1 - conquer my anxiety, or at least win a few battles against it. still kicking anxiety's arse. mostly through a lot of self talk, taming the crazy, and talking it out with good friends when i feel anxiety rearing its ugly head. and no more meds, yippee.
2 - be more thoughtful of others, especially around special events, days, occasions. a found out a friend who was recently married was just broken into and they lost most of what they received at their wedding. i didn't know what to do, so i sent her some flowers. i realise this is as much about me as it was about her, but it made her day and it made me smile. i also sent a friend a book that i think he'd enjoy and to ease the sting of having to miss mama's day, i put a card in the post before i left. i'd say for one month, that was pretty good.
3 - continue making visiting family and friends a priority. imagine me, sitting on a boat, alone, in the middle of halong bay in vietnam, sorting out my priorities and my 6 month plan. imagine me thinking to myself, 'no more international travel for 6 months because you must save money.' then imagine me getting home to an invitation to attend my friend's wedding in south africa in october!! i obviously had to say yes and then i had to follow that up with an affirmative answer when she asked me to be a bridesmaid! i am rather looking forward to it and although this is not exactly what i planned during my vietnamese goal setting session, it does allow me another chance to meet my goals for the year!
and i am heading to vancouver island this weekend for some sea kayaking, some wine drinking, and some family visiting, yay!
4 - nail down some sort of short-term career goals. see #3 on the goal setting. part of why i wanted to stop travelling so much for the next 6 months is so that i could save my pennies in preparation to pursue international work in 2011. as i am keen to work on short term contracts on emergency response as a protection officer, i can't very well predict the next haiti or when darfur needs additional support in the protection department. i also don't know if anyone will want me (although they did want me in haiti last week... until they realised i don't speak french) so i need to built a nest egg to cover my regular expenses in case i do not find something as soon as i start looking.
my trip to south africa might change my timeline or i might just keep it the same and make a bigger crunch in my spending, we shall see.
5 - lay a nest egg to accompany my nest. still failing. trips to vietnam and south africa are mostly getting in the way of this. and the fact that we are just coming out of tax season and corporate taxes are a pain in my behind and are denting my bank account.
6 - eat more balanced, regular meals. still not doing so well, but it is tough to stock your fridge with groceries when you are not in your nest for more than two weeks at a time! i am making healthier choices (except for that night last week where i had chocolate cake for dinner and that other night when i was still so hungover from the night before that i ordered pizza and was mildly ashamed that they now have my address on file).
7 - sleep an appropriate amount. napping is sort of my new hobby. it started with the jet lag, was prolonged with copious wine drinking, and is maintained with early, productive mornings. so it is not so bad and i am feeling rather rested when i am awake, it is just that my sleeping hours are a bit of a hot mess.
8 - maintain my priorities. as mentioned, my alone time in vietnam was great and so was the training i was on in thailand because it allowed me to step back from the life i am currently leading and evaluate a few things. namely, whether or not i am happy and content where i am, whether or not my jobs are fulfilling, and what i have to do now to set me up for success in my future endeavours.
the outcome of all this thinking was that i need to save money in the coming months and i need to continue plugging away in my current jobs to build a good foundation for future employment and my nest egg. i was also feeling as though i had lost my life/work balance in the weeks leading up to my trip to vietnam and it was a reminder that it is not the work itself that was creeping into my personal life, but the worries and frustrations. and these were mostly coming from my trafficking-related work. and volunteers. and managing the crazy people who want to start their own ngos. and the crazies who take the opportunity to yell at me during events. you can imagine that it became rather taxing on my patience.
i returned to calgary feeling refreshed and ready to jump into spring and summer with the intention of taking full advantage of my current location and spending time at the cabin, running, and getting out more. but the instant i turned on my work blackberry, i realised this would not be as easy as i imagined. and it hasn't been. i am largely back to juggling competing demands on my time and scheduling fun. it had better not all been for naught though and i will keep working to find that elusive balance between my friends, my family, my corporate job, my non-profit job, my health, my running, my neglected nest, etc.
9 - keep asking for what i want. there hasn't been anything i have asked for recently, perhaps i should change this!
unless, asking for help to do my trafficking job better by finding a dedicated volunteer to take on a portion of what i have been trying to stay on top of, but have let slip. doesn't sound like much, but it is for someone who isn't in the habit of asking for help in that type of stuff!
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