Five New Goals - August

Five New Goals - August

There are areas in my life where I can tell that either I've become stuck, or have allowed poor habits to develop. So, similar to my recent efforts to quit sugar and lose 15 pounds, I'm now setting some new goals to try and move my personal needle in a more positive direction.

Here are the five goals I've set for August, with the intention that the first two become regular habits by month end:

1.  Thirty minutes of nonfiction reading in the morning, as I drink my wake up coffee. I read lots of fiction, but other than memoirs, I avoid non fiction for the most part. And yet, I've accumulated a number of interesting nonfiction books (all free) that I have yet to read, which has been tugging at me. Morning is a good time for me to focus on what are often detail-dense reads. So my nonfiction reading goal for this month is The Pioneers by historian David McCullough.

2.  Incorporate walking with stops into the gym to do weight training. Our new gym membership has two locations, one of which is just down the road from our home. And yet, I've continued to struggle to utilize the weight room in spite of finding it very welcoming, because I love moving outdoors so much more than indoors. However, I simply have to get in and do weight training and stop my excuses. What I came up with is a compromise - I'll continue to do the bulk of my cardio outdoors, however I will stop in two times weekly, while still out on foot, as part of my return route back to the house. By incorporating the gym stop into my walking route, I avoid the excuse/permission I give myself upon reaching the house, that I'm now too tired to go out again and do weights. 

3.  Grill and eat dinner outside here at home at least one night each week. Our warmer evening weather has finally arrived, and I don't want to waste the opportunity to enjoy grilling and dining outdoors here at the house while we can.

4.  Make Happy Hour dates with two couples - one new to us, and one that just returned from a multi-month trip. This is one of the ways we've developed our current circle of friends. I do a mental scan of who we haven't seen for a bit, or who we've recently met and want to continue to build a friendship with, and make a point to reach out via text or phone with a Happy Hour invite. Both August couple 'dates' will include invites for dessert and card playing back at our place afterwards, which is an easy way to entertain at this point in our lives, and that we find others appear to appreciate as well. We seem to have all gotten increasingly food-fussy in our aging years, so meeting for Happy Hour at a restaurant allows everyone to easily and affordably have exactly what they want to eat. The entertaining afterward at our place is likewise easy - I love to bake, and I love to entertain, plus we have a well stocked wine fridge.

5.  Purchase a new summer sun dress. I'm not sure why I haven't done this yet, in that I was actually looking forward to going shopping, post recent weight loss.

For those of you from other parts of the country, it might seem like I'm late out the gate with this, however, our warmer weather really did just arrive, and should now be with us into October.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How about you? Any new goals to share for August you care to share?