I thought I will do a review of my December goals, it being the last day of the month (not to mention the year!)
Spiritual:
- In December, I will focus on prayers and meditations as I start my
treatments. This year, for the first time in 28 years, I am not
planning to hold the annual almsgiving, simply because I don't think
I'll be up to it - Daughter surprised me by offering to do the cooking for the almsgiving, so I was still able to hold it, after all, which was lovely! I was also able to participate in the monthly prayer meeting by video chat, so that was an added blessing.
Environment:
- In December, I plan to decorate the house for the holidays and declutter my file cabinet - I decorated for the holidays; but never got around to decluttering the file cabinet!
Daughter: .
- In December, she will continue to come down to accompany me to medical
appointments and treatments; she finishes her finals next week and
then, she'll be home for the holidays. I want to work on a couple of
fun projects with her - maybe paint our toe nails purple, or something! - Daughter came down to go with me to most of my appointments and treatments; she did well on her finals and she's been home for the holidays. We didn't paint our toe nails, however, and although we've spent lots of time together, I feel like we didn't do any fun projects. Need to remedy that.
Family:
- In December, I will get together with one or two of my cousins; one
cousin has informed me that she will accompany me to my first chemo
session and I believe the other cousin will visit. I will attempt to
get all the family Christmas/holiday gifts ready in time, although I
might not attend the usual family holiday get together - My one cousin did accompany me to chemo and took me for a blood test and visited me quite frequently until daughter came home for the holidays; the other cousin visited a couple of times; and I spoke on the phone with several other cousins, including some who called from overseas. However, I didn't attend the family gatherings due to my compromised immune system - wanted to avoid any colds and coughs others might be having.
Friends:
- In December, I plan to get all the friends' holiday gifts ready in time! - Holiday gifts were readied and several friends visited in person and I visited with others on-line, through emails and video chat, etc.
Career:
- In December, I will be taking more sick leave. However, I am also planning to work from home on some days - I took the day of chemo off and the week following, but worked from home on all the other days, making up time as I went along (for the days when I had medical appointments), by working in the evenings and/or weekends. Received an email from my supervisor this morning, thanking me for all my hard work.
Finances:
- In December, I will continue to budget and manage my finances to the
best of my abilities. I will be focusing on frugal/low cost holiday
gifts - I have gone over my holiday budget because I didn't have the time and energy to get the best bargains, etc. But, it is OK, because I had savings else where in the budget that I applied towards the extra expenses.
Health:
- In December, too, the main focus will be on health as I start chemo sessions - Health has been the main focus, this month. There was the chemo session, plus weekly hydration sessions (sometimes twice a week!), plus injections and weekly blood tests, and an appointment with my regular primary care doctor, as well. I am grateful for the amount of medical care I am receiving, but it is very time consuming!
Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies/Me-Time:
- In December, I would like to start on the Mountain quilt. I also want to make some holiday gifts, as part of my crafting - I did make a few holiday gifts (not as many as I normally do and would have liked to have done) and I started knitting a scarf, but I didn't start on the Mountain quilt. Turns out that, between the medical stuff and working full time (albeit from home), I didn't have a lot of time for leisure and crafts.
Obviously, the health spoke formed a huge section of my balance wheel and threw things off a bit. But, on the whole, I think I still managed to find some balance in all the other areas of my life, too.
I will continue to make monthly goals in the new year; I find it helpful to make sure that all areas of my life is touched upon.
Do you make monthly goals, too?
I think you have done a wonderful job with the balancing. I really admire you.. Best wishes for the New Year.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Judy. Wish you and your family all the best for the New Year!
DeleteMy goodness Bless! I didn't realize you were keeping up a full-time workload! I thought you'd taken a leave of absence from work. You are doing an amazing job of keeping up with work, medical treatments and recovery ... All at the same time. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carolyn. Yes, I'm working "full time", but from home. :)
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