Sunday, January 18, 2009

New Year

I have made some New Year's resolutions. They are mostly about exercising, but here they are:
*run at least 2x a week
*run in at least two races
*yoga or pilates 2x a week
*be more social and get out of the house more
*don't stress so much

----
And since it is already Jan 17, here is how I have been doing. I have been doing great on the running. I got a Nike+ (Santa got me an ipod Nano for Christmas) which is a huuuuuuge motivator for me. R laughs at me, but knowing the Nike+ is watching me makes me push myself harder. Also, I love graphs! So I am on track for my running. We'll have to see about the races, but I have a whole year ahead of me. I have only done yoga twice and I still need to figure that out. Basically, I need to get over being embarrassed to do yoga with R in the house. I am not home enough when he is gone to get two half hour practices in a week. I am still trying though.

We have done great on the social front! I am so happy about it. We went out two nights last weekend, had people over during the week, and are going out two nights this weekend. woo! Go us!

Finally, I have been having serious issues with my dissertation which I cannot share here. BUT I have learned an important lesson which is that I need to go easier on myself, and stop beating myself for not reaching expectations I had that were ridiculous to begin with. To this end, I dropped my spring hours which means I definitely cannot graduate in May. That is ok. I am approaching the dissertation more as a journey. I work on it, and one day it will be done. I do not know when that day is. From now on, when people ask when I am going to be done my answer will simply be, "when I am done." I have lots of things I would probably do differently if I could go back and do grad school over, but one of the biggest is that I would not be so fixated on getting out fast. I was too obsessed with finishing and that made me get so upset when I missed deadlines and therefore caused me to procrastinate more. So I am working more on enjoying the day to day. And the lack of pressure has not made me work less, but actually more, as it is less of a chore now.

3 comments:

Albatross said...

Congrats on the resolutions and progress. I've always wanted the Nike+ but don't have a nano and don't wear Nikes anymore.
Perhaps the running, yoga and social fun have helped with the dissertation issues. Despite setbacks, you have a fantastic attitude about it!

Topher said...

I know what you mean about getting things done sometime versus getting them done now...I have this problem all the time with research, where I don't want to do something when it won't get done quickly enough for me...and it's a bad motivator. Go you!!

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, I'm sure Sarah and I will coerce you into running a race or 2 when it is warm again. That is, if the marathon doesn't kill us (it just might).