Professionally, this was a short week – but, goodness, it was packed! Work presented a FULL calendar with back to back to back meetings, many of which inspired me to connect with educators who are doing incredible work and create professional learning opportunities for the teachers that I serve. While my “List of Tasks” is considerably longer than I’d like for it to be, I am so excited to get started!
On Monday, we dropped A off at college. CV19 cut the fall semester short, so our fingers are crossed that the spring semester will be complete. After two CV19 tests, she was cleared for classes – which remain virtual for the first two weeks. Swim practice, however, started with no hesitation. I think that she has experienced all of the feelings this week – overwhelm (remember the first glance at a college syllabus?), nervous about new courses/professors, struggle to adjust to a new routine, and physically sore from three hour workouts (water, land, and weights). At least she is not having any trouble going to sleep at night!
My youngest, B, is knee deep in TWO varsity sports. CV19 adjusted all of the athletic calendars, so her two sports are happening at the same time. Her twelve hour days include school + 2.5 hour practice + 3-4 hour games. Once you add work to that schedule, her calendar is full, too!
01: Get 6 – 7 Hours of Sleep Each Night {Status: 20/21}
My new nutritional routine + increased mileage on my runs + a great book as part of my nighttime routine = Great sleep! Many days, I am waking before my alarm clock. I had no idea how much I relied on caffeine to provide energy and alertness – artificially. Having removed caffeine from my daily nutritional habits (no diet soda or coffee), I actually have MORE energy. Equally important, I recognize when my body is telling me to go to bed!
02: Learn Calligraphy
Still on the back burner…but I’m thinking about it more.
03: Purge 1000 items {Status: 260/1000}
This week, the following items from my home found new homes:
Books (15), Household items (15), and clothes (30). I love how my girls will create social media posts and sell their gently used clothes. I wish I had the time and energy, but I’m way too eager for items to leave my house! Oh, and I removed myself from 12 more email lists.
04: Organize the Attic
There are several items waiting to go back into the attic, but I think that this means a few things have to leave. But, it’s so chilly… Next week, maybe.
05: Read 100 Books, including ALL of the DBC books. {Status: 05/100}
There is something so soothing about drifting to sleep with some pleasure reads!
In Progress
(1) Radical Candor | Scott {Professional Growth}
(2) Culturally Responsive School Leadership | Khalifa {Professional Growth}
Complete:
Pleasure Reading: 5 books.
06: Try 52 New Recipes {Status: 03/52}
Not a new recipe, but I did try a new food. My nutritional plan – Fast Metabolism Diet – calls for fresh fruits five days/week. While traveling on Monday, I failed to pack fresh fruits. At various stops, I was unable to find fruit that looked fresh enough to purchase…but, I did happen upon this gem: That’s It Fruit Bars. I enjoyed the Apple/Strawberry one, which boasts one apple + 12 strawberries in one bar. No added sugars. No preservatives. Allergy-Free. It fit into my nutritional plan AND satisfied my sweet tooth after staring at an entire aisle of chocolates. I have already ordered a box to have on hand!
07: Get in Shape
Week 3: I have a 21-day food logging streak on Lose It. I leaned into my accountability partners for help on low-carb breakfasts – as I still struggle to add a lot of vegetables to my AM routine. After two weeks without soda, coffee, and excess sugar, I have moved from withdrawals where I was yearning for a sugar hit to increased energy and lower cravings. As of this morning, the scale reports 6.5 pounds lost.
Here are some specific action steps that I took this week:
I continued the Running Challenge {Run for America, 1/1/21 – 3/14/21} This week, I have accumulated 119.0km of my 100km goal. In fact, I was pretty excited to earn my 100km badge… isn’t it sweet?
I took a leap and extended my goal to 250km by March 14.
I finally earned my January 2021 badge – which required 88.6 miles of steps!
Lastly, I closed the Activity Ring every. single. day. Some days, I closed them twice. The body is an amazing masterpiece.
08: #OneMonthGoals with Michael Matera
Last year, I joined Michael Matera on his #OneMonthGoals journey. I ran every single day for a month – and it was glorious. This year, I am committed to selecting (and sticking with) one new goal each month, which I will document here.
January 2020: Day 23 of my Run Streak!
09: Write/Send 52 notes/cards {Status: 5/52}
I sent a congratulatory note to my dear friend who is moving from elementary school teacher to instructional technology facilitator. She’s an awesome educator, and I am tickled that she is joining our team!
10: Maintain a weekly blog {3/52}
I do have a few items for professional posts in the hopper. Stay tuned!
11: Simplify my life
This week, I booked appointments with myself to get started on some larger, more intensive projects. Creating boundaries for myself ruffled some feathers of my colleagues, who, I guess, think that I sit in my office all day on social media? I don’t know? Regardless, I was quite productive this week – and, I also did very little work outside of office hours.
I’m open to other ideas on how to simplify my life… send them my way.
12: Organize my mother’s photographs
Yeah… about this goal. They are sitting in a pile still laughing at me.
Secret Goals!
- Secret Goal #1: This one is starting to take shape…
- Secret Goal #2: Parts of this one were assembled this week…
- Secret Goal #3: I have sketched out a paper/pencil plan for this…
- Secret Goal #4: I might just switch this one…
How are your goals going?
Cheers, Holly
