Although, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, my brain functions with the school year as my primary mental calendar, I take every opportunity to set goals which the turnover of a new calendar year also provides. At the beginning of the year, I set three main intentions: writing deeper, running deeper, and teaching deeper. At a little over halfway through the year, and just after my birthday, I revisit those intentions and check in to see how things are going.

Writing deeper has been a work in progress. With the exception of my tech-free-ish week, I have managed to put up a weekly post here on the blog, several that thrilled my soul as I wrote. I have even managed to have a post or two scheduled a week or two ahead. Currently, however, the ideas have trickled out, barely fast enough to scrounge up an idea on the day that I need to post the next entry. This same ebb and flow characterizes my journaling. Some days the words flood the page. Other days, I forget entirely or, if I manage to remember, stubbornly refuse to leave the safe confines of my pen for the exposure of the blank page. I must admit that many things besides writing have taken over the top spot in my mental priority list, things unrelated to any of the three intentions I set at the beginning of the year. My priority list needs a shake up.

In three weeks, I will reach the major milestone of my running deeper goal, the one marathon I have planned for this year. As I have mentioned in weekly recaps and in race recaps, I have struggled with this intention for two main reasons: South Carolina heat and humidity and struggles with mental stamina in the battle against negative, defeatist thoughts. I have no control over the weather but I do have control over my own mind. That being said, I have yet to take a step beyond identifying my mental stamina issues. Going forward, I want to put this, finding a solution or a plan, on the front burner. I have to acknowledge, as well, that my diet, significant to performance, has also become less than idea. Around this time last year, I decided to clean up my diet and eliminate added sugar. I stood firm for a few months but as the school year continued busier than ever, and I began marathon training, I relented. I gave myself excuses for grabbing the sugar filled fill-in-the-blank. This less than optimal diet has definitely done nothing to aid my running performance. Once again, the solution – the action I need to take – lies in making meal planning a priority over ease, over convenience or even frugality.

Instead of talking about teaching deeper, the last of the three intentions, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about finances. I talk enough about teaching as it is.) Back on July 1st, I decided to participate, really participate, in the Uber Frugal Month Challenge again. (I will not be detailing the challenge for the blog like I did last time, simply participating and restarting.) I realized, not that I had descended into mindless consumerism, but that I had lost sight of why I wanted to spend less. That allowed me to give permission to buy this small thing here, or go out to eat there as a treat or a reward or just because I could. When the school year ended, I wanted a little pampering. Now, there’s nothing wrong with relaxing and enjoying life, I simply did it in a mindless way that could have distracted from one of my main financial goals, traveling. Last summer was one of the most amazing summers I have ever had. God enabled me, and Mom, to go to some amazing places and revel in His creation. I love to travel. That’s no secret. I want to travel everywhere. That’s also, not a secret. Traveling takes money. Again, not a secret. So, I decided to participate in the Challenge again to readjust my focus, bring back my overall goal into my sights. After all, I have less than a year to save up for my Grand European Adventure and my Grand North American Road Trip Adventure next summer. (Yes, I have named them and will describe what I have planned in later posts.)

On to the later half of 2018!