September was a very good month for my goals. I completed three of them and progressed on so many others. In total I’ve accomplished 23 of my goals now! That’s almost a quarter! I realize I’m 1/3 into my project, so I’m a little behind, but it should be alright. I’ve got a lot of long-term goals that just take some more time to complete. And I’ve got big plans for October. But before I’ll tell you about those, first let’s see what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve progressed on!
COMPLETED GOALS
No. 37: Answer ’50 Questions that will Free your Mind’.
I completely forgot that I accomplished this goal in September! It seems like such a long time ago already. But according to my blog, I answered these 50 questions on September 4th. It took me quite ask me time, because I really wanted to take the questions seriously. And they weren’t the easiest questions. Most of them were quite deep and really got me thinking. I really liked completing this goal.
No. 21: Regain my knowledge of the French language by speaking, reading or listening to it every day for two weeks in a row (at least 15 minutes each time).
One would think this should have been the easiest goal ever, since my boyfriend, who happens to live with me, has studied French. But that actually held me back. I was too ashamed of my current level of French. I’ve forgotten so many things. I really wanted to overcome my fear of failing in this department. And last month I did! I read comic books, a story in a book, a magazine article, and I even had French conversations with Ruud. If you’re curious about how I’ve overcome my fear of failing, you can read it back here.
No. 16: Learn at least one song on the guitar and upload it on YouTube.
I’m having guitar lessons for two months now. That’s a very short time, it’s going really well. I think I might have discovered a hidden talent here! Since I progressed so well I figured I shouldn’t wait any longer with uploading a video. First of all, because I’m very proud to have achieved this level after only two months. But mostly because I know myself. I would constantly be afraid not to perform perfectly enough. As a result I would keep stalling the video forever. I wanted to break that pattern. So I recorded myself, uploaded the video and wrote about it on the very last day of September. Goal achieved! And because I sang as well, I also progressed on goal no. 24: Upload 5 new videos on YouTube in which I sing.
GOALS IN PROGRESS
No. 41: Eat two portions of fruit every day for a month. Do this three times. (2/3)
I finished my second month on September 9th. I immediately proceeded to the third month, which means I will complete this goal in just a few days!
No. 77: Watch 101 movies. (31/101)
I haven’t watched any new movies in September, because I was too busy finishing the series ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and getting hooked on ‘Once Upon A Time’. I did however blog about six movies I had forgotten to blog about before: Bambi, Tangled, The Bucket List, The Makeover, Maleficent & Dr. horrible’ Sing-Along Blog. I have accomplished 1/3 of this goal now, which is perfectly on schedule. I’ll just have to make sure to start watching movies again this month.
No. 70: Read 25 novels. (10/25)
I hadn’t only forgotten to blog about some movies. There were also two books still waiting for a review: ‘Solitude of Prime Numbers’ & ‘Ik Ook Van Jou’. I had finished them months ago, but hadn’t gotten to writing about them yet. So I did that in September.
It made me realize how long it had been since I read a book. I had to do something about that, if I wanted to finish this goal in time. Luckily, a solution presented itself last month. I a pen pal Facebook group I’m in, one of the members suggested to start a book club. This would mean we’d read one book each month. That was just the little push I needed! I didn’t hesitate and joined the book club immediately.
The first book we read was Splintered by A.G. Howard. I just finished it a few days ago, so I haven’t had the change to review it yet, but I will do that this week.
No. 36: Take a selfie every month. (12/33)
I took my twelfth selfie last month, which means I have been doing this for a year now! It doesn’t feel like that long at all. I remember feeling a bit reluctant in the beginning, but I have grown to love this goal.
No. 40: Lose 30 kg (66 lbs). (7/30)
This is a goal I am struggling with at the moment. My addiction takes over too many times lately. In August I even gained weight because of that. But even though I’m still struggling, last month I managed to lose some weight again. I’m still not where I was a two months ago, but at least I’m on the right track again. Read about my weight loss journey halfway through the month here and about the end of the month here.
No. 97: Take a trip in nature with the dogs, to ten places there never been before where it’s allowed for them to walk without a leash (6/10)
This probably has been the most successful goal of last month. I have been to a total of five new places! I wrote about a forest and Rikku’s first steps in the water on September 17th. And a few days later I blogged about a park we visited with a new lake for her to play in.
But in the last week of the month, we discovered yet to other places: a place very unexpectedly nearby and a large lake with a sandy beach. I will write about them this week.
In total I’ve visited six new walking areas with the dogs now. That means I’ve only got four left. I just might complete this goal this month…
Go see 25 theater performances (professional or amateur). (13/25)
Photo by Amelia van den Bergh
Theater season has begun again! I happily took advantage of that by visiting two performances. The first one was The Play of Nijmegen, The Preselections, in which I even took part with WOW-EFFECT (and we managed to proceed to the finals!). The other performance was Ex, which I’ve seen two days ago and I still have to write about. Guess I’ll be having a busy week!
Oh, and besides visiting two plays, I also wrote about two plays I had been two before summer break.
No. 5: Build a company website.
I have been less busy with this goal than I actually had wanted to. But I did read articles about writing good SEO web texts and I have been brainstorming about tag lines and a bio. My company website still needs a lot of work (the design is finished, but I still have to write all the content), but the new domain for my blog is almost completely finished. It has a new design, a clearer interface and a fresh color scheme. That means shortly this blog will move to a new web address. I’ll update you on this blog when that happens. Stay tuned!
No. 35: Own the diary ‘Q&A a day: a 5 year journal’ and write in it every day.
I must say, it’s getting harder to keep writing in this journal. I guess I’m less motivated than in the beginning. Or maybe the questions are just getting harder to answer. It helps that it’s just a few lines per day though. Even if I forgot to write one or two days, I can catch up easily. So up until now, every day is filled with an answer.
No. 38: Write down 101 things I like about myself. (69/101)
I had planned on finishing this goal in September. But then life threw lemons at me and I couldn’t be bothered with it anymore. I have managed to write down 69 things though and my plan is to finish the list this month. It’s not easy to come up with 101 things I like about myself! But it sure is good therapy.
THIS MONTH’S GOALS
Apart from finishing the 101 things I like about myself and accomplishing the fruit goal, I am planning to finish my website, go unplugged for two days in a row and have a movie marathon. I would very much love to finish constructing the backyard, but whether I will succeed greatly depends on the weather. I think at least finishing the path in the front yard is doable. It will also be my birthday this month, so I might even bake a cake that I’ll decorate with fondant or marzipan. And I might finish exploring new walking areas for the dogs. If all goes well, this could be a very successful month!
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