My Goals for 2017

I revealed my word for 2017, HEALTH, in January but I'm a bit late to the whole 2017 goals party. That's okay! The great thing about personal goals is that you can start any time! I'm still going to refer to this as my 2017 goals list though, since we aren't actually that far into 2017. For this goals list, I had to force myself to keep it a bit more simple. For one thing, I limited myself to five major goals. I did this so that my goals list wouldn't be overwhelming. I have so many things that I want to do but I needed to choose to mainly focus on only a few of those things and I needed to choose the goals that are the most important to me at this time. I also tried to be specific with my goals. Instead of writing down to just do something more often, I decided to say how often I want to do it. I also decided not to go overboard with each goal. Of course I'd love to do these things way more than I decided, but, once again, I don't want to overwhelm myself. I put a limit on things so that I can ease into my goals more easily. I'm also happy that I have two health related goals on my list to go with my word for the year. So, without further ado, here are my goals for the year of 2017.

1) Read 25 novels: I chose this goal for one specific reason: I want to read more books. It's as simple as that. I studied English Literature in university but I don't read as many books as people would think. Sometimes it takes me months to get through a novel. It sits on my table or keeps getting packed in my purse, hoping to be read a lot more but that just doesn't happen. I become busy with other things or I just have trouble concentrating enough to sit down and read. That's just the way I am but I want to change that. I thought of setting my goal at a much higher number, something crazy like 50 or 100 novels this year, but I felt that that was much too high. I get overwhelmed easily so I often need to start things off small and go from there. I have a feeling that I'll probably read more than 25 novels this year but I'm still keeping it at 25 in my mind just so that I don't scare myself too much. I want to actually achieve this goal.

2) Do yoga every day: This one is so important! I have found that yoga helps me a lot. If I start feeling down, yoga picks me right up! I just do yoga at home in my living room. I have lots of yoga DVDs so I move furniture, set up my mat, take off my socks, put on some finger-less exercise gloves to help with grip, pop in a DVD, and away I go. My Mom often joins me and actually gets a bit mad if I start doing yoga without her. I love yoga because it helps with strength, flexibility, balance, and it helps me relax and concentrate. I feel great after doing a yoga practice. I feel happy and ready for anything. So far, I've been doing some yoga here and there but I want to do more. It is definitely something that I need to do every day.

3) Meditate every day: This is another important one. Meditation is so beneficial but I have a lot of trouble with it. My mind wanders too much so I have trouble concentrating on the meditation whether I am just meditating on my own or using a guided meditation. Meditation takes practice and we need to train our brain to meditate so I need to practice meditation much more to get any better at it.

4) Practice piano and flute once a week: I miss playing piano and flute. I used to take private piano lessons and I also taught piano. While I was in high school, I played flute in concert band. I miss all of this. I want to bring piano and flute back into my life but I'm a bit nervous to start playing again since I haven't really played much in the past few years. This is all for my own enjoyment, however, so I though that I better take it slow and ease my way back into practicing my instruments again. I decided that once a week isn't too overwhelming and I can make sure that I definitely set aside time to practice.

5) Publish blog posts three times a week: I started this goal two weeks into January and so far so good. I enjoy writing blog posts and it really helps with my writing and it gets me thinking about certain topics a lot more. I looked back on some of my old posts, thinking that they weren't so great and I actually considered deleting all of them and starting fresh but they weren't actually that bad. Some of them were pretty good. I realized that I've become better at writing blog posts and I want to keep improving. I have also been working on writing longer posts and expanding more on the topics that I write about whenever I write a post. When deciding on how often to post, I felt that three times a week was good. It isn't too much or to little and it isn't too overwhelming.

I guess I'll just have to see how it goes. I'll talk about my goals again at the end of the year to see how far I've come with them. No matter what, it's a start. And we all have to start somewhere.

Cheers,
Kaylie

My Plans for 2015!

Lot of people like to make New Year resolutions and I am no exception. Instead of making only one or a few, however, I like making several goals for myself. It's great to make a list of goals or plans because writing it down and seeing it, whether it's attached to a bulletin board or fridge or it's in a notebook, can really help you stay motivated! So, here are my personal goals for 2015 as well as my plans for my blog in 2015!

Personal Goals

A lot of the personal goals that I have for myself for 2015 (and 1.7 years after that) are in my 101 Things in 1001 Days list which I already talked about in a post and which you can follow updates on through the 101 in 1001 tag.

My main big goals for 2015 are the following:

• Put my Crohn's Disease into remission (or at least heal the inflammation in the end of my large intestine)
• Go geocaching more
• Read more books for fun!
• Start doing more meditation, yoga, and exercise
• Spend more time outside

Blog Plans

I also have new and exciting plans for my blog, one of which is to blog more! Also, I want to have a proper blog schedule (which I still need to work out... this is in progress).

I will also have new content (or I'll be talking about some things that I've talked about before except I will talk about them a lot more): 

• Geocaching (news, stories, and tips): I'll talk about my own geocaching adventures and share my thoughts on news as well as share my own tips! For example: what to pack in a geocaching bag, tips for creating creative geocaches, etc.
• Nature/outdoors: I like geocaching, hiking, and spending time in nature so I want to spend more time outside and write about it too! I'll write about outdoor adventures that I have and also my feelings about nature (because it's such a beautiful thing!)
• Book/poem reviews: I will review and share my thoughts on books and poems that I read. Some of the books that I will talk about include The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, Inferno by Dan Brown, as well as Shakespeare plays! Yes, I'll be talking about both classic and contemporary literature!
• Journal prompts: I'll share journal prompts that my readers are welcome to use. I'll use them too and share some of the things that I write.
• Eleanor: During the summer, I bought a wooden mannequin. It's an artist's mannequin used for figure drawing. I named her Eleanor and she gets up to all sorts of crazy shenanigans and I'll share stories about her!
• Gratitude lists: I want to write many more gratitude lists! Gratitude lists are amazing!
• 101 Things in 1001 Days updates: Every month, I'll be sharing updates on the progress that I'm making with my 101 Things in 1001 Days list.
• Sharing my journey of living with mild Crohn's Disease: I have mild Crohn's Disease so it's a part of my life. I have been trying different things lately to try and heal the inflammation in my intestines. At the same time, I try not to let it get me down and I continue to work at living a life full of positive energy.

Of course, I'll also be writing more about living a life full of positive energy and I'll also still be sharing photos of my dog, Finnlegh!

What are your plans for 2015?

-Kaylie

My 101 Things in 1001 Days List

One great motivational technique is a list of goals! Writing your goals down a great step to start with before you actually begin your goals. I think of it as a way of convincing myself that I actually really want to a certain goal. I have so many goals that I want to complete that I decided to make a 101 Things in 1001 Days list. 101 Things in 1001 Days is an idea by the Day Zero Project. Basically, you make a list of 101 goals that you want to complete within 1001 days (that's approximately 2.7 years). 

For my list, I divided my goals up into categories. The categories are: Health & Wellness, Fitness, Nature/Environment, Reading, Writing, Blogging/Online Work, Music, Art, Family, and Miscellaneous. The Miscellaneous category is for goals that just didn't really fit into any of the other categories. Lots of people divide their goals up into categories when they post about their lists on their blogs and you'll see that they may have chosen different categories. I chose the categories that were important to me so if you want to put your goals into categories too, choose ones that are important to you! When I made the list in my Day Zero account, I couldn't divide my goals up into the categories so I just put my goals for each category together. In this post, you'll see that my goals are divided up into the categories and if you check my actual list on the website, you'll see that my goals appear in the same order as you see them here.

Check out my list and follow me on the Day Zero website to track my progress! I'll also be doing monthly updates of my progress here on my blog! You will be able to find all of my progress updates through the 101 in 1001 tag!

Health & Wellness

• Meditate everyday for a month and continue
• Write in a gratitude diary once a week for a month and continue
• Don't say anything negative for one day
• Overcome my phobias
• Try Tai Chi
• Grow my nails again
• Improve my posture
• Drink more water everyday
• Floss everyday for a month and continue
• Put my Crohn's Disease into remission
• Figure out a healthy eating plan that helps my Crohn's Disease
• Learn how to make 10 healthy recipes
• Eat healthier snacks
• Limit salt and sugar intake
• Limit processed foods
• Have a vegetarian day once a week for a month and continue

Fitness

• Create a morning stretch/workout routine
• Do yoga everyday for a month and continue
• Walk my dog everyday for a month and continue
• Jog everyday for a month and continue
• Do the 200 squats challenge
• Do the 100 push-ups challenge
• Do the 200 lunges challenge
• Do the 200 crunches challenge
• Start lifting weights
• Be able to do the splits
• Be able to do a headstand for one minute
• Learn more Charleston moves

Nature/Environment

• Watch the sunrise and sunset on the same day
• Watch the sunrise on the Winter and Summer solstices and the Fall and Spring equinoxes
• Do a nature walk once a week for 2 months
• Plant a huge garden and use the vegetables in all sorts of ways
• Go foraging for plants, berries, etc. that I can use
• Learn more outdoor survival skills
• Learn how to use a compass
• Climb Ishpatina Ridge in Ontario, Canada
• Go for a long snowshoeing hike
• Go on a hike with my city's hike club
• Go geocaching for an entire day once a month
• Get up to 1000 geocache finds
• Build an inukshuk on the side of the road
• See the Northern Lights
• Go for a picnic in a park
• Take a nap in a hammock
• Climb a tree
• Learn to identify 10 constellations
• Use less water
• Use less electricity
• Recycle everything that can possibly be recycled
• Start composting
• Go for a day without technology

Reading

• Read 100 books
• Read 100 poems
• Memorize 10 poems
• Read 10 French novels
• Read 5 non-fiction books
• Read all of Shakespeare's plays
• Read all of the Sherlock Holmes books
• Read in a park

Writing

• Write a novel
• Write a children's book
• Write a book of poetry
• Write a book of short stories
• Get my writing published
• Get a story published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book
• Win NaNoWriMo
• Win Camp NaNoWriMo
• Write in my diary at least once a week
• Use a writing prompt that I have found or created each week
• Write a letter to myself to be opened when the 1001 days are over
• Answer the "50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind"
• Update my resume
• Learn how to write with my left hand

Blogging/Online Work

• Make a plan and schedule for regular blogging
• Update my blog's About and FAQ pages
• Put a donation button on my blog when I start blogging more and get more visitors
• Start a CafePress shop

Music

• Practice piano for 20 minutes everyday Monday to Friday for a month and continue
• Practice flute once a week for a month and continue
• Get my grade 8 RCM piano certificate and grade 2 RCM theory certificate
• Learn to play the accordion
• Learn to play the violin
• Write a song (lyrics and music)

Art

• Start sketching regularly
• Learn how to paint flowers well with watercolours
• Complete a colouring book

Family

• Have a board game night with my family
• Have a movie marathon night with my family
• Have a craft/art night with my family
• Bake Finn bun with my family
• Cook an entire meal for my family

Miscellaneous

• Start and complete driver's ed
• Get my G2 driver's license
• Use the French language more in my life
• Learn Spanish
• Expand my vocabulary by 100 words
• Learn how to crochet
• Learn how to use a sewing machine
• Learn how to use a memory palace
• Say "yes" to something I would not normally do
• Start wearing a watch everyday

You should definitely start a 101 Things in 1001 Days list too! What would you put on your list?

-Kaylie

Finding My Way

Life is tricky sometimes. It can be hard to find one's way throughout their journey of life. I'm 21 years old so I'm at that age where I'm a young adult. I'm officially an adult but I was also a teenager not long ago. As young adults, the world expects us to know what we want to do with our lives. They make it seem that way, anyway, and it sure feels that way. This is all crazy. I don't think that anybody ever really has their whole life planned out.

Since I'm in my 4th year of university, I've been thinking a lot about what I want to do next. I'm at a point where I don't really know anymore. I have an idea of what I want to do but I'm stressed out and I feel kind of stuck. I also feel like everything is going too fast. I want to slow down and have time to really think. I want to do some exploring along various paths.

I've realized that I am not someone who fits into "the norm." My life and who I am deep down inside is not what society expects of me (although, society is slowly learning to change and be more accepting). I feel like even in Canada, society expects us to live a certain life: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, raise kids while working, work until an appropriate age to retire, and then enjoy retirement. This is not the life for me. I already know that I don't really want to get married or have kids and that is perfectly fine. I'm in school so that I will be able to get the job that I want but now I'm not exactly sure what job I want. I'm a creative person; I like music, art, and writing. I also like the outdoors. I want to get away from living the same way day after day. I want some adventure and I want to do something that will expand my mind and really make me think. The way that I feel makes me think of one of my favourite quotations from Doctor Who:

"When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… Grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better."
-Elton Pope 
(Doctor Who, Season 2, Episode 10, "Love & Monsters")

It's not just the "What am I going to do with my life?!" situation that is bothering me. I also have health challenges as well. I prefer to use the word 'challenge' as opposed to 'problem' because it's more positive. I have mild Crohn's Disease. I've never talked about it here but I am very open about it in my life outside of my blog. If you don't know what Crohn's Disease is, it's a gastrointestinal disease meaning that it affects the digestive system. Crohn's Disease is an Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and basically there can be inflammation and ulcers anywhere in the digestive system but most commonly in the small and large intestines. There is no cure for IBD yet.

I have inflammation in the end of my small intestine and in the end of my large intestine and I don't get pain. This is why my Crohn's Disease is considered to be mild. The only symptom that I get is bleeding from the inflammation in my large intestine (in other words, I get blood in the stool). The blood in stools is actually the only sign that I had that something was wrong when I first started getting it in my first year of university (December 2011). I am so grateful that I did something about my Crohn's Disease before it got worse.

Even though my Crohn's Disease is only mild, it doesn't mean that it doesn't bother me. I have to pay attention to my Crohn's Disease and do necessary things like go to doctor's appointments, go for tests, take medication, and watch my diet to ensure that my Crohn's Disease stays mild. Sometimes these things stress me out, which is another thing that I have to watch and try to reduce because stress can make things worse like it can with many health challenges. When there's continually blood, I keep thinking "Will I ever put my Crohn's Disease into remission or at least heal the inflammation in the end of my large intestine?" Inflammation in that location can be difficult to heal because bowel movements always irritate it. Right now I'm trying a combination of methods to try and heal the inflammation. I'm following a low residue diet as much as I can while still eating healthy, taking vitamin C and D everyday, exercising, doing yoga, meditating, and taking my oral mesalazine medication (for the inflammation in the end of my small intestine). I've also started drinking jasmine tea everyday (jasmine tea has many health benefits!) and I put honey in it (which is also very healthy!). So far, something here seems to be working because, when I've had blood, it has been less blood than usual and has actually been quite small of an amount. Sometimes, there's been no blood at all! I'm obviously very excited about this because: 1) My body is healing or at least getting better! and 2) I have found a way to deal with my Crohn's Disease that involves a lot of natural/alternative methods!

"Letting it get to you. You know what that's called? Being Alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts."

-The Eleventh Doctor

(Doctor Who, Season 6, Episode 4, "The Doctor's Wife")

Letting my Crohn's Disease "get to me" or bother me can be a good thing because it makes me want to do something about it! Also, it reminds me to be grateful for the healthy parts of my body and the ways in which I am healthy. As I mentioned before, when I think of my Crohn's Disease, I think of it in a more positive way by viewing it as a health challenge rather than a health problem. I choose not to view my intestines as bad guys but, rather, as the organs in my body that need more love and attention!

If you want to learn more about IBD and learn about a great organization in Canada that raises money to find a cure for IBD, visit Crohn's and Colitis Canada!

These are the two things that I'm dealing with right now. Of course, there are other things that I'm dealing with too like things going on in my family (mostly health and stress related), getting stressed out with school, and continuing my journey of living a life full of positive energy but figuring out my life and dealing with my mild Crohn's Disease are two of the main paths that I'm on at the moment. I just have to remember to stay positive and remember that I am in control.

"Our fate lives within us, you only have to be brave enough to see it."

-Princess Merida
(Disney Pixar's Brave)

We all go through times in our lives when we become overwhelmed with everything, whether it be things staying the same or too many changes. We just need to pay attention to them in order to learn, grow, and be thankful for the experiences that are building our futures.

-Kaylie

Gratitude List: My Gratitude in Photos!

Lately, I've been really busy with school and the weather has been very dreary. Yesterday, I decided to make the day fun and be very positive and the weather actually ended up being pretty nice! I took photos throughout the day to make a sort of photo journal. I guess it could be a gratitude photo journal! Here we go:

I wanted to start the day off right beginning with breakfast so I had some cocoa puff cereal with vanilla almond milk topped with sliced bananas, sliced strawberries, and cut up marshmallows! It makes me think of a sundae!

I also had mint green tea with my breakfast! The bonus is that both green tea and peppermint tea are super healthy!

I went for a walk with this cutie pie (Finnlegh!) in the morning and then again in the evening!

I had leftover pizza for lunch and found out that although I do not like olives when I eat them all by themselves, they aren't too bad on pizza.

I read a chapter of The Great Gatsby while on the city buses to go to school at the university.

Once I arrived at school, I went up to the reading room in our library (it's really nice and super quiet there!) to continue reading Richard III  which I have been reading and have to catch up on for my Shakespeare class.

I love yoga class and was really thankful for it today after receiving my midterm exam back in my French general linguistics class which I didn't do so well on. There were other students who didn't do so well either and we still have other assignments, our presentations, and the final exam for improving our mark in the class so I'm not letting it bother me. It was a tough exam to study for but now I know what to expect for the final exam! I was happy to get to wear one of my new yoga tops to yoga class today and I'm glad that I wore this tank top because I really worked up a sweat!

In the evening, I made yummy rainbow cupcakes! This happened from around 9PM and onward. I know, who bakes at that time?! Obviously, I do...

I am so grateful for yesterday and I hope you enjoyed looking through my gratitude photo journal! You should try putting together your own! It's super fun!

-Kaylie