Month One Review

It has been one month since my 29^th Birthday and I haven’t been doing as well as I could on my, “Things to do before I’m 30.”  Truthfully, I’ve only accomplished two things.  What is holding me back?  I have some insights, but first, lets talk about the two things I actually have completed, and on the same day no less.

First I went to the Vatican exhibit.  While the exhibit itself wasn’t on my list, its location was.  When you live in a city your entire life, you tend to think that all of the exciting attractions and locations have been exhausted, and that is definitely not true.  I live about five minutes from the Heinz History Museum and have never been there.  I love history, I love museums, and I’m always saying there is nothing to do in this city, why then, have I never gone?  I don’t know.  So when I found out they were exhibiting stuff from the Vatican, I knew it was time to go.  The exhibit wasn’t too exciting, but it was good, I was able to cross something off of my list, and I finally made it to the Heinz History Museum.

Later that night I went ice-skating around the Christmas tree at PPG.  That was fantastic!  First of all, I can actually ice skate.  I never thought I could.  Secondly, there is something amazing about ice-skating around a Christmas tree outside while Christmas Carols are playing.  It is so awesome and I will now go every year.

I’ve gone again, the tree is still erected, but there are no more Christmas Carols and a lot less people.  It was still fun, and I felt more confident at skating, but something about the Christmas season makes it so much better.

So that’s it.  One month gone.  31 days and only two items completed.  I’m definitely disappointed, but I think the problem is that I was putting too much pressure on myself.  I tend to retreat when I feel overwhelmed.  I wish I was one of those people that thrived off of pressure, but unfortunately I am not.  And there is no other pressure that is more toxic for me then the pressure I inflict upon myself.

I had this revelation just a few days ago and it has made a world of difference.  I have actually started working on my book, with no grandiose daily page expectations, and I haven’t felt stuck.  I started feeling like everything was possible again.

For this next month I’m going to focus on habits that I want to develop such as doing yoga more regularly, meditating every day (although I meditate regularly, I don’t do it every single day), call my grandma more often, continue working on my book every day, and making sure I complete at least a few activities per week.  I think if I start off slowly that the rest will pick up. 

That is my month one review, not a complete loss but definitely not a success.  I feel confident though that next month will be better, and the month after that will be even better, and soon, everything will be rolling along smoothly.