2013 Goals: 13 in 13

I’m excited that I decided to join in on Rebecca @ Weight Wars’ 13 in 13. Before I get to my actual goals for 2013, she asked the participants to answer this question:

What would it be like if your world was exactly how you wanted it? Describe it.

I love this question! I’m a dreamer at heart (isn’t every planner trying to achieve her dreams?), and it’s so fun to imagine. My dream life ended up being quite extensive, so I made it into it’s own post, which you can read here, if you’d like.

Now it’s time to set some goals. Rebecca instructed that I should set 12 goals and then #13 should be a big one – something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what my goals for 2013 would be, and I’m excited with what I’ve come up with.

1. Qualify for WLS.  I’d like to accomplish this by mid-March.  I have 21 lbs to go, and I think that time period is very realistic.
2. Read 35 books. Last year I read 28 books, so I wanted to up the anti a bit.  I love to read, I just need to give myself more time for it.  I’m going to set aside 2 hours each weekend, along with the minutes here and there I find during the week. Once summer hits, I’m going to give myself 1 hour per day to read.

#3 and #4 are for now through June, while school is in.  My schedule at school is that A Days I get done early, with my prep period being the last period of the day.  On A Days I stay at school through lunch , and then leave shortly thereafter.  B Days are the days that I have a full schedule with classes back-to-back.
3. A Days: gym (elliptical, bike, swimming).
4. B Days: grade until 4pm, one Group exercise class per weekday.
I’ll reassess #3  and #4 in late August when school resumes, depending on my prep period.   In the summer months (late June – early August), I plan to exercise daily and I won’t need to grade, so #3 and #4 will be on hiatus with me.

5. Saturday: Zumba, then 2 hours grading.  In the latter part of November and throughout December, I started grading on Saturdays, and it really helped me feel more organized for the entire week.  As much as I hate working on the weekends, it  seems to be a necessary evil so that I can manage my work/life balance throughout the rest of the week.  In the summer, I’ll spend at least one  of these grading hours reading and then figure out what I’ll devote the other hour to.
6. Sundays: Lululemon yoga.  As much as I enjoy yoga, so many of the poses are really out of reach for me because of my weight.  I enjoyed the class at Lululemon because it was free and a bit more accessible than the one I took at my local yoga studio.  As my weight comes off and my abilities improve, I may modify this goal, but for now, it works well.
7. Try 6 Pinterest crafts; learn to art journal. I started an entire board for this, and I look forward to seeing what I create throughout the year. In the summer, I plan to take a class in art journaling at a local art studio/store.
8. Keep up with Google Reader/blogs. This was the first year I used Google reader to keep up with the blogs I follow, and while I enjoyed that they were all in one place, my reader got seriously out of control most of the time.  Going with the idea of tackling a bit at a time, I’m earmarking an hour a day toward blog reading.  I know that I appreciate it when people take the time to comment on my blog posts, and I already comment on most of the blog posts I read, so I’ll continue that in 2013.
9. Do something fun with other people every other weekend. This seems very realistic, both from a financial and scheduling standpoint.  This will also help me get out and about more.
10. Go to bed by 10pm. This is going to be a challenge, but it’s something I need to do for my health.  I tend to stay up much too late, often heading to bed after midnight.  Since I wake up at 5:30am, that’s just not good for me.  Creating a healthier nightly routine will be a great step towards better health.
11. Begin researching becoming a health educator. If you read my dream world, you’ll see that I’m very interested in this, and I think it would be something that I would be great at. I envision starting small at first – weekends, after school, in the summer – and then moving into making it my main career. This summer I’ll have the time to look into what it takes to work with hospitals like Kaiser and others in my area.  I may need some sort of health certificate beyond my teaching credential, but probably not too much more.  Since I’m certificated to teach adults in junior college, I’m sure I would have no problem with that area of it.
12. Take monthly progress photos, begin measurements. My sister snapped a few photos of my last week after we went to yoga, and I’m going to ask her to take my measurements this Sunday.  I know how important it is to get other measures of weight loss besides just the scale.

And now, for #13, the big, scary, outside-the-comfort-zone goal…
13. Sign up Match.com in the fall; go on dates by December. I’ve completely put my dating life on hold for the past 5 years.  I made that choice because I wasn’t meeting the type of guys I thought I deserved.  I’ve always been of the opinion that I should only go on dates with men that I would date at my goal weight.  In other words, not settling just because I’m fat.  The problem was, the type of guy that I’d date at my goal weight just wasn’t interested in me at my current weight, which I understand.  It is what it is.  Plus, I needed to focus on me, on my weight loss quest, and I’m glad I have.  But by later this year, I should have a good handle on my weight loss efforts, and I’ll be ready to jump back into the dating pool.  If nothing else, it might make for some interesting blog posts!

Before I end this, I have to tell you that this post is number 1313 for my blog, and I have to think that it can’t be an accident. I’m going to take it as a sign that these 13 goals are what I’m meant to do this year.

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