Goals: The Signposts of Life

How is it already October? Also, what is going on with the weather?

Everything feels like it is moving entirely too fast for me.  Like I can't keep up. And yet...

I'm actually doing fairly well when it comes to my arbitrary goals for the year.

I've written about this before -- I strongly endorse the setting and adherence to goals for their own somewhat arbitrary sake. The structure they create builds life experiences and character (particularly when you realize you don't even have the space to own or acknowledge meaningful goals while you are trying to set them), and if nothing else, they make for great stories.

Of course, sometimes, I don't meet the goals I set at all. Fluent in Spanish? Hah!  Good one!  Right angles in the house I live in? What did I think I was going to be, a gadgillionaire?

But this year is different.  This year has moved so much more quickly than any year I've ever lived.  This year, my goals are filling more of a time-keeping role than I'd historically realized.  While the majority of my social cohorts have children with life-development milestones to mark their days, I have things like *pages read* or *words learned* or *miles ran* or *places or people visited.*

So here I am (as compared against the goals I'd set in January):

On reading and books, I killed it.  I have already read 9,356 pages of self-elected not-required reading, blowing past my goal of 9,000 pages this year (and the total doesn't even include my new addiction to audio books, which, in my opinion is totally cheating because I can multi-task, but I still can't help but include the audio titles when I think about my year as a whole because I feel as if I haven't been this *well-read* in any year since before law school).  Back to actual visual reading... This is the high point of page count since I started keeping track (meticulously, because I'm insane about data like that, in 2005).  What do I think this says about me?  I think, for one, when I look at the historical graph, it says that reading for pleasure is becoming more and more important to me as I age. Goal, met and vanquished.

My Chinese study is going extremely well.  I am thankful to live in such a multi-lingual environment and for all of the locally based native speaking people who are willing to indulge me in my studies.  I love that I can say basic things and even read a bit.  This goal is returning tons of value in terms of day to day pleasure.  I can't wait for our trip to China next year.

Race weight:  Well, let's just say this one is not going well.  I'll check back in after CIM, but without some major lifestyle modifications in the next 9 weeks (which are unlikely to occur), I'll have to acknowledge this one as a bit of a failure.  Over the course of the year, the numbers have been going up, not down.

2 Marathons:  1 down, 1 to go. On track. 

52 healthy days with E:  As predicted, this is where I've fallen the furthest behind.  It should be interesting to see if I scramble to meet this goal or abandon it.  I like the idea of staying with it, but I also like the idea of a spring marathon in 2013 after CIM, which if I want to do it well will require strong lifestyle sacrifices and I'm not sure I have the marital clout to prevail on both accounts... only time will tell.