have a life with. I wanted someone to put me first and to be there when I needed someone. Brett became one of the most stable people in my life. He introduced me to his family and friends, came to my band concerts, and took me on so many dates. Looking back now on all of our highs and lows I’m proud of us and how far we have come.

This past year has probably been one of the hardest for us. We work different schedules and don’t get to spend much time together which is really hard for me. I miss eating dinner with him, going for walks, and watching tv together. I miss telling him goodnight before I go to bed. I hate sleeping alone and hate kissing his head goodbye in the morning because I don’t want to wake him up after he gets home from work late.

We’ve had another big challenge this year that hit us pretty hard and we’ve had to work together to figure out our next steps. We had big plans this year and started to lose hope that we’d ever reach our goals. We’ve blamed each other when it’s no ones fault, we’ve had to pick each other up when one of us loses faith, and we’ve had to become even stronger in our relationship to make it through all of these challenges.

10 years is a very long time to be with someone. Brett has loved me on some of the hardest days of my life and has never given up on me. This year he has held me while I’ve fallen apart and then picked me up and put me back together again. He does this not because I’m not strong enough to put myself together alone, but because he cares about me and takes care of me when I need it.

Our marriage isn’t perfect but four years ago we vowed to never give up on each other. I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years bring!

Also, since I know this is super confusing, Brett and I started dating on August 19th, 2011 and got married on August 19th, 2017. So today marks our 4th year of marriage but our 10th year together. I’m pretty happy our anniversary dates ended up like this because it’s easy to remember and celebrate both!

2021: Third Quarter Goals

I’m a little late with my third quarter goals but I still wanted to get them posted. I tried to be really intentional with these ones because life has been a bit of a struggle lately and sometimes the smallest things feel unbelievably hard.

I think blogging has been so hard lately because this has always been a space where I feel comfortable to share and be vulnerable but right now I don’t feel ready to share everything going on in my life so writing posts feels a bit fake. Blogging has never been about the views for me and I’ve been brutally honest about where I’m at in life. I want to get back to being comfortable sharing but that might take me a bit of time. Thanks for sticking with me!

Here are a few goals for Q3:

1. Be kind to myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m at war with myself to do better and be better when I really just need to take a break. I want to practice self-care and be kind to myself as I walk through this stage of my life.
2. Setup health appointments. I go to the Neurologist this week for a checkup but I need to find a new primary care doctor since mine moved away. My SIL recommended one so I want to make an appointment. This doctor was the one who helped advocate for her during her infertility journey so I think it would be a good place to start.
3. Spend time with friends and family. Now that we’ve pretty much gone back to almost normal after the pandemic I want to make sure I’m catching up with friends and family. I haven’t spent enough time with my grandparents lately and I know I’ve been slacking in the friendship department. I want to prioritize my relationships this quarter.
4. Celebrate 10 years with Brett. The past few months have been hard because Brett and I haven’t been able to spend much time together. I want to make sure we set aside time to celebrate our 10 year anniversary!
5. Read 3 books. I used to also say that I wanted to read 3 books and write reviews but that probably won’t happen. I’ve really been enjoying reading lately though and finally read Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I’ve already passed the book onto a friend because it was so good and I wanted to make sure she read it too.

I hope you are all doing really well! I’m going to try to catch up on some of the blog posts I’ve missed.

Do you have any goals this quarter?

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

2021 Migraine and Headache Awareness Month

June is National Migraine & Headache Awareness month. I’ve been pretty quiet this year in regards to advocating and sharing my experience but I didn’t want the month to pass without me mentioning anything. You can read my story about my migraine and headache experience here for background.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve had with having chronic migraine is suffering in silence. I look pretty normal from the outside so having an invisible illness is hard to explain and advocate for. It’s been even harder now that I’ve entered corporate America and I feel like it’s a major roadblock for my career. My team is super understanding but I hate talking about it and feel bad that I have different needs than the rest of the team.

I try to advocate and raise awareness for those suffering in silence or with invisible illnesses as often as possible but June is always a good reminder to say something. The migraine community is greater than I imagined it would be. I never knew that there were so many resources available and I was even able to find a new Neurologist because of these resources. If you are suffering in silence, please know that you are not alone and there may be resources available to help you too!

I’ve tried many different medications and treatments but over the past 15 months I’ve focused on my health and prioritized putting myself first. This was only possible because I was working from home. I never imagined that what would help me the most was simply being at home in a controlled environment.

I’ve learned a lot about migraine and headaches over the past few years and finally feel like I’m in a better place. With the U.S. opening back up after the pandemic I just hope that I’m able to stay in a good place. I don’t know how I’ll feel going back into the office but I hope it doesn’t ruin 15 months of actual progress.

Photo by Carolina Heza on Unsplash

2021: Second Quarter Goals Recap

I was super late with writing my second quarter goals post so it really does feel like just yesterday that I was writing these. Quarterly goals are important to me because they give me something to constantly work on unlike New Years Resolutions that I quickly forget about.

Second quarter was strange. Michigan started opening back up and at first I was okay with it because I thought I’d still be able to work from home but things change. I’m still waiting on some information but right now I feel really unsure and frustrated. I’m happy to be vaccinated and to have things mostly return to normal but some of the things that changed with Covid were nice and I wish that we were able to maintain them.

Here’s a quick recap on my Q2 goals:

• Spend at least 30 minutes everyday doing something that I enjoy. I was pretty good about this. As things started to open up I found myself slipping into a pretty negative mental space and had a harder time with this goal. I still tried to prioritize things that would make me happy. I’ve loved re-reading the Harry Potter books, working on my garden, and spending time with my sister and her new baby, Lucas. I’ve been able to visit her in New Hampshire twice this quarter which has been the highlight of my summer so for.
• Work on my nighttime routine. I also slipped a bit with my nighttime routine but I want to get better. I just wasn’t feeling having a whole nighttime routine most days but it’s something I really want to work on.
• Be a positive change at work. I was feeling really great about this goal until recently when more changes happened at work. I still want to be a positive change but I might have to fake it until I make it for a bit.
• Be patient with myself. I am really hard on myself but I’m trying to be more patient with myself. I’ve always had myself on some sort of timeline and that’s not working out this time which is super frustrating. I’m still trying to give myself grace and be patient with myself.
• Continue taking a break from social media. I’ve kind of failed at this lately but I plan on taking another break soon. I’m much happier being off of social media. It makes me anxious and I hate planning the comparison game so I’d rather just stay away from it. I’ve started unfollowing as many people as possible but it might be nice to just start over if I decide to get back online.

Here’s to hoping that Q3 is better for my mental health and I’m able to enjoy a bit more of my time.

How was Q2 for you? Do you have any plans or goals for the rest of the year?

Photo by Mercedes Mehling on Unsplash

2021: Second Quarter Goals

We are already halfway through Q2 but I still wanted to take a moment to share my goals for this quarter. By setting quarterly goals for myself I’m able to actually stick to the goals I set for myself better than if I set goals at the beginning of the year. So much can change in a year so this gives me the chance to re-evaluate every 3 months and set new goals or continue with previous goals if needed.

My goals for Q2 are:

• Spend at least 30 minutes everyday doing something that I enjoy. I was originally just going to make a goal of spending 30 minutes outside everyday but I want to push myself more than just that. I want to dedicate time everyday to some sort of self-care. That could be taking a walk, reading a book, or working on my garden. Whatever it is I want to be in the mindset of setting this time aside for just me.
• Work on my nighttime routine. I’ve really been focusing on doing things every night that relax me and set me up for success for the next day. Right now my routine is to log off of work, walk Oscar, make dinner, do the dishes, read Harry Potter while drinking tea, and then shower and go to bed. I try not to watch any tv Monday-Friday and to limit my screen time.
• Be a positive change at work. I’ve complained about my job for long enough but haven’t done anything really to change the situation. I’m determined to be part of the positive changes that are going to happen on my team. I will be supportive of my teammates and will work hard to be an asset to my team. I also want to make sure that I’m not burning myself out anymore with super long workweeks. I deserve the vacation time that I’m always pushing my teammates to take too.
• Be patient with myself. This year has been really hard mentally and I’ve brought a lot of it upon myself. I’ve been so hard on myself because I had a goal and I didn’t reach that goal. I feel like I’m drowning in my own expectations sometimes and I need to take a step back and be patient with myself. Good things take time.
• Continue taking a break from social media. My life is so much better without the constant comparison game that is social media. I’ve eased back into it a bit but I really don’t miss it so I don’t see myself getting sucked completely back in.

You might notice that my goals aren’t that hard this quarter and that’s because I really am trying to cut myself some slack. I’m doing the very best that I can and that’s okay.

How are you doing? Do you have any goals this quarter/month/year?

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

2021: First Quarter Goals Recap

This post is super late and I have no excuse. Sometimes life just happens and I need a break but quarterly goals are important to me so I wanted to make sure that I still shared my recap and Q2 goals so that I can look back on them.

The first quarter of 2021 was a wild ride. I’m debating about how much I want to share about my current journey so there might be a post coming up with some additional details or I might wait until this current storm has passed before I share.

Here’s a quick recap of Q1:

• Work-Life Balance: I’m happy to say that my work-life balance is much better than it was last year. I’ve been trying to work a more normal amount of hours. I’m still work at least 50 hours a week but that’s better than it was before. I’d life to try to make lunch at least once a month or so but I’m taking baby steps. Year-end is over and tax season is almost over but we are still extremely busy.
• House Projects: This was a fail. Contractors are busy and lumber is super expensive so a big house project is on the back burner. That’s okay though!
• Blogging: Another fail. Q1 was way harder mentally than I anticipated. I’m hoping that I’ll be in a better place for Q2 but no guarantees. I’m trying to give myself some grace with these goals. I’d like to get back to blogging regularly again though!
• Monthly Date Nights: Brett and I have been pretty good about date nights. He’s so busy with work and our schedules don’t line up but we try to spend a couple of hours together on Sunday at the very least!
• Health: I feel like I did pretty good so far with prioritizing my health. I’ve been trying to move my body and eat healthier so I feel good about the progress I am making. I’m not focusing on scale goals which is a nice change.

How was Q1 for you?

Photo by Vitolda Klein on Unsplash

Best Laid Plans

I’ve always had plans.

I wanted to graduate from college in four years, get a job, get married, buy a house, adopt a dog, and have a baby or two.

Life has a way of reminding you that you can’t control it. You can’t plan for what’s going to happen no matter how hard you try or how badly you want it. Even though I’m a planner I know that life isn’t going to go according to plan and my best laid plans will be thrown back in my face.

Even though I can’t control life making these plans still makes me feel like I have some control. When I feel anxious I make a list. Writing down the thoughts that are racing through my head helps me to feel like I’m in control. That’s how I feel about life too. I can’t control it but making these plans and lists makes me feel like I have a bit of control over the situation.

Right now I’m in a phase of my life where I am constantly reminded that I’m not in control. I have to have faith that there’s a plan for me that’s greater than the one I am wanting. I have to be patient and know that my time is coming.

I had a carefully laid plan for this year. I still have hope that it will be a good year it just won’t be what I had planned and that’s okay too.

Are you a planner? Are you usually able to stick to the plans that you make?

Photo by That’s Her Business on Unsplash

A Beer Review From a Non-Beer Drinker

My husband, Brett, has a blog and a YouTube where he talks about a variety of things like weather, air shows, roller coasters, and beer. His YouTube is mostly beer reviews but we’ve had a lot of fun coming up with ideas and setting up a little studio in our house for him to film. The studio is still a work in progress. We went to Ikea a couple of weeks ago and now I’m working on getting things setup. I’m excited for him to have a space to film soon!

A few weeks ago we had nothing to do so I joined his for a review video. I’m usually behind the camera and I don’t like beer so this was new for me. Check out the video if you want to see my awkward faces and to see our super cute dachshund-mix, Oscar!

I love supporting Brett on this little adventure of his. He has the personality to be a good YouTuber in my opinion.

Do you like beer? Do you watch YouTube? What kind of videos do you like?

Feel free to subscribe to Brett’s channel. We filmed a video at Ikea that will be up soon too!