Ditto for me. I am so looking forward to this, I can't believe I actually have the energy to clean now.

I am also working on living in the moment - I bought a Thich Nhat Hanh CD "The Art of Mindful Living" and am practicing this.

In some of my other readings, I recall that it said if you have goals made and you clear your mind of stress and worry and live in the moment you will have clear thoughts to help you move toward your goals.

Thanks SC for getting this thread going to get those goals down and ready to be worked on.

I am also going to make a list of all the activities I said I wanted to do but didn't do in the last 10 years and decide which ones I really want to do and make those goals and say goodbye to the ones I don't want to do. (may be some I was thinking about doing for the wrong reasons)

I am going to keep my job for now but am putting aside some $ in case I decide I really do want to work independently and will have some cushion to get that started.

Thanks, LexieCat! I requested them through my local library tonight. I have a degree in business from long ago, but I seriously need all the help I can get, especially with taxes.

Oh Goodie. I Love Goals.

1. Lose 37 kilos ( not sure what that is in pounds)
I joined weight watchers online started on jan 9th and have lost 7kgs already.

2. Exercise.
I wear a pedometer and take a minimum of 10000 steps per day

Great thread!

Shell Crusher might I suggest, buy a good acoustic. A common mistake with beginners is to buy a starter guitar and many can be very difficult to play, often times discouraging beginners right out of the shoot!

I set a goal for myself a few years ago to get open water dive certified and since doing so I'm living my dream on dive trips twice a year. My current goal is to continue with certification levels and put that to use when I start my second career. My next cert. level is rescue diver and I'm planning for that in July.

I gained 30 lbs when I quit smoking and I'm down 10 so far, another goal is to loose the other 20.

Learn to drive by the end of the year so i can cruise about the place with lady gaga full blast ha ha !

Well thats my major goal,and im determined to see it through! good thread,for once i dont dodge the less negative titles!! (if you get my meaning!)

For me my most massive goal is a home of my own again. I was a homeowner once before and a long saga later I am down to renting a room in the back of a house packed in with my two dogs and three cats like sardines in a can.

It started out with a wish to rent an apartment late last summer. I got up the moxie to call a realtor about renting a house they had for sale and that led to looking into renting to one day own the place. Got that door shut in my face, but I had the fever and couldn't give up so I got another opinion and found out about a government program to help me buy a place. I enlisted the help of a loan adviser and from there I waited 3 whole months and all I got were empty promises so I summoned up that old moxie again and when the new year struck I decided to go right to that government office myself and ask them directly what I needed to do buy I house of my own.

Now, I am a little bitter that I could have done this months ago and bought a place by now, but I have faith that my path has been as it should be.

I am now a month into what is rumored to be a 3 or 4-month long process, but so far so good.

My goal is to be in a new place of my own before October 31st. That will give me time to make it my own before spending the holidays in a new nest.

I have set so many goals in the last 4 years from quitting smoking, improving my health, losing weight, furthering my new career working from home, seeking recovery and the 12 steps, and finally leaving my EX and striking out on my own.

Looking on that list I remember how insurmountable they all seemed at the time. Buying a home again seems entirely impossible, too, but it's my faith in myself and my HP that tells me to get out there and try anyway.

Great thread!!

Good luck to us all in the goals we have challenged ourselves with!!!

Alice

Update:
The guitar instructor responded, has a spot open.
I paid the whole tuition.
It's a done deal now. Starts in April.
I can't wait.

Make sure I do not fall for the manipultation this time. Almost 1 month!

Buy myself a house in two years.....so far I am figuring out what I want ; not too far from town....5mi. from town or closer, 2 bedrooms, fireplace, wood floors, a little land for pets to run safely and to grow my own food, trees, privacy,.......nothing big or fancy......affordable.......sunny.......I am waiting 2 yrs. so I will have Social Security money. I sold my old house and have a downpayment but with health insurance so high ( and I am on a retired teaching pension) I want social security $ to kick in. In the mean time post divorce I am living in a cute basement apt. of my best friend's house. After I get my house I want another King Charles Spaniel. I had one who I had for 14 yrs. (Portia). I have two cats and a bird.

Hooray! That's so exciting. :a122:

Here's an update.

The time flew by. My 1st lesson finally happened last night. It was so nice to get out of the house for 1 hour and do something that was all me. I learned a little about how to strum, how to play A and D chords. (I think that's right) I learned how to start reading music and we even strummed to a song.

Oh and lastly, I learned just how bad my fingers can hurt after 1 lesson. Yowtch. I heard they get tender but they are TENDER and I have rough ranch hands. They're not soft but the strings sure put the hurt on them. hah!

10 minutes of practice every night. Just me. AW can't hear my guitar and from what I can tell, neither can the boy after he goes to bed. I'm sure with more practice, a time will come when I can play/practice where my boy can hear me. That will be neat. Perhaps that's my next goal.

Lovely Shellcrusher!! I'm glad to see you followed through! Signing up for a class certainly helps motivate and keep you on task :-)

I used to run marathons, triathalons, and long distance bike races (100+ miles) but lost touch with those hobbies after meeting AH. I gotta get my runner legs back. I went running with a group of engineers this week and it felt A-MAZING! Funny to see this post today because that's exactly what one of my running friends said... "You need a MAJOR goal. Sign up for a marathon or triathalon! Pay the entry fee then you won't back out!"

So my goal for this year - run a marathon.

Excellent, Gettingby!

As usual, I find the timing and commonality of responses today baffling and basically mind blowing.

What's my other secret goal that I haven't set with anyone? Work the couch to 5k plan. Yes. I was a track guy back in the day and loved running and I want to start running again.

The running goal (as probably with any other goal really) is sooo much easier to accomplish if you get in with a group of people! I tried for years and years to train for a marathon by myself... it never worked. I'd get 3-4 months into the 6 month program, and crap out. I had run competitively all through HS and college and felt I knew enough about running to do it myself!!

After 3 years of doing the same thing and and getting the same outcome... I caved in and joined a running club. And 6 months later? I ran my first marathon and qualified for the Boston Marathon!!! And I owe it to the loving support of my running buddies. Knowing they'd be there waiting for me every morning at 5:30 made me get out of bed... it kept me on task.

Now you've got me wanting to find a running club where I live now! Thank you :)

Oh - nice to see this thread again because I can see that I am one month ahead of my goal I set here - set to close any day now on a house, thankfully I found a fixer-upper with good bones that had been sitting on the market for over 200 days and the sellers were eager to unload it. Got a good deal, with the space I need, in the right school district, and its mine, in all its 1980's mauve and gray glory!

I can't wait to start DIY projects again - that is one of my hobbies and my fingers are itchy to paint and tile...

Independence is sweet! :danse1b:

Good work Tuffgirl.
Don't forget to keep your lights on while driving. (Watched a full day of Alaska State Trooper re-runs) :)

My goal this year is to get healthy....
1. I've been running since October, and am now up to about 5 miles 3-4 times a week, with my goals of doing a triathalon, a 10K, and a mini this summer.
2. To continue to see my counselor and help me become healthy in my "mind"
3. Everyday I repead to myself now, I am strong, independent and capable of anything...that goes with my goal of being financially independent and reliant only on myself...I'm a teacher w/6 kids, so this is taking some work.

What a great thread!

Goal #1-already started, working toward my Certified General Accountant designation. I'm taking open university courses (just scored 100% on my latest assignment),am taking computerized accounting courses so I can get working, get some money together and put an offer in on this house.

Goal #2:Buy a vehicle.

Goal #3-lose the 40lbs I put on over the past two years. Hey, I lost over 200 pounds two weeks ago (with the ex's departure), so what's another 40?

Goal #4-Quitting smoking.

Guitar sounds hard. I type for a living and can't imagine doing so if my fingers hurt. Eek.

I too have an update.

In my last thread I posted that my application for funding for a house was a go and I was in the process of shopping to place an offer on a house.

Of course with the good came the bad and I received a notice to not renew my lease from my smarmy landlord. After begging an extension and hearing his complaints and demands, I thought I would have to somehow tough it out with him until I could hope to close on a place. His twisted reality was wearing me thin. I was doing everything I could to avoid him and just get the heck out of there as soon as possible.

I found the perfect little bungalow, made an offer and it was accepted. I managed to get through the inspections and the grant office approving the place and I was stunned with everything passing through with flying colors. The toughest part was knowing I was going to have wait for Congress to pass a budget and get actual money funded to my loan. The wait was agonizing.

By some crazy turn of events, an email I had sent out to maybe rent a place short term to get me out of my landlord's place until I could finalize my house got a response. A couple refurbishing an old farm had a free barn apartment if I could watch over their two horses and a pony for them. They are hoping to move to the farm soon and build a house, but in the interim their horses are at the farm and they are paying a small fortune to have daily care for them.

I met them and they are such generous people. Together we fixed up the old barn apartment to make it functional and I moved myself and my pets in at the end of March. I left as initially ordered by my landlord so I owed him nothing upon leaving. Let him get by without my steady rent and finding someone else to pick on. It was a wild and crazy move that I, again, ended up doing myself, but with a positive attitude and faith that it's all part of a master plan, it just worked itself out. Took me a week to get over all the bumps and bruises from the move, but I'm feeling like my old self again.

Now, we have quiet and all the space we need to spread out and relax. No complaints about noise (which we didn't make but now we can). No tip-toeing around someone else's angry moods. Oh, and the best part, No Rent :) Give me a chance to save for the new place.

I ended up right up the road from the farm where I keep my retired horses so the location couldn't be more convenient. I'm right near my new house as well so I get to drive by it and pine for my little bungalow.

Figured we'd get comfy here and wait out the funding delays. It's rustic, but we are making do and enjoying ourselves immensely.

Just when I thought things were hitting a lull.....wait for it.....My loan grant went through!! Seems a few loans got snuck in through the last resolution by Congress and my loan was one of the few chosen. Can you believe that? I still can't. I feel blessed for sure!

Now it's a mad dash to get more red tape cleared and some tight cinching on the budget to cover the last bit of expenses, but the closing date is set for April 29th.

Not sure if we will make it or if there will be an unforeseen delay, but I've been assured at the worst it's going to be days and not months like it would've been before. My agent says my positive attitude and can-do outlook is what has made this happen. I don't know if all that's true, but I have figured along the way that I can't get what I don't ask for.

It will happen as it is meant to happen. My job is just to hang on for the ride.

I'm so close to my goal and I'm so encouraged by others reaching theirs!!!

Love this thread. I hope there are more updates to come.

Alice

what do I want?
 

In my attempt to take care of myself, recently, I asked myself what things might make me happy?

My list:

1. Buy my own home.
2. Breed marmoset monkeys.
3. Buy a motorcycle, start riding again (street) and join a club of christian motorcyclists. Start making road trips.
4. Become a close knit family with my kids.
5. Start dating again.

First and foremost. Become debt free (not far from it now-have only one debt) and build my savings back up.

I have considered going back to school, but at this point not sure that is really what I want. Time will tell.

Congrats on your accomplishment, btw.:bbj::bbj::bbj: