2022: Life on Pause and Life Resetting

 I started this blog back in 2008 as a way to track my life and my goals. I look back at all the items I did and attempted to do... Go to Australia, got my masters, CPA, and other little tasks here and there. 

Ten years later and I made the decision to stop. I even took this blog offline and left it be. 

I was just burnt out. 

Now, in 2022 and, well... I'm still burnt out. 

I'm reminded of a quote in my high school yearbook: "There's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then." 

I've changed. My priorities changed. I'm not the person drinking in new hobbies and challenges like water in the desert. 

But, at the same time, that yearning for learning and progression will never go away. That is why I decided to restart this blog. I do want to slowly (keyword: slowly) get back into a flow and towards goals that are both challenging and satisfying. 

I'm hoping this will be a place to track Rebel Badge Book merit badges, Nerdfitness Quests, Toastmaster Pathways, and to gather my thoughts on what habits work and ways to improve. 

Life Defined

The past few months I have been thinking long and hard about my current point in life (another birthday!) and I believe I am coming to a conclusion that is hard to take.

'Goals' are suffocating.

 Don't get me wrong, I enjoy that feeling of planning and achieving all these great and amazing things. Lately though, I feel as if once I achieve what I seek, I still find myself lacking.

Then it's onto the next goal and that same feeling of 'not enough'. It's turned into a form of escapism.

So here's the goal that was suggested to me and I still have a hard time trying to wrap my head around:

The goal is to have no goal.

Sure, I have to wrap up a few things I've already committed to (a couple trips, a triathlon), but after that... I'm excited on the idea of having nothing planned.

Nothing.

That doesn't mean I won't be active. I signed up for swimming meets and I will probably have get-togethers with family and friends.

But there are no big trips on the horizon or big far reaching goals to achieve. Nanowrimo may be a nice idea but I would rather have the joy of learning about story structure and what makes a story *good*. I would rather read and journal than writewritewritewritewrite.

Reaching a PR in running would be nice as well, but I have a feeling that if I keep on doing what I'm doing with sprinting and swimming and biking, I will more likely get to the sub30 on during a casual race than I would if I pushed hard after months of strictly running.

The point: No goals.

Not for awhile.

Mega Quests Update - June (2)

-Pass CPA Exam (Done! Completed 8/17/17!)

An exam is an exam. Nothing more. I need to create projects that will set me towards my goals in my professional career.

-Running/Run a sub30 (PR 30:22)

I have my training plan set for my triathlon in September! And I started swimming in the pool.

I forgot how much I missed swimming...

-Nanowrimo (4.5 months)

While in the midst of planning the Tri, I realized I could do the same with my writing. Why not?

So in July, while training for a triathlon, I will also create and use a training plan to build up my endurance to write 50,000 words in November.

More to come later...

-Mortgage (11.9yrs)

Still paying off a kitchen. I am reading more financial books so I'm concentrating on my expenses. I also need to consider ways to increase my income.

Mega Quests Update - June 2018

-Pass CPA Exam (Done! Completed 8/17/17!)

I officially have the C . P . A . on the end of my name. It's a great feeling. I accomplished my goal 10+ years in the making.

At the same time, I miss it...

I miss the late study nights. I miss the classes and the cramming until my head is full of useless accounting information (and promptly forgotten).

The big question is: What do I do now?

The answer is: I don't know.

I'm currently working on some projects at work which is taking my time. I am also a fully licensed CPA which means I would need to keep up on CPE classes (Continuing Professional Education). These are all long term projects with no set goal in mind.

I really need the time to decompress, but I am starting to get antsy again. I'm already eyeing other certifications I could take....CMA, CFM, CFE, CFP, CIA, EA, CB- The list goes on...


-Running/Run a sub30 (PR 30:22)

I spent my winter and spring participating in a Fast5k running program in order to gain a sub30. My last 5K was last Sunday and I was just shy of it by 23 seconds.

Curses!

I'm not giving up on the goal but I'm setting it aside for now. I have a trip to Mt. Washington at the end of the month and an Olympic Triathlon in September which I need to plan for now. I'm fairly confident that continuing on this trek will get me at my sub30 goal by the end of the summer.

-Nanowritmo (TBA)

I haven't thought about this one in awhile. I did try Nanowritmo last year for all of one day. (right, one day). I just wasn't into trying at the time since there was *way* too much going on in my life.

Maybe I should try this year. If I do, I'll need to prep now. My failures in the past are mainly due to the lack of experience and training beforehand.

I didn't run a marathon on Day 1. I trained for it. The same applies here.

This may take some thought....how does one create a training plan for writing?


-Mortgage (12.2yrs)

Major set back on this. I bought a kitchen.

Well, I remodeled my kitchen.

Kitchens are *expensive* and I am still trying to pay the loan off on it. Aside from my condo, it's the largest purchase I've ever made. I could go hard core and pay it off by Halloween or I could go easy and save up for some other things (vacation, new car, Lasix, etc).

So mortgage is stuck on the bottom of this list.

I'm opening up my financial books again. I'll see to what I need to do to move things along quicker.

Druid: Meditate 10 Days in a Row

Druid: Meditate 10 Days in a Row

Hey! It's Christmas Eve Day! And I leveled up to level 11!

This was a bigger quest at 200 pts but it's not as easy as it seems. My alarm clock has been acting up and not always going off when it should be. If I wake up later than expected, I have to rush to get to work. Luckily, I've managed to get 10 minutes in the morning to meditate anyway.

I have most of the week off this week so I might be able to catch up on some Nerdfitness quests during that time. I am not sure about the week after when Year End Close begins.

We shall see.

Nutrition: Clean Out the Pantry

The Academy: Nutrition

Clean Out the Pantry

11/28/17 - Does this count when I don't really have much of a choice. The kitchen is getting revamped and, thus, I had to clean out the pantry anyway. 

Plus side- no more candy in my place. 

Minus side- I'll likely have to eat out for a week or two. Add the eating out in Iceland and the pounds just melt off! hahahahahaha

Scout: Run a 10K

The Scout Path

Run a 10K (6.2 Miles)

11/23/17 - As part of my annual tradition, I ran the Turkey Trot in Goshen in 1 hour 23 min 53 secs (or just shy of 84 minutes).

It was cold and the wind was in the Did Not Help category but I was able to warm up in those 6 miles and work off my turkey food.

Those hills...the horror. Next time will be better.

Adventurer: Exploring in a Foreign Country

The Adventurer Path

Go for a 20 Minute Walk to Explore a Neighborhood in Another Country

11/19/2017 - Explored Reykjavik, Iceland's largest city, for about an hour, walking down the harbor and took a look at the ships.

It was cold, but it was cool.

Mega Quest Completed!!

Well, kinda. I got my score today and I am done with the exam! :-D

Now, I have to do some paperwork, complete an ethics take-home exam and submit my application for a license and I will officially be a CPA!

It took nearly three years to get to this point. Longer if you count schooling (BS and MS) and work experience.

I don't think it's truly hit me yet that the one thing I've strived for is nearly done. I have mixed feelings; happy at the accomplishment but sad because 'Now what?'.

I guess...take a quick breather and on to another 'Mega Quest' (I'm calling them that from now on..).

I'm onto you next 'Sub 30 5K'!

My First Four Week Challenge

A few months ago, I signed up on a website called Nerdfitness. It's a site geared towards 'nerds' (thus the 'nerds' in nerdfitness) that pushes personal health and growth by teaching you to break down your goals and rebuild yourself, not just physically, but emotionally and mentally.

It's a great site for two reasons:

1. The program encourages small changes (cut down on soda drinks) at your own pace rather than big changes (DIET; Capital DIE Capital T). And I know from personal experience that the small changes work. I didn't just get up one day loving to run. No, that took many tries before the thought of putting on running shoes brought a smile to my face.

2. The social community. They have a big presence on their Facebook group. They also have a forum. You would think it would be a problem having so many different types of people with their own viewpoints and backgrounds, but it's not. No matter how different, we all have the same goal: to improve who we are. That becomes a good environment to be supportive. Also, they aren't family or friends so I have the freedom to rant and rave that I don't have when my soundboards are bias.

Anyway, the point of this post. The forum does a monthly (4week) challenge and the next one starts this weekend. I'm going to attempt my first one using my four goals as my 'Mega Quests' (that is what they are right? Quests? And the Mega makes them sound extra cool.)

I even did a 'postit wall' because... reasons.

Post Its!

It's hard to read from the photo but I have one row with the Mega Quests (CPA, run a sub30, Pay mortgage, Nanowritmo). The next row are each task I'll concentrate on in the next four weeks to accomplish the quest, and the last row are ideas for future tasks.

So the next four weeks:

- Pass the CPA task: '50 MCQs'.

Yes, I am technically done with the exam since I can't do anything until I receive the score in August. That doesn't mean I did, in fact, pass. I felt good about it when I did the AUD section last month (was it really just last month?) but I really should keep on top of my studying on the off chance I didn't pass.

If I *didn't*, then I have a really short amount of time to reschedule, restudy, and retake AUD.

I believe the score is released on August 17th. The exam schedule has four windows when you can take an exam and each section can only be taken once per window. The Q3 window closes around September 10th. So that's what? About three weeks?

If I didn't pass in the Q2 window (last month), I have the Q3 window (August 17- Sept 10).

If I happen not to pass the Q3 window, I only have the Q4 window (November... just November) to try again before my FAR exam section expires.

Confused? Yeah, no one understand how this CPA exam is structured.

So, yeah, despite being done-ish, I still need to practice. More MCQ's are in the future until I officially know my score in August.

- Run a Sub30 5K task: Yoga

I ran a Sub30 once before a couple years ago but I was doing a lot of cross training at the time. I was training for a full marathon and a sprint triathlon. In order to do that, I was biking, climbing, had a trainer for weight training, swimming and, finally, running.

No surprise my time on baby 5Ks improved.

And I want to get back to that level of fitness. The problem comes in A) motivation and B) I'm just f-ing tired right now with all that is happening in my life (aka stressed out).

Yeah, yeah, fitness will help with the stress and motivation is just taking a step at a time.

I recently purchased the Yoga program at nerdfitness because I liked the goal-oriented way it teaches. I just have to go on the website and *do* it.

Yoga is good. It works on strength, on stretching, on breathing - All the important things needed when doing other fitness activities.

As Nike would say: 'Just Do It'.

- Nanowritmo task: Read for 30 minutes

I still need to get to a better place mentally and emotionally before I can get back into writing stories. Journaling I can do sporadically. A writing prompt every once in awhile. This blog.

But I'm not at this point where I can sit and focus on the art of writing a story.

So I'm taking this one slowly. Just concentrate on reading for 30 minutes a day. And it could be any type of book; a book on writing, on accounting/finance, or a fiction novel. I have a full shelf on my bookshelf, I might as well read them.

And maybe then, I can get geared up for writing more.

- Pay Off My Mortgage task: $0-20 per day on takeout/eatout food

This is a tricky quest mainly because it is so large and will take the longest to complete. I just got back from a vacation and that was a lot of money to spend. I also will likely work on the kitchen remodel this year (goal is by the end of 2017). The fact that I don't have the budget for a new kitchen is what is stopping me, but I'm at that point where it needs to get done sooner rather than later. (Damn, I really hate my kitchen right now).

So I can go big on this quest or I can go small.

I am going small.

No matter what I do, I will be putting a bandaid on an open wound the way my budgeting has been. So, I believe the best way to begin this challenge will be to work on my weakest spending habit: Take out food and Eating out. I easily spend way too much for the convenience of not cooking at home and that needs to stop.

This doesn't mean I can go cold turkey. Trivia nights and going out with friends means I will still eat out in restaurants. So I'm limiting the amount I spend each time I do go out to $20 (including tip). On off days, I'll concentrate on not spending at all but I'll still allow some room for those 'f- it days'.

And that's it. Hopefully I'll be more active on this blog going forward with a new mindset.

Onwards my Four Week Challenge!