32 While 32!

Here it is! My 32 while 32 list. It took me a while to get to my 32 things. With the current state of things, I tried to stay away from things that may not actually be possible within the next year. So I had to strike off things like ‘go to a Vikings game’ or really anything that involved spectators or large crowds or anything like that. If things start going back to ‘normal’ I may still find myself doing them anyway, but they’ll just be bonuses. Or, they’ll go on next years’ list. Without further ado, here’s my list (along with some explanation on some of them, mostly for the benefit of my future self who might be asking ‘what did I MEAN by that?’):

1.      Read 12 books – at least 3 personal development.

Last year I found myself reading books just to get to my 12. A lot of them weren’t really well written, didn’t have much of a point but were ‘quick, easy reads’. This year I want to be more intentional about my reads and choose ones that either benefit my life, or can help me develop my writing skills. I’m sure some ‘easy reads’ will sneak their way in there, but I’m hoping if they do, they’re above and beyond my 12.

2.      Go to a Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre.

I’ve wanted to do this for SO LONG. It’s the one thing on my list that may not actually be able to happen if things don’t open back up. But I left it on there anyway. Here’s hoping it can happen!

3.      Regular posts to travel blog.

I’ve got a LOT of work to do on this. I have a lot of posts in the ‘queue’ that either need editing, that need wrapping up, or just need writing altogether. I’m hoping to get things cinched up and get the backlog of journals onto my Journeys and Journals page.

4.      Road trip with Steve & Indy.

Pretty open ended at this point. May have to just be a weekend getaway because right now we have no idea when he might be gone or be home. So, no big plans to be made.

5.      Go to 2 new state parks.

Last year, I thought ‘3 new parks’ was ambitious and we ended up doing like 14 or something like that. BUT with the road trip bit still up in the air, 14 would be SUPER ambitious. So we’re scaling it back to 2. I’ve got 2 in mind. Hoping that 2 is a gross understatement and we can go to WAY more, but time will tell.

6.      32 letters to 32 people.

This is my way of acting out on an idea that I had a few years ago. Of letting people know what I admire about them. What I think they’re great at. Why they inspire me. It’s always been my intention to do more of that, but it’s never really become a priority. I still do it on occasion, but I want to make it a more regular and intentional thing. So this year, I’m going to (attempt to) pick 32 people to reach out to and let them know why I admire them.

7.      Become STRONGER.

Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. All of the ways.

8.      Finish book #2 and send to 1^st reader.

Seriously. This one has been such a struggle. There’s a part of the book that I don’t like. Not in the ‘this needs to be rewritten’ way. But in the ‘these characters are being pains in the butt and I don’t like that the storyline has to do this, but it does’ kind of way. You know. The part of the book where things are just going wrong and you want the resolution to ‘hurry up and get here’. THAT kind of not like. And every time I get to it while writing/rereading/editing, I find other things to do instead of write/read/edit. So it’s been a struggle. But I’m DETERMINED to make it through this one this year so I can move on to the 15 other ideas I’ve put on the back burner in the meantime.

9.      Journal daily.

Sounds like a lot. But really, I have 2 journals I’m working through that have daily prompts. It usually take 5-10 minutes (sometimes longer) to do both of them. And even if that’s all I do, I’m counting that as ‘journaling’ for the day. I’m sure some days I will journal about other things, but if I do at least those 2 prompts, I’ll be happy.

10.   100+ miles on the bike.

It’s gonna happen this year. I’m sure of it.

11.   Finish travel journals.
This ties pretty closely to the regular posts to the travel blog. Once I get my own personal journals completed, I can start rewriting them in a way that I can share them with the world and hopefully inspire other people to get out there and live.

12.   Phone free weekend.

This one is both exciting and terrifying for me. I’m looking forward to it and dreading it. Clearly I’m addicted to my phone (NOT good), so I think it will be a challenge, but I think it will allow me time that is NEEDED to decompress and focus on things like writing. 

13.   Purge house.

A never ending process. I know that next year at this time when I’m seeing what I did and what I didn’t, this one will STILL read, ‘in progress’.

14.   Spend more time relaxing outside.

I’m pretty good at sitting in my house in my chair, even when the weather is nice out. But last year I spent some mornings sitting on my deck and menu planning. And I kind of enjoyed it once I got a rhythm and setup that worked. So there’s really no reason I can’t sit out there and write or read.

15.   Kayaking.

Not sure when or where or with who, but I want it to happen.

16.   Weekly bonding with Indy while Steve is gone.

Sometimes I think he gets neglected a little when his favorite human is gone. So I’m going to try to spend some time doing the activities he likes (like chasing the laser). Maybe that will make me the favorite. But probably not.  

17.   Get a massage.

I feel like my body could use it after the copious amounts of exercise I’ve put it through the past year.

18.   Do a Bible Study.

Looking for a self-study one. I do SO much better with ones I can do at my own pace instead of having an assigned reading. Let me know if you’ve got suggestions!

19.   Work on establishing routines.

Cleaning. Cooking. Writing. All of the things.  

20.   Enjoy. Moments.

I want to stop living at the pace of 800 miles an hour where my brain is constantly thinking of ‘what’s next’ and ‘what’s after that’ and just making sure I’m checking all of the boxes. I want to actually take time to enjoy the here and now.

21.   Learn to knit grandma’s slippers.

I found the pattern online! Now to find some yarn and give it a whirl.

22.   Tribute to grandma.

It’s been over a year since she’s passed and I’ve yet to write a tribute to her. I haven’t been able to find the words. But I want to. And I need to.

23.   Find myself again.

I’ve not felt like myself for the past few years in so many different ways. And for a lot of those years, I didn’t really want to find myself. I didn’t know where to even look. But now I want to get back there. More than ever.

24.   Be a better friend.

Again, I spend too much time living my life at 800 miles an hour. Even when I’m with my friends. I rarely feel like I’m with them because my brain and thoughts are elsewhere. I want to be present. I want to be invested in their lives. I want to be the friend they can go to. With anything.

25.   Do a dance or boxing workout program.

Or maybe both. We’ll see where the year leads.

26.   Take a ‘fun’ class on Udemy.

I surfed around on there a little bit. I think there’s definitely some that I could benefit from or that I would find interesting!

27.   Go on 3 lunch dates.

Not sure with who, but I want to go on 3 lunch dates with 3 people at some point throughout the year.

28.   Get highlights in my hair.

I’ve been on the fence about this one for a while, but heck. Why not!?

29.   Marvel movie marathon.

Steve and I had plans to watch ALL of the Marvel movies, in chronological order (the order that the movies actually happened, NOT their release date) before the last Avengers movie came out. But his career change made that fairly difficult. So, now we’ll just have to do it when we have time.

30.   Start documenting gratitude.

I want to start writing down the things that I notice that go ‘right’ throughout my days/weeks.

31.   Create an actual writing space – no more armchair authoring!

Armchair authoring leads to too many distractions. TV. Naps. Books (to read). Internet. I think a designated writing space would alleviate some of that and make me more productive and focused.  

32.   Go to a drive in movie.

I’ve always thought this sounded fun. And it’s pretty much the perfect solution to seeing a movie while social distancing. So, this might be the perfect year!  

31 While 31 - A plan to live life better THE RESULTS.

1.      Go to a Backstreet Boys concert.

CHECK. – So. Much. Fun. Will do again.

2.      Go to a Vikings game.

NOT THIS YEAR. – I thought this would be a fun thing to do as a father/children outing. Turns out my brothers would rather sit at home and watch from their couches than actually go to a game in person. So this is going BACK on the list for the future.

3.      Watch roller derby with Ashley.

NOT THIS YEAR. – Somehow we missed all of these. Hoping to be more aware of their schedule this year so we can go!

4.      Hike 3 new parks.

CHECK. – I believe the actual count was somewhere in the ballpark of 15 new parks that we hiked. I may have grossly underset this goal.

5.      Bike a Minnesota State Trail with Steve and/or Allison.

NOT THIS YEAR. – I think things got a little hectic for all parties on this one. Thing didn’t quite turn out as planned (in good ways and bad) so this one didn’t happen. Maybe another year!

6.      Have Allison teach me something new (paddleboarding, cross-country skiing, rock climbing, kickboxing).

CHECK. – She technically didn’t TEACH me how to do something BUT we did go to the Appleton OHV park which I didn’t know existed and rode around on the 4-wheeler and got muddy which is TOTALLY outside of my normal activities. I’ve never ridden a 4-wheeler AT an OHV park, so I’m counting it.

7.      Go on a road trip with Steve and Indy.

DOUBLE CHECK. – To the North Shore AND to North Carolina.

8.      Edit #1 of Book #2.

CHECK? – I feel like this one is a toss-up. I didn’t finish, but I made it a good chunk of the way through. And what was originally a half finished book with a ‘I have no idea where I want this to go’ actually has a bit more vision now. A plan. A story forming itself in my head. For the most part, the story is now written (in my head). I just have to get pen and paper and keep working out the kinks

9.      Go on a solo weekend.

CHECK? – I kind of just had a lot of solo weekends at home and didn’t really have to go anywhere. I need to be better about actually using them to take the mental breaks that I need that I hoped to get from a solo weekend.

10.   Take a cheap flight to anywhere with Allison.

NOT THIS YEAR. – Hopefully someday. J

11.   Repair relationships.

CHECK. – This is a big one. Truth be told, when I wrote this, there were 3 relationships I had in mind. I also miswrote this. It should say BEGIN to repair relationships. Because the 3 I had in mind, I knew there was no way they were going to be able to be repaired in a year. But I wanted to start. And I think I did that. They’re all still in very different stages of repair. But the ball is rolling. The one that I wasn’t expecting that came completely out of left field was my relationship with myself. I didn’t realize how much repair work needed to be done there before I could even start on the others. Just like the rest of them, it’s still a work in progress. But at least I know it’s IN PROGRESS.

12.   Learn to drive the lawn mower.

CHECK. – Don’t love it, but don’t hate it enough to want to pay someone else to mow my lawn. So it is what it is, I guess.

13.   Be more observant and intentional in my friendships.

WORK IN PROGRESS. – I feel like for a while I did better at this, and then for a while, not so much. I think it goes in spurts. So there’s definitely still progress to be made – I want it to be consistently on the incline.

14.   Do a ropes course.

NOT THIS YEAR. – Had an opportunity on vacation. Chickened out.

15.   Have a bonfire/yard party with friends.

CHECK. – It kind of turned into a house party, because weather, but I’m counting it.

16.   Do a lazy river (either an actual river, or at a waterpark).

NOT THIS YEAR. – Still on my to-do list eventually.

17.   Go to a Mystery Dinner Theater.

NOT THIS YEAR. – Also still on my to-do list.

18.   Find a dog park with Indy.

CHECK. – I didn’t realize that it would be in our own town. But we checked it out and have visited a few times so Indy can smell all the smells and play with the other puppies.

19.   Grow my table.

WORK IN PROGRESS. – There were definitely steps I made in this direction that were outside of my normal comfort zone in terms of inviting groups of people over. BUT there’s definitely still a lot of work to do. I need to come up with a better plan on how to implement this.  

20.   Read 12 books.

CHECK. – It was pretty ‘iffy’ for a while on whether or not I was going to make it, but I managed to squeeze them all in.

21.   Wine-tasting.

CHECK. – At the Biltmore Winery in North Carolina! We also did Moonshine tasting in Tennessee!

22.   Get donuts from the Clearwater Truck Stop.

CHECK. – A few times. Which is probably a few too many. It’s hard to pass up donuts the size of your face, though.

23.   Purge my house.

WORK IN PROGRESS. – And destined to forever be. I started. Then summer happened and I didn’t want to spend all my time in the house. Then Steve was home for longer than expected, so I didn’t want to waste my hours doing this while he was some so it took a back burner. What I learned, though, is that by the time you make it to the ‘end’ it’s time to start over again. So it will forever be a work in progress.

24.   Paint my bedroom.

CHECK. – Technically Steve did MOST of it. But it’s painted. And I love it.

25.   Create a travel list.

CHECK. – Not sure how I’m going to afford it all, but it’s a goal.

26.   Go to the horse races at Canterbury Park.

CHECK. – With my sister-in-law Michelle! I even took on driving in the cities to get there! It was well worth it and so much fun to watch the horses race! I even placed some bets on some.

27.   Say YES to more invitations.

CHECK. – As an introvert, sometimes I struggle to do the things. But once I do them, I’m always glad I did. So I’m trying to push myself to get over the hurdle of initially saying ‘yes’ so that I can take advantage of the things that I initially dread, but never regret.

28.   Put 100+ miles on the bike.

NOT THIS YEAR. – I actually thought this would be an easy accomplishment because I exceeded 100 miles the previous summer without really trying. But apparently I scaled back on the biking by quite a bit last summer.

29.   Kayaking!

NOT THIS YEAR. – Might need to look into actually buying a kayak before adding this back on the list.

30.   Learn how to make grandma’s slippers.

NOT THIS YEAR. – I looked for the pattern, which I’m certain she gave me a number of year ago, but couldn’t find it. Hopefully when I go back through that room to ‘purge’ I will find it so I can teach myself how to make them.

31.   Slow. Down. (Take time to enjoy the things around me instead of trying to rush through everything).

WORK IN PROGRESS. – This is SUCH a hard one for me. I’ve been trained to rush, rush, rush. Always be busy doing SOMETHING. And my mind, more than anything, is ALWAYS going. So it’s so hard for me to remember to slow down long enough to actually just enjoy what’s going on around me. Sometimes I do really well with it, sometimes I don’t. It’s always a push and pull.

So, the final tally:

15 ‘CHECKS’

6 ‘WORK IN PROGRESSES’

10 ‘NOT THIS YEARS’

Would I have loved to have 31 ‘CHECKS’? Absolutely. But the reality is that sometimes life throws us curveballs. Sometimes we get busy doing other things. Sometimes we forget that we have goals or that we’re ALLOWED to do fun things instead of JUST sticking to responsibilities.

What did I learn? I learned that while I’ve made leaps and bounds in the ‘independence’ arena over the past few years, I still have a long ways to go. There were a lot of things that didn’t happen because I didn’t have someone lined up to do them with. But the reality is that I COULD do them myself. I just have to step outside of my comfort zone and actually DO them myself. I also learned that when it comes to the total life changes – the things that require daily intentional actions – I need reminders. I need those things scribbled on a piece of paper I see every day. Because the reality is that sometimes I forget that I’m supposed to be doing them if I’m not reminded on the regular. I also learned that some of these things require a bit more planning instead of just being thrown on a list without any real direction.

I learned a lot from this and while I didn’t ‘complete’ all of the things on the list, I don’t necessarily feel like I failed. There’s a lot of things I DID do that I normally wouldn’t have. There’s a lot of steps I took outside of my comfort zone to cross those things off of my list and there’s a lot of other things that I learned along the way. There’s even some additional things that I took on that DIDN’T make the list, but probably should have if I had thought of them when I was making the list.

It’s fun to have ‘fun’ goals. Instead of just your regular old responsible adult goals. There will definitely be a 32 while 32 list coming – I’m just a little behind. J