Reflection on 2018

It’s the end of 2018, the perfect time to reflect on the accomplishments of the year. My amazing friend Linda introduced the idea of taking time to list all accomplishments for that year, a year ago. I was pleased to see the list of all that I had done in 2017. Once again, it was incredible to review my goals for 2018, and see what I had done! I suggest you try it too! Let me know what you discover!

Here is my list of goals in a blog post in January 2018. Here in this post, I highlight and add everything I accomplished.

I want to focus on what I did, not on my failings and what I did NOT accomplish. Like many of us, I am really good at getting down on myself. I’ve learned that spending more than about 10 minutes on my failings does me literally no good.

LOVE

• Start dating! Go on one fun date per month – I did this every month except for November, but considering that in at least 5 months I went on two dates, I can delightfully say: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! It’s true, none of the dates resulted in a keeper. That’s okay. I am still hopeful!

• Update my OKC profile – I did this right away and it was a profile that got wonderful traction. I just wish I was more inclined to online dating.

• Get another dog – YES!! On August 5^th, dear sweet Sammy boy came into my life! And he is a fabulous treasure, he keeps my heart open, a smile on my face, and he keeps me moving!! We go to the off leash dog park 2-3 times every single week!

• Related to dear Sam, I cooked for him, yes, I even cooked meat for him, despite not eating meat myself, for the almost two months it took us to figure out his gastric distress. Turns out Sam is allergic to eggs. Glad we found a dog food kibble that has no eggs in it. Cooking for a dog is no easy thing to navigate! (SO glad I don’t have kids! For all of you that do, good work feeding them!)

• Keep up with old friends + make new friends – I did a good job on this one!!! Driving out to Colorado to see so many old friends: Delinda, Linda, Amber, Joan, Carla and Leisl was WONDERFUL!!

HEALTH + FITNESS

• Train and do the YWCA triathlon with Brooke and friends – YES! This triathlon is SO fun!!! I had an amazing time! Here’s my Race Report!

• Train and ride 45 – 60 mile Tour de Cure Twin Cities + Raise $1000 – Due to my broken ankle healing just in time, I rode the 27 miles and I raised more than $2,000. It is always a delight to ride the Tour de Cure!! Big thank you to all who donated. Darn diabetes, it’s relentless.

• Plant + grow kale and other yummy veggies – YES! I do love gardening! My kale, radishes, carrots and tomatoes did well this year!

• Keep cooking and eating clean and healthy – YES! I did a great job with keeping up with new recipes and clean eating!

• In addition, I successfully navigated breaking my ankle and foot yet again, as I did two years ago. It healed with no surgery needed. Whew.

• Plus, I had surgery on my right hand, trigger finger surgery. AND, on December 31^st, I’m having two more trigger fingers operated on! I am visualizing healing!

• To maintain my good health, I wrote in my Gratitude Journal EVERY SINGLE EVENING! And I meditated for at least 10 minutes, often longer, every day!!

• And, as I will do in early 2019, I hosted a Vision Board Gathering! Gathering in community to make a vision board is such fun and even a tiny bit spiritual!

• Finally, I am pleased to report that I went to the Saint Paul Gym a minimum of 8 times every month, even when I was on the knee scooter with my broken ankle!

WRITING

• Find a great editor – YES! I found Kitty and she did a wonderful job of editing and helping me refocus my book.

• Blog 1 – 3 times a month on my website – I took a blog course with writer Jeff Goins and starting in March, I got going with writing a blog post AND emailing my list every week. In 2018, I successfully posted 38 blogs!!

• In addition, I attended two Blue Harbor Urban Writing Retreats on two different weekends.

• Plus, I started a new writing group with a small group of wonderful, dedicated writers!

SERVICE

• Continue organizing P.ink Day MSP – YES! And this year, we were at 3 tattoo shops and 14 women got beautiful tattoos over their mastectomy scars. A HUGE SUCCESS!

• Continue leading Lean In Together MSP
  • CORE Work Group – YES! Every month at least 3 of us meet. Included in this, we weathered a difficult storm of anger and misunderstanding. I got very triggered by what happened, and I reached out and got wonderful support processing it all.
  • Social Media/Website Work Group – This group took a hit, but we held strong and we are rebuilding. Feels good.
  • Peer Coaching Circle at UMN – YES! It was a big success! Then, with Linda, we started another Peer Coaching Circle. Such an incredible way to get support to accomplish ambitious goals.

• Go to Panama – YES! I went and got to see Charlie Kersey and his daughters. Realized running a program in Panama is not best done by me. Luckily, the professor I suggested got hired and now they have a wonderful person to lead the program!

ABUNDANCE

• Save $3000. – YES! I did this! Feels awesome!

• Also, I am very pleased to report, that for 2018, I lived within my means the whole year.

In closing, my biggest lesson of 2018, was that slowing down in moments of stress and conflict really does help. When slowing down, it is wise to think about my feet and my connection to the Earth and to all of life here on the planet.

Thanks for reading this reflection blog! I feel really good about 2018. I navigated lots, not all of it easy, and made it to the end of the year with joy and love and a good sense of accomplishment.

I hope your 2018 was a good year!

And best of all, here’s to 2019!!