State of the Mer

Posted on | February 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

“He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” – Article II, Section 3, United States Constitution

Last week, the President spoke to Congress and the American people about the state of our union. This week, I figured it was my turn to update my few and faithful readers (or as I like to call you in my head, FFR – I’m all about the acronyms) about the state of my union, which really just means me.

During the last few months of 2009, I felt so crazed and so busy that I barely had time for the things I really wanted to accomplish. So I set myself the informal goal of making 2010 the year I actually get stuff done.

And, if I had to grade myself so far (one month in), I’d say I deserve a…B – solid, slightly above average effort, but with definite room for improvement.

As I try to make some progress on my 15 before 30 list, I’ve been making changes to my everyday routine, some easier than others. Thanks to my family, I’ve started personal training sessions in my apartment building’s gym. Twice a week, I drag my sorry behind out of bed at an ungodly hour of the morning and meet the trainer. The rest of the week, I’m on my own, which is harder (it’s easier to get up when you know someone’s waiting), but so far I’ve managed.

While I certainly feel stronger, I can’t say that I can see visible improvements yet. Of course, I’m the absolute worst judge when it comes to my appearance and, in this case, slow and steady is a better way to win the race. I’ve also started researching local 5k races, with the hope that maybe I’ll be ready to run in the fall and, if not, at least I’ll have some practice walking the routes.

Thanks to Santa, I received some fantastic language software programs this Christmas and am well on my way to being able to parlez français comme un indigène. A lot of the basic lessons are refreshing my memories of high school and college French classes, which helps me feel like this goal may actually be attainable. I’m still stuck on how to complete some of my traveling goals, especially without much of a disposable income. I’ve toyed with the idea of adding a PayPal donate button to Ordinary Mer, but part of me feels like that’s just wrong. I’d really love to be able to accomplish my goals on my own (birthday and Christmas gifts notwithstanding).

Even though I still have more than two years to accomplish everything, sometimes it seems like my 15 before 30 goals are unreachable, that I won’t be able to succeed. I wonder if I’m trying to do too much, if my goals are too big, too expensive or too abstract to achieve. It’s easy to get discouraged; it’s much harder to stay positive and keep focused. I’m doing this for myself, not for anyone else, but if I were left to my own devices, I’d spend my days reading chick lit and eating chocolate. So I’m hoping this little state of the Ordinary Mer will mean that you, FFR, will hold me accountable.

Goals accomplished: 1
Goals to be achieved: 14
Days remaining: 770

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