So June is ‘National Outdoors Month’, and everyone is looking to head out on vacations, travel, and meet up with friends and family that they weren’t able to see last year due to the pandemic.
This ‘opening back up’ is due in large part to the fact that numerous companies are rolling out different vaccines against the SARS-CoV2 virus, and no–it wasn’t rushed. As a small aside–scientists had started working on a vaccine for SARS when that epidemic eased on its own, so when once the SARS-CoV2 virus was sequenced, scientists figured out how to make the platform for the SARS virus vaccine troubleshooting platform work for the SARS-CoV2 virus.
Some areas are doing better than others (we’re seeing both the dichotomy of wealth–where the ‘wealthier’ countries are vaccinating at a ‘higher’ rate compared to the ‘poorer’ countries, due to the ability to ‘purchase’ the vaccines; and the influence of anti-vaxxers [and I’m not going to ‘touch’ that subject right now]). I truthfully don’t think that there should be a ‘price’ tag on the vaccines–companies should be giving them (and the technology) away. Yes, it would ‘hurt’ the bottom lines for companies–but there shouldn’t be a price on human survival.
Since traveling is slowly starting up again, I’ve been thinking on all the plans I’d been slowly starting to make before the pandemic hit and forced a total change in plans.
I’d been planning on taking at least one international trip that would have been a mixture of recharging and possibly networking as I slowly tried to figure out what I wanted to do with the second half of my life. Since the pandemic started (and halted travel plans)–I’ve invested heavily in personal/professional development books and courses (and have been slowly making my way through them)–but it has eaten the money I’d ‘tentatively’ set aside for travel.
The SARS-CoV2 virus is here to stay (sorry to say), and that means that any travel plans I now make need to be both mindful and purposeful in nature–meaning I’m not just going to head off for a week (or two) vacation just because the experts say we can (if we’re careful and follow the rules).
I need to be mindful of the fact that there can (and probably will be) small ‘outbreaks’ of the virus, some areas may not want travleres showing up during certain parts of the year, and if I really want to travel (especially by plane)–I have to be willing to have a swab stuck up my nose (for COVID testing). Therefore I’m going to set some ‘criteria’ for traveling, and then really think/debate on any and all future travel plans.
My criteria for traveling will include:
Is it something to see (or possibly do) that I can’t see (or do) closer to home?
What is that something (park/zoo/landmark)?
Can I combine reasons for the trip (enjoyment/work/mental health break)?
Then the major factor/question: Can I afford the possible international health insurance (if I’m traveling abroad), and do I have enough money to also possibly afford ‘quarantine’ periods (if unable to return home quickly enough during another outbreak)? Or do I now someone in the area that I could possibly ‘bunk’ with during a ‘shutdown/quarantine’ period?
I do want to travel–but at the same time I know that my ‘new normal’ isn’t going to consist of constant travel (I do have a couple of pets to consider), but if I plan accordingly, I should be able to do a non-local trip every couple of years once things are better under control (more countries being able to vaccinate their citizens), and I feel safe leaving the house again.
While I have a nice ‘bucket’ list of places I’d still like to visit–if you’ve been to a zoo or an aquarium, where is you favorite?
So, yesterday I managed to get my SARS-CoV2 vaccine as Oklahoma was allowing all residents (and non-residents) over the age of 16 to be eligible for one of the three vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson).
All three shots have a different level of efficiency in terms of if you catch the SARS-CoV2 virus, how symptomatic you may be (J&J is the lowest at 76% and Pfizer and Moderna are higher–where they’re both somewhere in the 90s percentile)–but all three are 100% effective at ensuring that you won’t pass away from the SARS-CoV2 virus (as all participants in the different clinical trials lived–0 deaths were reported).
So I’m not going to be posting a picture of my vaccine card–but I will mention what potential side effects I’m dealing with.
I managed to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine yesterday–which meant that it was a one and done deal (no need to go back in 3 to 4 weeks for a second shot). A single shot, wait ten minutes or so (to make sure that I wasn’t going to have a reaction), and then I was free to go.
My arm was sore immediately–which could be due to both having decent muscle tone in my upper arms (I have been trying to get into the best shape of my life), but also have a semi-incompetent person giving me the shot. I’m saying semi-incompetent because I’ve had shots before and most of them never hurt right away–this one did.
That was the only ‘symptom’ that I had yesterday–a sore arm.
Today, besides still having a sore arm, I also have a mild to moderate headache. Though the headache could be due to the fact taht I had a bad night sleep (since I got the shot in my left arm-it made it difficult to sleep on my left side, which is my preferred side), so that may not be a side effect of the shot.
I possibly also have been running a low-grade fever for the past eight hours or so as well. While I haven’t taken my temperature (wchi I don’t like doing since my normal temperature runs low anyways), I have gone between having the slight shivers and then sweating–which for me usually means that I’m running a low-grade fever.
I plan on keeping on top of both headache and the potential fever with over the counter pain medications throughout the day.
While it is nice that I’ve gotten the shot (and technically after another month of self-isolating, I could travel), I will still be self-isolating, wearing a mask when I need to go out, and practicing social distancing. Last I heard a quarter of the adult population in the US has gotten at least one shot–but that is still a good fifty to sixty-five percent below the possible ‘herd immunity’ level we need, so we’re still not out of the woods yet in terms of the pandemic–but I’m doing my part.
Have you gotten your vaccine yet? If so-which one? If not-why?
So 2020 is finally over (and I’m cautiously looking out the window at 2021), but it is also time to reflect back on the year (ups, downs, hills, and valleys). So my apologies if this seems to be a really rambling post–I’m covering the year, but there isn’t any particular order for my thoughts.
2020 managed to shake up the entire year by itself. Earlier in the year there was talk of a novel coronavirus that had popped up in China and was possibly making its way around the world. The first ‘identified’ cases in the US showed up in late January/early February (though now we know that the virus was actually here earlier); and now at the end of the year-the US had just under 20.5 million cases as of New Years Eve, and leads in total cases and number of deaths (I wish someone would explain to people–this isn’t a damn popularity contest; you actually want to be coming in last).
Vaccine development was pushed to the forefront as case numbers due to the virus continued to climb; currently there are two vaccines that have been granted emergency use (I also think that there are two or three more entering phase III clinical trials)–but I won’t be eligible for either of the them until late summer/early fall (with a three-to-four week wait period between the two shots). So needless to say–there was no travel this year, and probably won’t be any travel (at least international) probably until 2022 (at the earliest).
Though I’ve been self-isolating for the most part this year, I decided I would buy some face-masks for whenever I needed to go out and possibly be around people. So far those times have been walking at Boomer Lake this fall and winter (I figured fewer people out in the cold weather), I have the face-mask on, but pulled down and when I can’t keep at least six to eight feet between myself and the other person, I pull the mask up over my mouth and nose. I also have one that I wear when I need to go buy the weekend newspaper, plus several others that I can go between for any other errands I may need to run in 2021.
Both puppies that we adopted last year have settled in, grown, and are showing their unique personalities. Rolex seems to have developed an autoimmune disorder (Vitilgo), which is also an autoimmune disorder that humans can have. So now whenever she loses a little bit of fur-it will grow back in white instead of black. So at some point, she may start looking like a reverse Dalmatian (black with white spots), though she still has a pinkish jaw (the fur hasn’t totally grown back).
Rolex, our boxer-mix puppy, before her Vitilgo started acting up
Chaos has basically finished growing, though I think he still as a little more muscle mass to put on, and should top off somewhere between 55 and 65 pounds. He walks nicely on a leash for me, and listens to most commands (though to get him in–you do need to have a treat in your hand, he is a little devil in that regard). His only ‘health’ issue right now is dry/itchy skin that we’re treating with a combination of bendaryl, flaxseed, and anti-itch pills (which are a combo of various omega oils). Though we may be switching the food to see if that has anything to do with his issue.
Chaos snoozing on the bed.
Now once the weather starts to behave, I’ll be walking him more and possibly trying to walk him at Boomer Lake where we may see other people and animals–he grumbles a little at people he doesn’t know very well. When Arick is in town, Chaos grumbles at him every so often–though it may be due also to the fact that Arick was wearing dirty clothes that day and Chaos didn’t like the smell of them. But I do need to try and get him a little more social–mainly so I don’t get the lecture from the vet on his personality problems.
Looking back at what I had planned for 2020, I almost want to break down into tears–I had the idea of trying to focus on just a couple of areas, creating a monthly calendar to keep me on track, posting more on the blog, and just getting more stuff done in general. I also had plans for at least one mental health break trip and then a networking trip as well–needless to say, neither trip happened (and probably won’t happen for another year or so).
While I’m still slightly stuck in the weeds in terms of trying to figure out the next direction for my carer/job, I have realized a couple of things. 1) I know realize that once I feel like I’ve learned all there is to learn within the position, I start ‘coasting’ and have a hard time asking for more things to keep me engaged at work; 2) I really don’t work well with micro-managers and straight up-right upholders (if you don’t recognize the term–I suggest reading ‘Four Tendencies’ by Gretchen Rubin); 3) I do like working in a group setting where there is interaction between people (at least conversations every so often).
While trying to figure things out, I decided that I would retake the Clifton Strength Assessment to see if any of my strengths had changed since I first took it. The top four stayed in the exact same order (learner, intellection, input, and achiever), while the fifth one changed (deliberative to ideation; and when I averaged the two assessments, the fifth changed again to arranger, followed by deliberative. Ideation fell to number nine on the average).
This means that when looking for jobs/assignments/positions, I need to choose things that allow me to be learning (but I also need to have at least a small interest in the subject), dive as deeply as I want into the subject matter, change topics on a whim, work remotely, at an office, or both, and realize that I could be changing tones/subjects/ideas or whatever on a day to day (or even hour to hour) basis.
Earlier in the year (basically at the start of the pandemic) I had more of a drive to try to transition into an industry position and joined an accountability group to help make that happen. While, I haven’t transitioned yet–it did give me ideas on how to go about filling in my job search spreadsheet, which I will be starting a fresh one in the coming weeks for 2021. One issue that was brought up is that since things are probably going to be sticking remote for awhile (especially interviews), one should try to have a dedicated ethernet connection for virtual meetings. Currently, we don’t have one and probably won’t–I don’t want the headache of having to stretch a cord from my parents room (which is where the closest phone jack is) into my room–but this is also a problem to address at a later day in 2021.
Informational interviews probably won’t start happening until the earliest April, since 1) I still haven’t figured out the direction(s) I want to be focusing on in terms of job transition, and 2) I will still need to build rapport with people online before asking if they have time to answer a couple of questions either via email, a phone call, or a Skype/Zoom call.
Another area I was trying to focus on in 2020 was health and fitness. I managed to get serious about pushing play on working out in June. Up until then I had been trying different times of the day for working out and none of them really stuck, until I decided that I would workout in the morning after having breakfast. So, I made the decision on June 1st to push play in the morning (and so far the latest has been ~10AM), and I managed to finish three and a half programs (I still have probably another week or so of the Yoga Booty Ballet-Abs&Butt Series to finish) by the end of 2020.
The goal for 2021 is to complete a total of nine Beachbody workouts.
I also made the decision to step back from trying to do coaching via Beachbody. I had several reasons for this, and I will probably do a separate post on that during the first month or two of 2021.
I had made note at the end of 2019 that I was trying to focus on too many different things, and therefore would try to focus just on health/fitness, career transition (these were tied at number one), then personal/professional development (number two), and if possible crafts as number three. Needless to say–having multiple things actually helps me focus better, when I can switch between things if I start to get bored. My problem was actually needing to figure out how to prioritize the projects/topics and setting up a workable schedule/calendar. Though if I look at my reading list–I did manage to read eighteen non-fiction books in 2020, which is about the average of the past couple of years.
So to help with the prioritizing, setting up a schedule/calendar, I’m going to do the following:
Have a list of non-fiction books that I would like to read–instead of just saying that I will randomly pick one out of the three hundred that I still have to read. This way, the list is smaller and curated–almost guaranteed that I should be able to read at least twenty-five of them during 2021.
I also have a goal to read about forty to fifty fiction books as well during 2021–and I think that I have probably forty-five on pre-order already for the year. I’ve also decided that for the books that I still want to get in 2021, but haven’t been put up for pre-order yet–in order to buy one of them I will need to have read two non-fiction books and two to three fiction books and posted a review on them (blog and amazon) before buying another book.
I’m also going to have a list of forty to sixty different e-courses that I would like to work through for the year as well. These will include most of the advanced Cheeky Scientist programs and then a variety of other courses that I’ve bought from other sites. The goal is to continue working towards an industry transition, though now I’m thinking more remote/freelance/independent/consultant/contract type of work for a while (mainly due to the pandemic situation). As I work through various courses, I will be taking notes and posting updates on the the blog as to what I think of the courses and how taking it has benefited (either by being something I will continue working with or showing me that the topic isn’t for me).
In terms of crafts and hobbies–I’m hoping to get out more with the camera and work on my nature/landscape photography skills and maybe also some architecture/city photography as well. Photography was one of my saving graces during 2020–with sheltering in place I managed to get quite good at getting pictures of hummingbirds in motion at their feeder. I think my top three photography subjects were the ruby-throated hummingbird, the red-bellied woodpecker, and the downy woodpecker.
Hummingbird sitting in the pecan tree
I’m also going to sit down and teach myself cross-stitching and jewelry design, plus work on my drawing skills. I have a couple of books on jewelry design (and I’m sure I can find other articles and so forth on-line), e-courses on drawing, and I can probably look up an introduction video on YouTube for cross-stitching. One thing I’m having to remind myself of lately–that trying new hobbies doesn’t mean that I’m going to be dedicating my life to them.
I also got back into the habit of doing an evening oracle/tarot card reading. I decided that instead of taking a picture of every reading–I’d ‘sketch’ out the cards in my journal along with what I took away from each card. Then once I started doing a review on the oracle/tarot deck I would reference back to my journal for the layouts that I wanted to use as examples. I’m slowly working on those reviews–I find that even though they’re ‘creative’ writing, I put more thought into them than I do some of the other creative writing posts I do.
Another idea that I had bouncing around in my head during 2020 was to do a weekly recap of the various science news posts that I had read and shared on twitter or LinkedIn–needless to say the idea stayed in my head all year, but will hopefully be put into practice in 2021.
While 2020 was difficult year–December was a very trying month. There were a couple of deaths in the family (one due to the SARS-CoV2 virus, one to other health issues/surgery complications, and one to old age/health issues). Also it didn’t help hearing from an friend who is just getting over botulism poisoning that they are having to go through surgery due to possible cancer tumor on their salivary glands. Then to top off the month–a close friend and her entire family caught the SARS-CoV2 virus, but luckily they seem to have “recovered” from it. Luckily, we’ve been fortunate that no one in the immediate family has come into contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.
So while there was zero traveling during 2020, I did manage to get a few things accomplished–I got better with my camera and getting pictures of birds; I have several ideas of possible directions to go in terms of my career; I’ve done quite a bit of self-reflection (though there will be more of self-reflection in 2021 as you can never really be done with it), found quite a few more book series and new (to me) authors, and managed to stay safe and healthy in the midst of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic.
While traveling is still probably on hold for 2021 (damn you both pandemic and poor government response), I will be focusing on the things that make me happy–learning, reading, crafting, photography, meditating, tarot/oracle card readings, and spending time with my family and pets.
Hopefully 2021 will also be the year of making numerous new friends and having coffee/tea/water chats over Skype/zoom/phone/email. I’m going to slowly start trying to get out of my ‘shell’ but at the same time realize that the shell may be the best place to be at times.
The phrases for 2021 are now going to be: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last”, “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”, and “evaluate the people in your life; then promote, demote, or terminate. You’re the CEO of your life.”
I’ve also decided that the words for 2021 are going to be: growth, curiosity, creativity, prosperity, and happiness.
So December is over–2020 is now in the past and here is to 2021 being more mellow, laid back, productive, healthier, and just all around better. While the Electoral College met on December 14th and finalized the vote–on January 6th, Congress is suppose to do the same thing. Then on the 20th, the new president and vice-president will be sworn in (as long as there is no stealing the election by a certain political party).
December was not a good month over all, in fact it ranks right up there with February and October of 2018 as one of the three worse months ever. There were a couple of deaths in the family, illnesses in the family, finding out friends came down with the SARS-CoV2 virus, and another friend having even more medical issues. But the month is over–2021 is here and with the presence of two vaccines (and hopefully two or three more by the summer), the world may slowly start getting this damn pandemic under control.
The US still hasn’t gotten the virus under control-when I published ‘November in Review’ I noted that the US had just under 14 million cases, and as of last night the US had almost 20.5 million cases (that is an increase of almost six and a half million cases in a month–a little over two million more than what we had in November).
We’re in the log phase–where numbers/cases are doubling at a faster rate than our hospitals can handle them. People are still ignoring the advice of the health professionals–wearing masks, washing your hands, social distancing, and not getting together in large groups. I’m almost afraid to think of how high the numbers are going to be this coming month. But as I mentioned there are two vaccines that have been approved for emergency use in people over the age of sixteen (or eighteen), but I probably won’t be able to get either of the shots (since both are a two shot unit) until the earliest mid-summer/early-fall. That means that there will probably be zero travel again for 2021, and hopefully sometime in 2022 I can possibly think of planning a trip again.
So as I gaze towards 2021, I need to look back at the goals I set for the last month of 2020 and see how I did with each of them.
Goals for December included:
At least 130-155,000 steps
Finishing up 10 Round and then either a week of YBB or starting one of the following combos: Muscle Burns Fat/Muscle Burns Fat Advance or 21-Day Fix Live/21-Day Fix Extreme Live
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
No spend days/no spend weeks/hopefully no spend month
Finish up the writing/editing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization
Get halfway through one of the other advanced Cheeky Scientist programs
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Brain dump/organize/create a rough draft of an editorial/to-accomplish calendar/list
So how did I do with each of them?
At least 130-155,000 steps–I managed to get a little over 200,000 steps (209,869 steps to be exact). I managed to do five walks at Boomer Lake in December, and have realized that on days that I can get a walk in at Boomer Lake results in me getting over 10K steps for that particular day. Since June, I’ve managed to get a little over a million steps. Goal for 2021 is to have at least 1,825,000 steps (breaking down to basically 5,000 steps per day).
Finishing up 10 Rounds and then either YBB or Muscle Burns Fat/Muscle Burns Fat Advance or 21-Day Fix Live/21-Day Fix Extreme Live.
I finished up 10 Rounds the day after Christmas, and will probably be doing at least a second round of the program so that I can focus on some of the other moves (such as the rolls, slips, pivots, and foot work)–as the punches came easy to me.
I decided that I would start 2021 off with the combo of Muscle Burns Fat & Muscle Burns Fat Advanced. Currently I’ve done the first four days, and while it isn’t going to be one of my favorites (possibly the only time I do these two programs)–I am pledging to give each workout an honest try with a decent amount of effort.
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
While I’ve been reading books all month, I haven’t finished any non-fiction books. The goal for 2021 is to have a shorter list of books to choose from–so instead of wondering which of the three hundred books I’m going to pick, the list is shorter at about eighty-eight.
No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month
I managed to have quite a few no spend days, and I think even a no spend week. Though I still haven’t worked up to having a no-spend month.
Finishing the writing/editing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization program
These assignments weren’t finished this month. I’ve realized that while I’m thinking of going the scientific writing route professionally (probably freelancing to start)–I’m leaning more towards science education or possibly writing for a non-profit (museum, aquarium, zoo) and possibly doing less medical writing. I will be doing the assignments–but I’ve realized that while I’m a learner at heart, I also have a small bit of interest in the subject to really get into it.
Get halfway through one of the other advanced Cheeky Scientist programs
Since I haven’t finished the writing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization, I didn’t want to start another program without finishing that one first. I probably will start one of the other programs next month just to get a little traction going again in professional development.
Complete at least two other short e-courses
December really wasn’t a month for me in terms of professional development–I couldn’t find the energy, push, or drive to sit through any videos this month. I have decided that I will be making a shorter list of e-courses that I would like to get through for 2021 (so that instead of having a massive list of courses to choose from, it will be a shorter, condensed list).
Brain dump/organize/create a rough draft for an editorial/to-accomplish calendar/list
I have managed to do at least one or two brain dumps–both on paper and digitally. I’m working on organization (smaller lists of non-fiction books to read, e-courses to work through, and a workout schedule for 2021). While I have the shorter list of non-fiction books and the workout schedule done, I’m still working on the short list of e-courses (hoping to have that done by the end of the weekend).
Once I have that list, I can then attempt to create a to-be-accomplished calendar or list to start off 2021.
So, looking back at everything I managed to meet some of the goals for December, and fell behind slightly on others. In terms of writing–I’m leaning more towards science education, non-profit, creative, with just a little medical (though if I find the topic interesting I may do more on the topic).
I’m still working on figuring out the direction to go in for career, blog, and life in general–but also figuring out how to make sure that I’m not laser focusing in on one aspect and neglecting everything else.
2021 is a fresh start in many ways, while still be in limbo for other things. So the goals for January 2021 will include:
At least 130-155,000 steps; since it is still winter I’m not sure how many walks at Boomer Lake I will be getting in, so I will need to think of other ways of getting the steps during the day.
Finish up Muscle Burns Fat and start Muscle Burns Fat Advance
Read (or finish) two non-fiction books from list
Read three fiction books
Finish the MWO & start another advanced Cheeky Scientist program
No spend days/no spend weeks/maybe a no-spend month
Time outdoors, meditation and/or sitting quietly
Daily craft time
Finish at least two other e-courses from list
While reminding myself: “Progress over Perfection”; “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”/
I’m also stating that the words for 2021 are: growth, creativity, curiosity, happiness, and prosperity.
So tonight is the last full moon of 2020–that means there will only be two days left in the year. This has been a very long year with everything that has happened, especially the SARS-CoV2 pandemic that we’re still in the middle of; while there have been two vaccines that have been granted emergency use–I’m not eligible for either of them until probably the summer time (I’m currently in tier four for OK in terms of need). Therefore I’m probably not going to be making any major plans for any type of traveling until maybe sometime in 2022 going towards 2023.
So the full moon tonight will be moving through the Cancer constellation. Looking within “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, there are several questions that one can reflect on during this time:
Have I been insecure, clingy, and no fun this month?
Have I been coming at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on?
Have I been sulky, moody, brooding, or manipulative?
Have I been secretive, and possibly even a tad paranoid?
Have I had enough family time, or time with people who feel like family?
Well, if I were to number the above questions 1-5, my answers this month would be as follow:
I don’t think that I’ve been insecure or clingy this month. While I’m still not 100% certain of what I want to do with my life–I have several ideas, and need to fine-tune a plan/schedule to be able to devote enough time to each potential project. In terms of not ‘being fun’–we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and therefore there really isn’t anything to do, if one is listening to the health officials and staying home. Finding time for hobbies, in addition to the different ideas for my career are on the agenda–I’ve realized over the past year or so, I do have the tendency to be laser-focused on one thing to the determinate of other things (for example–laser-focused on career/job/school and ignoring health/fitness/hobbies).
Yes, I probably have been going at what I want sideways instead of tackling it head-on. I think I found it a little easier to do it this way, since I’m not 100% certain of what it is I want to be doing.
No, I have not been sulky, brooding, or manipulative. Yes, I’ve been a little moody–but hello, we’re entering the tenth month of this damn pandemic–everyone is getting a little moody.
No, I have not been secretive or paranoid.
Yes, I have been having enough family time (again–there is a pandemic and I’m self-isolating at home with my parents; and we’ve seen my younger brother twice since it started. We’ll probably be seeing more of him once he moves back into town). I would love to spend more time with friends, but again–pandemic, and it really isn’t safe to be getting together with people who aren’t in your immediate family/household.
In addition to the above questions, the full moon in Cancer is also entering my ninth house. The ninth house is the “Big Picture” zone. Basically this zone deals with all things in terms of personal growth, professional growth, travel, religion and philosophy, and so forth.
There are actually two questions you can ask yourself in terms of the above topics:
Have you been fussing too much over the details of your latest problems or tasks?
Is your life and mind expanding or narrowing?
If I were to number the above questions 1 and 2, my answers would be as follows:
This is both a yes and no answer. Yes, I have been fussing too much over the details. I like lists, and I also like to basically have an outline (or at least rough draft) for various projects before starting things. This is more difficult to try to do when you’re thinking of switching directions career wise–especially, if you’re still uncertain about the direction. So instead of doing various things like networking, reading, listening to podcasts, and so forth I’ve been trying to make lists of skills, jobs, companies–but always second guessing and asking myself–“is this really the direction you want to be going”, and more often than not the answer comes back “I have no idea”. I don’t think I’m fussing over the tasks, but that is mainly because I’m not certain of what those tasks should be.
I think that I’m slowly getting back into a learning mindset, and therefore I am slowly starting to expand both my life and mind again. I fell into a ‘closed’ mindset for awhile, more out of self-preservation since I didn’t know what I was wanting to do with my life. I now realize that instead of investigating things and asking questions, networking, reading and trying to figure things out (basically where I am now)–I narrowed my focus to just getting through the day/week to the weekend, and that isn’t the best way to live one’s life.
So the goals for this full moon period may look like a long list–but a couple of them are hopefully going to be checked off the list before the New Year (as they’re part of another goal series that I’ll share in another post).
The goals for the Cancer Full Moon include:
Continue with my night tarot/oracle card reading and brief meditation.
Update various goal posts (150+goals in 2002 day [next installment will be in Feb]; Level 10 life)
Develop a fluid schedule/planner
Make a list of books (mainly non-fiction) to read in 2021 and e-courses to finish in 2021
Read at least one personal/professional development book from said list
Finish one small e-course from said list
Renew one professional membership
And as always the following quotes are going to be coming with me into 2021: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
So we’re going to be entering the last full moon of the year (and December) on Tuesday. That means there will literally be only two days before the end of 2020, and the start of 2021. This is one of the few years that I’m actually looking forward to staying up late to see the year out—and hopefully 2021 will be a lot more mellow, laid back, and more productive.
But before I can look the next full moon, or even start trying to look back on the month or year—it is time to look back at the goals that I set for the Gemini full moon and see how I did with each of them.
What were my goals for the Gemini full moon? They included:
Read (or finish) at least two non-fiction books, and take (or highlight sections) notes in order to also post a book review on the blog (and possibly amazon as well).
Continue to work on improving my evening/afternoon meditations.
Get creative in figuring out an schedule/calendar for things. I’ve had ideas of doing everything from a ‘syllabus’ (treating different areas like they were ‘school subjects’) to making a to-be accomplished list. Needless to say neither has really stuck (though to be fair on the to-be accomplished list, the first draft was more of a brain dump). I may try to make a hybrid of the three—a brain dump, cleaned up into a to-be accomplished list, which can be formatted into one or more ‘syllabus’.
So how did I do with each of the goals?
In terms of reading/finishing two non-fiction books—I managed to start two new ones, but haven’t really finished any of them. I think that one part of my problem this year in terms of reading non-fiction books, I have SO many of them on my personal/professional/non-fiction reading list that at times it’s hard to choose which one to read at any given time. Another part of the problem is that sometimes I’m not in the mood to read non-fiction, so I will go read a fiction book instead (and I have managed to finish at least five fiction books during the Gemini full moon).
I am still improving my evening meditation routine. If I can manage to get my tarot/oracle card reading done prior to taking the dogs outside for their last romp—I can then meditate after I bring them in, instead of trying to get the card reading done and then meditate. Though this hasn’t happened as often as I like—therefore I may try to meditate and then do the card reading.
In terms of trying to develop an schedule/calendar, I’m going to be doing a couple of different things as we head into 2021. For starters I’ve created two ‘bingo cards’—one is a 2021 goal bingo card and the second is a 2021-2023 fitness program bingo card. I’m also going to be making a shorter list of books to read and e-courses to complete—and if I manage to finish everything on the lists, I will go back to the master lists and select some more to add to each list. I’m also going to start working on ‘channel switching’ (more on this in a later post); that once I get bored (or have reached a particular time limit) with something I will go do something totally opposite. This means that if I’m doing a lot of computer work—I will go do some chores, or a walk, or play with the dogs; and if I’m doing chores, I’ll take a break and read or just sit and be for a while.
It may not have been perfect this past month in terms of meeting these goals—but this is the last month of 2020, holidays, and lets just say that December 2020 is a month that I’m more than willing to ignore for the rest of time.
I am still going to be using the following quotes as we move into 2021: “Progress over perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”; and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
So we’re now basically halfway through December—there are only sixteen days left in 2020.
Fingers are crossed that 2021 goes a lot smoother than 2020 did—though I know that I shouldn’t just sit back and expect things to work if I don’t’ put the work in as well.
I had big plans for the blog in 2020—I was going to be doing weekly posts on different personal/professional development courses that I was taking, I was going to restart the yearly photography challenge, and I was going to post at least one book review a month.
Needless to say—majority of that didn’t happen. In part because of the pandemic, and I was just too pissed, irritated, and frustrated at the world to be able to write anything coherent. Also because of my mood, I only really finished one e-course program (which I still need to write a review over)—I did several small ones but didn’t really take the greatest notes on them.
I read quite a bit—though most of it was fiction, but again didn’t really take any notes (or highlight anything) to be able to go back and write a book review. In terms of the photography challenge—I started it in September, managed probably a week and a half, was looking at the news a little too often—got pissed, frustrated, and irritated again at the world and quit posting pictures.
I’m hoping to change things back around come 2021—there are two vaccines now approved for emergency use in terms of dealing with the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, though I probably won’t be able to be in line for it until probably late summer or early fall (this means that I won’t be doing any major traveling until sometime in 2022). The US elections went the way I wanted (Biden & Harris won, and will be sworn in as the president and vice-president of the US on Jan 20 2021).
How am I planning on turning things around?
Setting up a fluid schedule that will allow me to move between different projects/subjects with a little more ease and not feel like I’m leaning too much in any particular direction.
Possibly having a weekly (or monthly) theme in terms of major blog posts. I will still be doing my new/full moon goals & reviews, plus my month in review. In addition if I start up the photography challenge again, it may just be the picture with a small blurb under it (I may or may not go to the lengths of trying to do heavy research on the topic—especially if I’ve posted pictures before—I may actually link back to the old posts).
Possibly trying to narrow down what I’m talking about (though currently this thought is giving me a small case of the hives). I’ve realized throughout 2020—I have to keep things varied, and I love to learn—I’m actually making several long lists of topics that I wouldn’t mind diving deep into, but I also need to figure out how to make those topics flow within the overall theme of the blog.
I will also be expanding on various pages, plus adding in other pages as well to the site. Since I notice that when I post pages, people may or may not realize that something has been added to the site—therefore within two to three days after pages are posted, I will post a quick blog update linking to said pages. Currently that will probably be within the bird section of the blog, and possibly the travel section as well.
I also realize that it will probably take awhile to build up a large following, since I’m still trying to figure out what I want to be posting on—it’s hard to answer the question of what will help others, when I’m not even sure what direction(s) I want to be taking the blog.
Suggestions are always welcomed—just remember that all comments are usually initially tagged as spam (depending on your IP address and email), and it is up to my sole discretion then if comments show up on posts or if I delete them.
So the moon will be entering the Sagittarius constellation today, and its last ‘new moon’ phase for 2020. That means there are 18 days left in December and 2020. Truthfully I’m more than ready for the month and the year to be over (but more on that in the month in review post).
So what are some of the things that one can do during the time of Sagittarius new moon?
Looking at the book “Moonology: working with the magic of lunar cycles” by Yasmin Boland, you can:
Get away—travel.
Study.
Search for meaning.
Laugh.
Be grateful.
With the moon entering into Sagittarius, this is also my second house or the “cash, property, and values” zone. Since the world is still in the grasp of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic, the holidays may not shape up the way they do normally for people (I’m actually hoping that people are smart and stay home and have very small gathering for the holidays—set up zoom meetings with family that live far away). I haven’t really been in the holiday spirit the past couple of years—at least not wanting to have a lot of gifts under the tree for myself.
There are several reasons: the main is that hopefully within a year or so I’m going to be moving and I don’t want to be adding any more boxes than what I’m already going to have to add to the ones in my storage unit.
As I’ve mentioned before in numerous posts—I’ve been thinking of working towards a minimalist lifestyle. Luckily the lifestyle can be tailored—as I know I will have quite a few tarot/oracle card decks (one thing that I am trying to limit—but at the same time I love), but will have very few books on the shelves. The books that will be on the shelves will mainly be school textbooks that will be serving as reference books for various posts/courses that I’m also thinking of developing in the future. Anyway, back to the second house—the cash, property, and value zone.
So some of the things that you can do during this time include (again, according to “Moonology: working with the magic of the lunar cycles”):
Start a savings account.
Pay your bills, taxes, debt, etc.
Hire an accountant, if it’s all too much.
Showcase your talents.
Get a neck and shoulder massage.
Invest in an expensive neck cream.
So if I look at the above two lists, there are some items that I can simply check off already—I have a savings account (though it has been used over the past year), and I’m paying my bills, and trying to get my debt down. I would love to travel—but again, we’re in the middle of a pandemic and the holidays. Even if it wasn’t the holidays—travel (especially plane travel) is on hold until I’m able to get the vaccine for the virus and that probably is going to be late summer/early fall 2021 at the earliest. Also—not getting a massage, because hello—pandemic and not wanting to be in close contact with strangers.
With the way the year has started and is ending—I am working on trying to develop a daily gratitude practice, where I write down at least one thing I’m grateful for daily; I’m also trying to find humor in the day (but again with the state of the world—this is a little difficult).
So if I were to make a small goal list for the Sagittarius new moon period, the goals would include:
Develop a ‘fluid’ daily/weekly schedule for getting various things done.
Setting up a goal list for 2021 (working via the larger 150+goals in 2002 days post)
Starting to work through different e-courses (taking notes for future posts)
Setting up a dedicated work station, and a semi-dedicated meditation area in the bedroom
And as always as I head into the last few weeks of December, I am going to remind myself to keep the following phrases/quotes front and center:
“Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life, if you keep reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
While 2020 did NOT go the way I was hoping—it is almost over, and here is to a hopefully joyous and prosperous 2021.
So the moon is going to be transitioning through it’s last new phase on Monday, and moving through the Sagittarius constellation. That means there are only about 17 days then left in 2020. I’m more than ready for the month and year to be over (probably more on that in the December in Review post). When I wrote the original ‘Scorpio New Moon Goal’ post—the world had a little over 54 million total cases in terms of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic; now the world is at a little over 72 million, the US was a little over 11 million and is now at a little under 17 million (~16.7 million); so we’ve had probably 6 million cases in a month here in the US—I’m ready for the vaccine and for people to start listening to the scientists and start trying to understand science. While there are now two possible vaccines—they’re both 2 shots (with ~3-4 weeks between the shots), so it will still be quite awhile before things get back to some resemblance of ‘normal’. But enough of the pandemic rants—back to looking at my Scorpio new moon goals.
Before looking ahead to setting up my Sagittarius goals—I should look back and review the goals that I set for the Scorpio new moon.
So what were the goals that I set for the Scorpio new moon?
They included:
Meditating and/or B-R-E-A-T-H-E
Starting 10 Rounds
Start working through one or two of the finance courses that I had bought.
So how did I do with them?
In terms of meditating—I think it’s been about 50/50. I am trying to sit quietly more often during the day if possible, but having an actual mediation routine down—nope that hasn’t happened yet. I still need to figure out where to place the mini-speaker and iPod (though as I’m writing this, I have an idea). So, this is something to still work towards in 2021.
In terms of starting 10 Rounds—I have 2 weeks left in the program; I should be finished right around Christmas. While it isn’t an all time favorite right now—that’s because I feel like I have two left feet in terms of trying to get the foot movement down (and let’s not even talk about the boxer’s bounce). So I may repeat the program again sometime in 2021 or 2022 (while I did have a rough draft of my workout schedule for 2021—I may be revamping it before the new year).
In terms of working through one or two of the finance courses that I bought—well, I totally forgot that I had it down as a goal. Currently, I’ve been having to semi-force myself to do e-course work. I’m doing good with one program, but that is because there are also weekly calls going over the material—and technically what I learn in that course, will be used for the rest of my life (it is a personal development/self-awareness course).
So I would say that I was about 50:50 on meeting the goals for the Scorpio new moon. I will be finishing up a workout program over the next two weeks—and that will almost meet the goal I had set back in June of finishing four workout programs before the end of the year (I will possibly make it 4 if I finish up the last week of the year with yoga booty ballet).
In regards to the other two goals—I’ve realized that one problem is trying to set up a routine. While I know that I can possibly get more accomplished if I have a schedule set, there is a part of me that finds it difficult to adhere to the schedule. In part that could be rebelling against the memories of the last job, where we had to write down and account for how we spent the day—every day, for probably a month or two straight. I’m also trying to remind myself that having some unstructured time is okay—the rest of the time around it should be somewhat structured.
Also I haven’t totally figured out when my ‘peak’ productive hours are; I have a long morning routine (which probably could be shortened)—where I get up, have some coffee, read or do a paint-by-number picture on the kindle, then I will feed the dogs, get the paper, and then have breakfast. So it could be anywhere from thirty to almost ninety minutes after getting up that I’m having breakfast—then it could be another twenty to forty minutes after breakfast before I’m doing my workout. So, I know that I could be using that time better.
One thing that I may start doing is tracking my energy and also doing things in say 75 to 90 minute blocks (or less time for say a workout), take a small break and then go on to the next task. Though, it will require some testing and modifications—because if I’m working through say a module for an e-course I won’t know how long each individual video is and it may go longer than the 75 to 90 minutes (though I may just take the break and then go back to the task until I get it completed).
So as I look towards the Sagittarius new moon, and then the Cancer full moon, and then 2021, I will continue to remind myself:
“Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life, if you keep reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
So November is over—the presidential election went the way I wanted (though I was quite shocked at the number of people who thought the last four years were good and wanted four more years of the same shit). The Electoral College will meet in less than two weeks to finalize the vote, then on January 20th the new president and vice-president will be sworn into office.
I’m still working on figuring out the type of fluid schedule that will have me getting stuff done, but at the same time not feel like I’m being stuck in a rigid schedule.
The US still hasn’t gotten the virus under control—when I published ‘October in Review’ I noted that the US had over 9.4 million cases and now the US is just under 14 million cases (that is an increase of over 4.5 million cases in a month). This means that we’re starting to double in cases a hell of a lot faster than we were even a month ago. While there are several vaccine candidates that are being pushed for emergency use—it will still be awhile before the general population will have access to it (I’m hoping that the first series will be going to the front-line workers—the doctors, nurses, and emergency staff that have to deal with daily; and the two main vaccines require two shots a month apart). While the election went the way I wanted–it will still take a while to get the virus under control and then travel may be possible by sometime late 2021 or early 2022. I’m still planning on at least (hopefully) one mental health trip somewhere.
So as we head into the last month of 2020, I should look back on the goals that I set for November and see how I did with each of them.
Goals for November included:
At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days. Therefore I’m going to have to figure out something to do (possibly put on movies or something and march in place to get the steps).
Finish up the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet & LIIFT4; then start 10 Rounds (which is 6 weeks and should take me right up to Christmas), with a little Yoga Booty Ballet tossed in here and there
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month
Finish the Medical Writers Organization program
Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs
Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Start refreshing Spanish
So how did I do with each one?
At least 130-150,000 steps—I’ve realized that as it gets colder, I’m less likely to take my dog out for a walk and I usually am sitting more than anything during those days.
I managed to hit and surpass my step goal this month. I managed to get a little over 218,000 steps (218,813 steps to be exact). I managed this because I took four walks up at Boomer Lake (and the total walk usually gives me about 10-12,000 steps).
Finish up the combo calendar of Yoga Booty Ballet & LIIFT4; then start 10 Rounds (which is 6 weeks and should take me right up to Christmas), with a little Yoga Booty Ballet tossed in here and there
So I finished up LIIFT4 mid-November. The rest days were either used as rest days or I did a walk, or yard work (because we did have a ice storm at the end of October). I managed to do Yoga Booty Ballet during the first half of LIIFT4—I may add in a week at the end of month (December) since finishing up 10 Rounds will be around Christmas and I can either start a program a week early, or possibly do a week of Yoga Booty Ballet and then start something new after Jan 1st.
Started 10 Rounds on the 16th, and currently I feel like I have two left feet in terms of the foot movement and no rhythm at all for the slips and rolls. But it’s only my first time through—I may do it again sometime in 2022 (as I have most of 2021 already planned out).
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
This month I managed to finish reading the following books:
Quit your job and follow your dreams by Michelle Klup
This book basically gives tips on how to get various things in order (finances being the big one), how to transition to part-time, and how to just go about trying to figure out how to translate your dreams into a career, or a hobby.
No spend days/no spend weeks/no spend month
I managed to have a couple of no spend days—but they seldom stretch to no-spend weeks, and it didn’t stretch to a no-spend month. One reason—my impulsive habit of buying e-books, and if the synopsis of the book sounds interesting I’ll purchase it and may or may not get around to reading it for awhile.
Finish the Medical Writers Organization program
I’m almost through the fifth module of the program—I just have to do the writing and editing assignments, post them in the group and get feedback. Then finish up the 6th module. I have realized that while I’m thinking of going writing—I probably want to focus on either science education/outreach and/or writing for a nonprofit (such as Nature Conservatory, Sierra Club or a zoo/aquarium).
Get half way through either the Management Consultant Firm or the Project Management Consortium programs
I think I watched the first two videos for each program. Having the basics for consulting will be good; even if that isn’t the path I currently want to go on. I have no problems with long hours for a job—I just don’t want to be adding in huge amount of travel (which consultants do, depending on the company they work for and the area they may be assigned). I’m thinking that one way to showcase my project management skills will be to have a better posting schedule for the blog, posting regularly on different social media sites, and creating/posting original content on Linkedin as well. All-in-all two rather large projects I need to start planning out.
Start working through at least one e-course that deals with Python
Nope, this didn’t happen this month. I realize that in addition to trying to relearn/refresh a language, I will also need to consider this goal also as a ‘class’—schedule in the time or I’m not going to get it done.
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Watched the short course on skillshare: Capture your writing ideas: how never to lose track of blog or book ideas.
Basically this short course just talked about different ways of keeping track of ideas: either analog (paper and pen) or digital. I’m basically a hybrid—I like writing out on paper, but I also like to have a list of things digitally as well. I would give the course probably 4 out of 5 stars.
Start refreshing Spanish
Nope this didn’t happen again. I’m actually thinking that I need start thinking of this challenge (refreshing my knowledge of a language or learning a new language) as an actual class. I probably will need to write down that I will spend ‘X’ amount of time per day working on this task—otherwise I know that it isn’t going to get done.
So a little progress was made (namely on fitness) this month. In part, I will admit to being ‘glued’ earlier this month to the news to find out who would be declared the winner of the US presidential election, and the various stupid lawsuits that the outgoing president had launched to try to change the outcome.
I have to remind myself that the only person that I need to be in competition with is myself—and who I was yesterday. I’m working changing my mindset and self-talk. As I had stated last month—it took me awhile to realize that the all-out and full-speed ahead mentality/push basically brought me to that brick wall and burnout. I wasn’t using my strengths the way I should have been using them, and I was trying to meld myself into someone else.
The ‘reboot break’ may not be going as planned—but it has been beneficial. Now all I need to do is figure out the best methodology that will work for me to achieve my goals. The biggest question for me going into 2021 will be—what do I want to be doing in five years, and where do I want to be at that time.
It’s time that I start to draw my own map to my own destiny instead of relying on the maps of others. Therefore–
Goals for December will include:
At least 130-155,000 steps—December is probably going to be fairly cold and I’m not sure how often I’m going to be able to make it up to Boomer Lake for a walk.
Finish up 10 Rounds and then either do a week of YBB, or start one of the following combos: Muscle Burns Fat/Muscle Burns Fat Advance or 21-Day Fix Live/21-Day Fix Extreme Live.
Read (or finish) at least 2 non-fiction books
No spend days/no spend weeks/hopeful no spend month
Finish the writing/editing assignments for the Medical Writers Organization program.
Get halfway through one of the other advanced Cheeky Scientist programs
Complete at least two other short e-courses
Brain dump/organize/create a rough draft for a editorial/to-accomplish calendar/list
And finally reminding myself: “Progress over Perfection”, “You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one”, and “Not caring what other people think is the best choice you will ever make”.
