You Say It's Your Birthday?

Happy Birthday to me!

I love birthdays! More than then New Year's Day, it's the time that I set my goals and experience a sense of renewal. I put the previous year, with all its achievements and mistakes, behind me and plan for the next year.

Today I turn 39. Which means that this is a big year for me with the goals. Next year is a "0" year so long-term goals already exist. For some reason I don't have my goals for 40 written down anywhere so I'll have to do my best to remember them. But not here. They're too personal to put out into the blogosphere.

So what did I do last year?

• I am stable on my anti-depressant medications. I feel like myself and like I have normal emotions. I'm not happy all the time, nor am I sad all the time. I feel pretty normal and that feels pretty great.
• My dog died a few months ago. She was an amazing creature who demonstrated sensitivity in all her interactions with people. I miss her deeply. I think I have never loved an animal like I loved her.
• Barack Obama was elected president! 'Nuff said.
• I'm glad to no longer be working at the clinic I recently left. I had been there for 3 years, including 2 years working part time. It's time to move on. April 29 was my last day. Maybe I'll write more about this later.
• I traveled extensively in the US, mainly with my daughter. I went to 8 states that I had previously not visited.
• I was initiated into PEO, a sisterhood that raises money to support education for women (and has a great time together in the process). I immediately gained a cadre of friends who will support me and love me through whatever life brings.
• I lost 20+ pounds. As a side-effect of my medication cocktail, I lost interest in eating and gained the ability to stop eating when I'm approaching full. I leave more food on my plate than I eat. Don't get me wrong, I'm eating plenty to sustain myself and am not losing weight at a dangerous pace. The weight loss has stabilized and I'm once again interested in food. Now I just stop when I'm full and hope that the weight doesn't creep back on.
• I am paying more attention to my body. I started taking Pilates and am finding other ways to take care of my body. I still need to do more to take care of myself but that goes under the "goals for next year" section.

So, what does the coming year hold for me?

• More travel. At least a little bit. L and I are setting out on another road trip the day school gets out for the summer. No new states this time, but anticipating a great time with my daughter and reaquainting with friends we will see while on our trip.
• Better saving and economic awareness. So far the economic downturn hasn't really affected our family. My husband's company's earnings are down a bit from last year but we're doing fine financially. However, when I reviewed our taxes last month, I realized that we don't save nearly enough money, nor do we given away nearly enough money. I want to be a better steward of our resources.
• It's time for me to get serious about getting going on the next step in my career. I have declared a long-term goal and if I'm going to achieve it I need to work toward it. So tomorrow the work begins with a phone call to the grad school I plan to apply to.
• I'm tired of living in clutter. I think I declare this every year but this year I have no excuse for not getting something done about it. I no longer have an external work schedule to use as an excuse for not downsizing and cleaning. Maybe it's time to make an internal work schedule to treat housekeeping like the job it should be.
• Continue taking care of my body. The weight loss and Pilates has been a good start but I need to go further in taking care of myself. I need to better monitor my chronic health conditions and take the steps to be working toward overall better health.
• Mother/Daughter time. Both with my own mother and with my daughter. My mom is aging and I tend to try to pretend she's not. I need to help her make good decisions about her health. My daughter is at an age when she is torn between seeking independence and wanting to stay my little girl. I need to be sensitive to her needs, let her know I'm a safe place for her to share, help her identify others who are safe harbors for the times she feels she can't confide in me, and help her find her learn to be independent while remaining safe. No small task, that.

I think that's plenty to put on my list of goals for now. Oh, yeah. I also want to develop the discipline of daily writing.

Now it's time to head off to my birthday dinner. Happy Birthday to me!