It's time for a weekly, give or take a few days, check in on how I'm doing with my goals. Feel free to give any suggestions or feedback you have on any of these goalsa and comments about the goals. I'm just going through and writing my check in comments, but if you need a refresher, here are
my goals for 2008

Physical goals: I'm drinking more water than I was last year. Since medications are a big part of my life right now, I'm using medications as reminders to drink water. I'm not to the point of drinking four glasses of water consistently, but it's better than it was last year. I'm eating healthier snacks. When I find myself reaching for the chips, I try to eat just a small handful then have some yogurt or a banana. Unfortunately, the granola bars I used to love were changed, so I'm looking for other options. I have not started exercising, but do walk more now that I'm back at school. More importantly, I've secured a referral to a physical therapist who knows about RSD and I'm really hoping she'll have some suggestions to help me with the RSD and get me moving again. As for decreasing my pain, I'm working on it. I do have more breakthrough medication, but I'm concerned about how it's effecting a few things. But the important thing is that I think everyone is on the same page and I feel believed by those I work with.

Psychological/Emotional: I've written some about my emotions, but need to write more. That's hard and I find myself feeling very scared to write about emotions. That's something to explore further. I've started the process of counseling. I've asked about the accessibility of the services provided at school, and this seems promising. I just have to schedule the appointment. I've subscribed to a meditation/relaxation service which allows me to download mp3s of meditation exercises. This, too, seems promising, but the important thing will be consistent practice. Speaking of consistent practice, I'm working on it. I'm practicing more, but am not to the point of 20 minutes daily. On the bright side, I'm starting to be more mindful of my needs and use relaxation in practical ways. This, too, needs more practice, but I'm thinking about it, which is important.

Spiritual: Prayer is slowly coming back. I'm trying to not just pray, but talk about prayer with others. That support is something I need, but have been more fearful of asking for lately due to some issues with church and the lack thereof. Reading the Bible needs to be much more consistent, but I don't feel the resistance I was feeling last year. That is huge progress. As you can see from my
grattitude
from earlier this week, I did start that journal. I've been seeking out spiritual books and getting them to my Stream. Remembering to read them has been another matter.

Blogging: I'm posting more than once a week, but would still love to post more. The act of posting seems to help create more ideas and thus even more posts. I'm hoping to continue this trend and improve upon it. The scars post sort of scared me, but I think I'm going to need to work on posting more openly. This idea of blogging about something that scares me has the potential to be quite explosive. Comment response is getting better, but I definitely want to see that improve. Mainly, I need to get organized so that I commit time to commenting and replying to comments.

The book: The book has taken somewhat of a backseat to other things I've been dealing with, like getting ready for next semester which starts at the end of this month. I haven't done much about marketing, outreach or partnership.

All in all, the biggest things I've seen is that I need to work on organization, time management and self-care. Those three things would help me in life, school and internship. Here's hoping to a week of good improvements!