Fresh Start Monday

Yay! I’m back on schedule! I’m starting the next two weeks of my Life Zones today. I really like the idea of a fresh start on a regular basis, because it really helps me to stay motivated to work on these things. Newness is invigorating and “they” say that we all have the tendency to lose motivation after working on something for a period of time. So why not use everything in my arsenal to keep up my motivation? Of course, I do intend to continue working on the changes I implemented before, so I’m definitely not abandoning those things. But, by bringing in new things, I feel my motivation kicked up all the way around. This is something I’ve learned from my Worship Pastor – keep things fresh and new to keep them alive. We need fresh air, water, and food everyday for our bodies to keep them alive, plants need fresh air, water, and soil on a regular basis to keep them alive. I need fresh pursuits on a regular basis to keep my motivation alive. Does that mean my motivation will never wane? Of course not; I’ll still have those days when I’m tired or not feeling well physically or emotionally, and I’ll still need to make myself do things sometimes that I simply don’t feel like doing. I can already foresee a major challenge to my motivation in the next couple of weeks – Shawn is going out of town for a few days this week and a few days next week. That means I will have to do more, will be more tired, and more overwhelmed. I will have to figure out how to juggle Todd’s and Sadey’s schedule with Korrynn’s school schedule, and I still need to do everything that I need to do. But I’m up for the challenge. (And I’d better mean it if I’m going to say it, so I don’t say it lightly!) I plan to stay on the wagon, and if I fall off, I’m going to get back on!

So that being said, here’s my Life Zone challenges for the next two weeks:

Personal – I’ve found that with the school schedule I have less time in the morning for computer time, which translates into less blogging time. So I’m going to start getting up at 6:00 every morning to give me adequate time. That also means I need to go to bed sooner (This is a biggie for me because I like staying up late, though lately I haven’t been able to. So I fall asleep on the couch or recliner when I could be upstairs in bed. It’s the idea of going to bed “early” that I have to get my head around.)

Relational – Making daily one-on-one time with my husband a priority. We are currently taking The Marriage Course, so we have some extra motivation in this area. When Shawn is out of town this means that we’ll need to talk on the phone without distractions.

Physical – Jogging 2 miles 2 days a week via the Wii. I decided that this is one goal that I really need to keep working on. I haven’t come close to making this a regular part of my life yet.

Home – Making sure that there are no dirty dishes left in the sink before I go to bed.

Social – Finding ways to perform my volunteer duties more efficiently. I still need to work on this because the new school schedule has been an obstacle here.

Financial – Working more closely with Shawn on the budget, setting short-term goals (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, etc.) for our money rather than just tracking our spending through the budget spread sheet. (I’ll go more in depth on this in another post.)

So there you have it. I challenge you to set your own goals and let me know how it’s going. I’d love to get a discussion going and to build a support network. This blog has helped me feel less alone in my daily challenges, and I my prayer is that it does the same for others as well.

My Life Zones Status Update

I know it’s been a few days since the last post. The past few days have been a bit unusual for various reasons, and I simply have been unable to sit down and write. So here’s a brief update on my progress in the Life Zones I’m working on:

Because of how the last few days have gone, yesterday is really the only day I have to report on. I did okay in the personal and relational arenas, but because of the crazy weekend I was wanting to catch up on some stuff, so at first I tried to cheat a bit with my computer time. (Yeah, I know…) The computer wouldn’t let me, however. It has an issue that acts up every once and a while and it chose yesterday morning to act up (providentially, perhaps?). So I finally put the computer down and helped the kids clean the playroom. Not exactly playtime, I know, but it desperately needed to be done and it was way too hot to go outside. So while we didn’t play together, we did accomplish something together.

In the physical area, I didn’t do anything last week. I didn’t run at all last week, not one step! But I did run last night. It was quite an effort to do it. I’m way out of shape, and running is one of my least favorite exercises, but I did it! I ran for 30 minutes, and felt good about the accomplishment. I even feel sore this morning to prove it! I’ve also been doing fairly well in the home area and doing one load of laundry a day. Still not getting it folded and put away every day, though. I’ve got to work on the follow through with the laundry so I’m not constantly playing catch-up.

As far as the social element goes, I’ve just tried to squeeze my volunteer duties into my restricted computer time, but I probably need to be more proactive about it. I think if I figured out some sort of structure there it would probably help me a lot. Maybe if I devoted a couple of days to Worship Team stuff and a couple days to blogging and a day to surfing/social networking during my computer time (or something like that) I will be able to fit it all in. I may just have to play with it a bit and tweak it till I find a structure that works. My hang up here is that I’m not the greatest at structuring my time. I’ve tried doing the lists and the daily schedule, but I either get frustrated by the list because I can’t get to everything on it, or something happens that totally wrecks the schedule, so I usually just give up on it. The other problem is that I’ll get bored with a routine after a while and instead of changing it up a bit, I usually just drop it altogether.

Now on to the financial zone – we’re still working on keeping to our budget. We did overspend last weekend, though. Shawn received travel money from work and the kids were staying with my parents, so we had TWO date nights! (Now you know why the weekend was so unusual…) We really needed the time, but we probably could have done it with less money. Our favorite thing is dinner and a movie (I know, cliché), but we rarely get the chance to do it, so that’s what we do on dates when we have them. Plus it was really hard to resist seeing Transformers and G.I. Joe in the theater. I grew up watching those cartoons and pretending I was Scarlett every Sunday and Wednesday night before church started when I was a kid (while all the boys were various other G.I. Joe characters). Can I just tell you that Transformers ROCKED!!!!! God was talking to me through it, too. It was an amazing experience! (Yes, I know it still doesn’t justify overspending. This is just a glimpse into how my mind works.)

I learned something last week about disciplining my mind. Off and on I have problems with insomnia. I’ve tried various ways to deal with it, the main way being laying in bed and trying to go back to sleep. If I get up I’m usually wide-awake from the effort and won’t go back to sleep at all. The problem with laying in bed is that there’s nothing to do but think or pray. I try to pray, but my mind usually wanders too much. So, I usually start thinking about something, and get a strong urge to look it up on the computer. I then decide that I’m not going back to sleep anyway (after laying in bed sleepless for an hour or more), so I get up and get on the computer. Well, on this particular night I tried that, but didn’t go back to sleep (duh!). Around 5:00 or so I decided to go ahead and do my Bible reading for the day. Within a few minutes I fell asleep, not because I was bored (I actually find God’s Word pretty fascinating – you should see how marked up my Bible is), but because, through reading the Word, I was able to bring my mind back in line. I slept for a couple of hours more and finished my reading when I woke up. If I’m going to see lasting change, my mind must be disciplined. I must make choices that bring my mind in line with the Word of God and the God-given desires in my heart. God knew I needed sleep that morning, so when I made the choice that allowed Him entrance into my heart, He was able to provide me with the thing I needed. If I constantly make the choices that allow Him entrance into the moment, He will provide me with what I need and empower me to accomplish what I put my hand to.

You know, structuring changes and blogging about it is really helping me to examine why I do what I do, and gives me a better perspective on myself. I’ve known about my hang-ups for a long time, but have often felt powerless to do anything about them. I’m so grateful to God for this outlet. I’m really optimistic that the outcome will be good and beneficial for me, my family, and those around me. I’d love for you to join me! Anyone can join me at anytime. Just read this post for a review (I introduce Life Zones toward the bottom). You can focus on just one thing at a time or more. Structure it so that it best fits into your life and what you are able to accomplish. Make sure to drop by and comment on your progress. Together we can hold one another accountable and see God accomplish great things in and through us!

No Procrastination + Soap Nuts = SUCCESS!

"So, how did 'No Procrastination Day' go, Steph?"

Thanks for asking! I feel like it was a success. I got several things accomplished yesterday that I could have let myself put off till later. I even emptied the dishwasher! This is something that I usually leave for Shawn to do. I would fill the dishwasher and he would empty it. But yesterday I didn't just fill the dishwasher. Oh, no! I emptied it, too! Of course, the extra motivation of people coming to the house today may have had a tiny influence. ;) There were a couple of incidents of procrastination yesterday, however: in the afternoon while the kids were sleeping I finally got my lunch and sat down at the computer. I needed to take my shower before church (naptime is the best time for me to accomplish this), but I did allow myself to linger at the computer about 30 minutes more than I should have. The other incident was at bedtime. Shawn was out of town last night, so after I got the kids in bed I thought I would have my usual Stay-up-late-because-Shawn-is-out-of-town-and-I-hate-sleeping-in-an-empty-bed-nights. That didn't happen. After dosing off in the chair downstairs for an hour, I finally got up and went to bed. So for the most part I did well, and the little bit of procrastinating I did allow myself was relatively inconsequential. (Except that in my grogginess last night I forgot to make sure both of the cats were out of the house. I'm hoping I won't find a cat-pee surprise waiting for me downstairs. The cat also woke me up at 5:30, so I didn't sleep as long as I could have.)

I also got my NaturOli Soap Nuts yesterday. So far I LOVE them! The sample pack I got has a bottle of the liquid as well as a muslin bag with five soap nuts. I used the liquid in the dishwasher. I did 1/2 tsp in each cup because our dishwasher is TERRIBLE! The Soap Nuts liquid performed at least as well if not better than a commercial dishwasher detergent. I only found a couple of things that did not come clean (there were a few things that I needed to rinse or wipe off, but with my dishwasher, believe me, that's clean). On average we're usually stuck with 5 or 6 items that don't come clean (and sometimes even more). Shawn has taken the dishwasher apart and cleaned the thing out. It's just cheap. I think because the house used to be a rental, the former owners put in the cheapest appliances they could find.

After I did the dishes I worked on the laundry. I ran an empty load to start with, with 1/2 tsp of Soap Nuts liquid to clean out the washer and remove any remaining residue from commercial detergents and fabric softeners. Then I washed a load of clothes on warm using the soap nuts and no fabric softener. The clothes came out clean and soft! I checked something that had been a little stained before I put it in the dryer to make sure it was clean, and all the stains had come out! I'm going to wash a load of towels later today to see how it does with the softening. Whether you're supposed to or not, I always wash towels with fabric softener. You can always tell when a towel has been washed without it, and I HATE stepping out of the shower and wiping down with a scratchy towel.

On a final note, I decided I should add one more "Life Zone" to my change structure: financial. We've implemented a budget recently, and for the time being we'll continue working on adjusting it. We're having a hard time making room for unexpected things. We also are putting Todd into preschool two days a week to encourage his speech development (if it weren't for his speech we wouldn't even consider preschool), so we need to make room for his tuition. I'm looking into an online tutoring job to get some more income, I just have to brush up the subjects so I can pass the competency tests. I need to make sure to work some study time in every day.

Fresh Start Monday, er, Tuesday

I was supposed to post this yesterday, but it obviously didn’t happen. When I wrote my post on Friday, I had every intention of posting about and carrying out my first set of changes yesterday. In fact, that was my intention all the way through the weekend, and when I woke up (at 3:00) Monday morning. That was my full intention until our regular 9:00 Monday morning appointment left. Then I started feeling tired and I let myself sit down at the computer instead of remaining mindful of my intentions. I ended up staying on the computer WAY too long yesterday and did not fulfill my original purpose for the day. (Please don’t ask how long. I don’t EVEN want to go there!) Let’s just say that I accomplished very little of what I needed to yesterday.

(“Stephanie, stop beating yourself up. We all make mistakes.”)

Oh, I know (believe me I KNOW). Actually, I’m not beating myself up; instead I’m taking responsibility for my poor choices yesterday. And, really, yesterday was not a totally wasted day. I did get the basics done and a couple of other things as well. Yesterday also reiterated to me just how important it is for me to make these changes. If I do not start living purposefully and start making conscious choices for each hour of each day (within reason – life happens no matter what is on my agenda), I will continue making the mistakes I’ve made in the past. So, I’m going to start over today and start making those conscious choices.

So, here's the plan: I’ve decided that the best way to structure this journey is to make small changes in five six areas [I decided after thinking about a couple of days, that there is one other area I should add] of my life and focus on them for two weeks. After two weeks I will continue to implement those changes while shifting my focus to five six new changes. Knowing myself as well as I do, there are so many things that I want to change that if I just focus on one area I will not see myself progress quickly enough and will get discouraged, plus it will take a long time to get to all the changes I want to make. But at the same time, I can’t try to change everything at one time either, or I will burn out very quickly. Of course, I have the freedom to adjust this structure if I find it isn’t working. [Edit] I also have the freedom to continue focusing on any particular area indefinitely if I feel the need to do so. These five six "Life Zones" are the areas that impact everything in my life: personal (relationship with God, habits, mental discipline, emotional discipline, academic study), relational (as a wife, as a mother, with extended family, with friends), physical (primarily eating habits and exercising), home (housework, organization, gardening, home improvements, etc), social (civic involvement, community outreach, volunteering, etc.), [edit] and financial (budgeting, prioritizing, spending, saving, giving). So, here is the set of changes I’m going to implement today and focus on the next two weeks:

Personal – Restricting computer time to early mornings before the kids are up, and in the afternoons during naptime. If need be I’ll set a timer to make sure it happens.

Relational – Taking time to have playtime with the kids, outside whenever possible.

Physical – Jogging 2 miles 2 days a week via the Wii. (I read an article recently that said that the best exercise to increase your energy levels is moderate jogging for 1.7 miles, twice a week. It takes 6 weeks to start feeling the full effects, and then you can increase the intensity of your exercise routine.)

Home – Getting back into my one-load-of-laundry-a-day routine (the lack of laundry detergent wasn’t the only reason I haven’t kept up with this routine.

Social – Finding ways to perform my volunteer duties more efficiently.

[Edit] Financial – Getting our spending in line with our budget.

I need to add that I haven't chosen any of these things lightly. I've prayerfully considered where to start and am proceeding as I feel God has shown me to. He is a light to my feet and shows me my path a little at a time with the Ultimate Goal (Christ) ever in sight (Phil 3:14).

If you’d like to join me by adapting this system to your own life, you are more than welcome! You can work on just one life zone, or all five six, or even add more if that fits best into the structure of your life. Leave lots of comments and let me know how you’re doing and we can encourage each other along the way. If you just want to follow along, you can join my blog (where it says “Join this site” in the right-hand column) to make it easier for you keep up with my posts. And, don’t forget to tell your friends and family about me. The more the merrier! Have an awesome “Fresh Start Tuesday”! ;)