Monthly Reflection

First Published: 2023 August 1

Draft 1

Woo! Another month passed. It hardly feels real that it’s been a month, but what a month it’s been.

I gave three talks in state parks, signed up for another four(?), and very recently was reached out to for another two talks this fall about the eclipse! I went to a conference. I went to a mission trip. I rediscovered my love of pinball.

I finished the first book in my web serial. I finished the first batch of lemon wine for the summer!¹ Last night, I made it back to an open mic for the first time in a while.²

So: looking back at my goals.

• Make my home clean again and invite a friend over. I have actual time in it this month, so that should be easier.

  I don’t know why I thought I was actually at home this past month. By the 19th I had spent a total of four nights in it. It was a packed month. Home is cleaner, though still too cluttered.

• Continue blogging/find a way to do it during my conference. I know I won’t have time for it next Thursday, because I’m volunteering.

  I did not blog anywhere near as much as I would have liked to, but I did at least get seven in last month. That’s more than half of June.

• I’d like to exercise more. Ideally daily, but

  I exercised nowhere near as much as I in theory want, for all that I don’t feel like I was particularly sedentary. I am far stiffer now than ever before in my life, though, so morning stretching might need to return at a minimum.

• Once again, I’d like to develop a sleep schedule that gives me enough and gets me up early (6am)

  Sleep schedule was generally pretty 6am centric. I don’t think all of the breaks were my fault.

• I’d like to make more time for prayer, or at least be more intentional about my prayer

  Prayer was not as intentional as I would’ve liked, but it’s a journey.

• I absolutely need to get five chapters ahead, if only because I want to start monetizing.

  I am just under four chapters ahead right now. That’s better than nothing.

• Doing some sort of poetry each day seems like a doable goal, if not a low bar.

  I wrote maybe three poems.

• I would like to get through my stack of letters³

  I think I’m through every letter I meant to write at the start of July. My list is now only five long.

This upcoming month I’m excited for:

• My birthday!

• Giving five talks in state parks

• Sharing lemon wine with friends

• Finishing my stack of letters⁴

• Starting to do open mics regularly again

• Staying up on all of my book clubs

• Making progress on research

• Monetizing my story?⁵

Using last month’s goals and the excitement as a way to generate a list of goals:

• Finish my presentation on the Pleiades.⁶

• Make my home clean again. It was at the start of the summer, so I know it’s possible.

• Blog more. Last month I wrote 12 percent less⁷ than in June, which I think is mostly a lack of blogs.

• Stretch daily? I think that would be good for me and probably doable. I’ll need to stretch after this, which is less than ideal since it’s already past my bed time, but eh.

• Sleep enough and have a sleep schedule based around waking up no later than 6⁸

• Be more intentional about prayer. I think one thing that could help is making an actual commitment to doing a rosary at the chapel before work every day, on the road days that I’m not in Madison, before Mass on Sundays, and during a walk on Saturdays. That’s at least a little bit I can do, though today it will have to come after stretching.

• Get further ahead on the book. In particular, I’d like to set the goal of more than four chapters a week.⁹ That seems both very doable¹⁰ and helpful to me.

• Write poetry every day. I need to remind myself that I like the way I am more when I do more poetry. I do, so hopefully this works.

• Finish stack of letters, and maybe think of more people to write to? Otherwise, start journaling during my morning time?

• Write a song. I loved premiering my new song last night, and want to do that more.

So, my daily reflections will look like:¹¹

• Did I work on presentations?¹²

• Did I make progress against entropy in my home?

• Did I blog today/yesterday, depending on when written?¹³

• Did I write book today? How many chapters am I at this week /4+?

• Did I write poetry today/yesterday, depending on when written?

• Did I write a letter/journal today?

• Did I work on a new song?

• Did I stretch?

• Did I prioritize sleep?¹⁴

• Did I pray the rosary? Was it intentional? Did I prioritize other prayer today as well?

As an example:¹⁵

• Didn’t do much work, honestly.

• Slight progress against entropy.

• Blogged today, forgot yesterday/got home well past bed time and fought my keg.¹⁶

• Wrote about half a chapter today .9/4+

• Will write a poem after this

• I did not write a letter or journal today.

• I did not work on a song.

• I will stretch.

• I tried to prioritize sleep today, though I’m not by writing a poem and stretching after this.¹⁷

• I do not think I’ll be awake through a rosary today.