Last summer was spent partially in Europe and then flying across the country between being engaged and seeing Andrew and my families and the Hill Cumorah Pageant. The summer before that I spent volunteering in Peru. It's just this weekend that I realized that this is my first more normal summer, and I want to make another list of summer goals. I'm in summer classes (part of my adventure for this year that I am as grateful for as I was for foreign flights) and wanted to make my first "Adult" (baha again) Summer Goals list, apart from work and classes:
My Adult Summer Goals List 2017
1) Volunteer
2) Create something new
3) Read good books
4) Go on adventures
5) Expand my knowledge of cooking
6) Build on relationships with family and friends
Lest my dad think I'm not making SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Oriented), this is how I am interpreting and planning to put these larger and more poetic goals into my every day life:
1) Volunteer at Wasatch Mental Health (relevant to my career goals to become an Occupational Therapist. This is already in play!! I will attend an orientation meeting July 13th and begin volunteering. My goal is to put in at least 30 hours over the course of this summer and fall in a program focused on children with autism - my dream is to have a pediatric clinic of my own).
2) I'm not positive what I want to do here yet. I am registered for a ceramics class this Fall and am pretty psyched about that. I think this summer this might mean continuing to work on developing the talent I hope I will one day have of taking nice pictures :D I think taking pictures at family functions could help me with Goal #7 as well.
3) I have noticed that I really enjoy having a book I am reading on my own, amid school and work and all that jazz. My church ward has a book club that some really fun women started and I finally picked up this month's book. I'm hoping to try to keep up with the books being read each month.
4) We're blessed to be looking forward to a lot of adventures this summer - two family reunions, a rodeo, visiting family, a little getaway to Seattle, a ziplining tour for my 20th birthday (!!!!!), rafting with Grandpa. I get a lot of joy out of planning and anticipating and having adventures, and after some incredible foreign trips, it is really good for me to see how my adventurous spirit can be extremely happy without airplane flights and bringing back foreign gifts for family (both of which give me quite a kick). I'm hoping to look for more adventure during 'normal' days too, in the little wonderful things - see Goal #5.
5) Andrew and I are both respecters of good food, and not too picky. Neither of us are skilled chefs, and I'm grateful that I'm in a marriage where 1 - my husband doesn't expect me to do all the cooking but sees it as a team effort, 2 - my husband doesn't scold me for my limited knowledge of elaborate recipes but works with me to find meals we are happy with and always thanks me when I have made dinner and tells me it tastes great. I want to try new recipes but not bite off more than I can chew ;) My goal is to pick a new recipe and add all the ingredients to the grocery list so every time we go grocery shopping we get stuff for a new recipe. I'm pretty motivated to make new things with a recipe if we have all the ingredients on a Sunday afternoon.
6) I love my family and friends. I want them to know this, especially because on most days we don't see so many of the people we love. I want to regularly reach out to a family member and a friend, via text or phone call. I'm not sure what regularly means to me yet, but I'm going to start with once a day and adjust if that isn't working down the road.
Goals help me to be happy in a lot of ways. I get to look forward to doing or accomplishing something, which in itself brings happiness. Goals prove to me that I am doing what I want to do. In just creating this list, I realized how many things I am already doing and working toward (the planned adventures, figuring out volunteering, registering for the ceramics class) are helping me to enjoy now, improve relationships, and prepare for the future, and that was really neat for me to see. Goals show me that I can improve and can use something that might bring guilt or I might see as a weakness (like cooking as a pretty non-personal example). Goals give me motivation, and someone to be accountable to, if only to myself.
I'm excited about my summer goals, and I'll be sure to report at the end of the summer before Fall semester begins!
