There is a Season

I'm a planner.  I like to set goals and map out how I can get there.  I can make any plan look good on paper.  My 2010 New Year's Resolutions are awesome.  And they are still posted on my refrigerator because although they were great goals, I haven't accomplished many of them.

Life is really about making plans and being flexible enough to adjust as other things come your way.  That is what this summer has been.

My summer plans:

• Read a lot and do reviews for my book blog.  
• Add boot camp to the two times a week I was already at the gym so I'd get a good cardio and strength training workout at least 3 times a week.  
• Gradually build up my endurance so that by the end of the summer I could walk to the gym, do my circuit training or boot camp and walk home.  
• Daily tai chi and qigong to help prepare for the classes I will be a teaching assistant for in the fall.  
• Revise lesson plans, studio documents, and website for my voice studio.  
• Update my song catalog.
• Explore new musical theatre repertoire.
• Do most of the work for my NCTM.  (National music teacher certification program offered through MTNA.)
• Deep clean my house and keep up with regular cleaning. 
• Cut out dairy, chocolate, and sugar (all of which I know cause more pain, depression, inflammation, etc.) 
• Blog a lot on all 3 blogs.  

What I've really done towards those goals:

• Almost completed reading one book about teaching.  Read a few other books, but haven't really done any book reviews yet.  
• Cut back at the gym because I couldn't pay for boot camp or personal training. 
• Dealt with Fibromyalgia flare ups.  If I'm in pain at half a mile, it doesn't really matter if I have the physical endurance to go longer.  This kind of pain is not good to push through.  I definitely won't be achieving my walk to the gym goal.  
• I'm not even close to the daily tai chi practice that was my goal, but I did do 4 tai chi depth classes, teacher certification for seated tai chi and fall prevention, and a 1 day Shibashi workshop.
• I'm actually doing well with the goal to revise lesson plans, studio documents, and website for my voice studio.  It's not all done, but I am on target to be there by the time school starts.  
• Song catalog updates are slower than I planned.  This got bumped to the bottom of the priority list.  
• I have explored a little more musical theatre rep.  Again, not as much as I wanted, but not a total fail.  
• I had to drop the NCTM classes because I couldn't pay for them or the application.  I thought I would do more on my own, but other things got in the way.  
• Total fail on the cleaning stuff.  Again, other things got in the way or if I did actually have time, I didn't have energy.  
• Grief asked for chocolate ice cream (among other things.)  I could only cope with so much at once.  I'm doing better.  Today is day 3 sugar free.  I'm not cutting out all the dairy yet.  
• I've done some blogging, but it's been a hard summer for writing.  

What I wasn't planning on but spent more time and energy on instead:

• Grieving.  
• Stressing over money.  
• Exploring options to bring in more money.  I have some great plans for the future.  We'll see what actually gets done.  
• Digging, exploring, examining, and reflecting on what I believe and why.
• Planning for a big part I have in an upcoming fundraiser.
• I got involved in a new scripture study group in a new (to me) FB group.  
• Salad everyday (or almost every day.)  I can't get enough.  

I just have to keep reminding myself that I can't do everything right now. And as much as I plan, I have to also be flexible enough to deal with what life throws at me.  "To everything there is a season."  Unfortunately, I don't always get a lot of say in which season I'm in.  

Summer isn't over yet.  I'm interested to see what actually happens in these next few weeks.