It’s been awhile. This summer continued to dish out large doses of uncertainty, and thus, tanking the productivity from my brain. During this time I took a social media break, or whatever you call it. I took a real life break, too, in the sense that I stopped interacting with most of my friends/family as well. Side effect of depression apparently.
Now it’s September and things are currently fantastic! Stability on the job front and my finances began with returning to work full time on Aug 1st, thus slaying my depression effectively. Then, a few weeks later, I accepted a new position in a new department. More stability and more money pouring in. My lizard brain is soooo happy right now. Lol 😀
Things are looking great at the moment, even though there’s a drastic spike in virus cases in my county yesterday. The two week delay between all the students arriving to the campuses around town versus the spread to the community is beginning to show. Thankfully with the new position, I have limited contact with students as compared to my previous one.
Reading books are my rock among these uncertain times
What now? What should I do with a blog about accomplishing goals and dreams when it seems impossible in the current craziness? This year has been a doozy. Plans broken, shattered, altered, thrown, dismissed, dissolved, and disused. New plans created, born, mended, acquired, found, glued together, and solidified.
For me personally, my reading goals are my rock. One of my earliest childhood memories includes making a list of books we read in kindergarten. My little Books Read list resided in a small, apple shaped booklet. Every time we read a book, the teacher wrote down the title and author. After we collected our book titles overtime, we would receive a small treat or prize. It was magical.
Although I did enjoy the occasional surprise treat or prize, the adventures and places I would travel through books was irresistible. Throughout my childhood years and well into adulthood, I continued this tradition of listing the books I’ve read. Currently I have a binder full of book lists dating back to 2007. Each year, my reading goal is 50 books. Today I finished number 67. When all my other goals and dreams I had created this year dissipated into the wind of crazy, my yearly book goal was the only one who weathered the storm and remained.
Find your “My Rock Goal” and make it your centerpiece.
Adaptability — “Go with the Flow”
A great lesson I experienced, while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, is to “go with the flow”. Well, at least I tried to. Lol. By the end of my first week on the AT, my numerous plans on trail often got altered or derailed completely.
Real AT example plan: Wake up at 6 am, plan to hike 15 miles by 2 pm, lunch, and then hike another 4 miles until camp around 4-5 pm. Oh, but wait! Your morning AT plan is beautifully derailed when you hit trail magic around 10 am at a road crossing. You stuff your face for nearly two hours. Two hours of sitting on your butt = not hiking 4 miles of at your 2 mph pace. Result — either camp at new spot for the night without your tramily/friends or arrive 2 hours late to the originally planned camping spot at around 7 pm.
Okay, okay. That’s a long, convoluted example. But…if you’re a hiker, you know how easy plans are instantly derailed on trail. Adaptability is a crucial skill to develop both on and off trail. Thing is, I eventually did great at the on trail stuff, but I’m still terrible at “going with the flow” in off trail life.
But….I’m slowly getting better at this concept in my current life. This year has taught many people lessons on adaptability, especially with their goals, goal setting, dreams, and expectations. My original 2020 goals were heavily laden with financial based aspiration. Once I was furloughed at my previous position and receiving no unemployment (still a continuing saga), all those goals evaporated into smoke.
As a result, I had three choices. 1. Try in vain to accomplish the original 2020 goals when it was impossile to complete them. 2. Have a no 2020 goal year. Just 0 goals completely. 3. Adapt to the new situation and mold new 2020 goals.
I chose number 3. These new goals focused more on self-improvement of reading, exercising, getting outside, etc. Goals I could conquer without a steady, normal sized paycheck. Goals that would feel great to accomplish at the end of year, but in small enough daily chips to whittle it away overtime without rushing.
When uncertainty smacks you upside the head, chose 3. The new goals should focus more on areas in your life that you can control. Doing this will help with your overall mindset during the roller-coaster ride of uncertainty. Seeing real progress being made on goals you have more control over, than those you don’t, when times like these hit, helps boost your confidence. Repeat until stability or a new situation arrives.
Don’t Let the Goals or Dreams Bog You Down
One of the wonderful facets of goals and dreams is you can start, stop, or alter them anytime, anywhere. Not working for you? Delete or change. Working awesome for you! Great; we’re done.
Advice also has these wonderful facets. Maybe this was what you were looking for and it helped you. Or, maybe my personal experience on how I handled my mass of uncertainty doesn’t resonate with you. Maybe I’m a horrendous writer and my ideas or examples don’t translate to your brain. Maybe life is all just…too…blegh right now. Sometimes it’s all too much and that’s okay.
Just remember:
IT IS OKAY TO DO NOTHING AND CHILL. IT IS OK TO CURL UP IN A BLANKET BALL ON YOUR BED AND EAT ICE CREAM WHILE WATCHING NETFLIX. IT IS OKAY NOT TO WORK ON GOALS OR DREAMS OR DAILY TASKS. Most important — IT IS OK NOT BEING PRODUCTIVE.