Motivated Monday: September Goals Check-In

Hey Slayers, it's Simone again! Sorry for the delay from my normal Friday post; I left work early with one of my rare migraine+aura combos, and while I'm lucky that my migraines are incredibly infrequent and far less severe than many, they're still not very conducive to writing, thinking, or really doing anything other than taking a nap. However, I'm rested up and back from a productive weekend, so let's dive in!

My September goals are going fairly well overall, though certainly far from perfect. (How does the quote go? "No plan survives initial contact"?) As far as tracking my spending goes, I have diligently kept up my check register in addition to checking in on my budget on Mint.com. Hooray! The snags: My part-time job is at an outdoor retailer with insanely good deals for its employees; I just ordered a brand-new $200 winter jacket for $40. I mean, with a deal that obscenely good, how can you not? (I think I spend more money at that job than I actually earn....) And, living in a northern state, you can never have too much cold weather gear. You remember the Stark words, yes?

Where I live, this meme will never die.

Because fully half of my fun/miscellaneous budget was eaten up by my contribution to our garage's new C2 "Imperial" rower (cue Darth Vader theme), I'm making a few allowances to stretch that this month since technically we bought it in August. Next month I'll have to be extra diligent, though, since our kung fu instructors' weekend retreat is coming up around Halloween, and my paycheck will be a bit slimmer since I had to go home early on Friday with that migraine. Oh, do I dream of a day where I'll have paid time off!

If you've ever rowed for part of your workout, you know that they really do belong to the Dark Side.

I am now firmly in the midst of my Zone kitchen experiment as well. It's tough to balance all the macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) at each meal! I had a successful weekend of meal planning and food preparation this weekend, though, so I'm excited to see how this week goes now that I have a better idea of what to expect.

It's easy to get discouraged when you're handling normal life stresses (job satisfaction, daily commute, messy house, busy calendar...) and trying to work towards a healthier lifestyle on top of that. Being a recent grad, I've definitely been dealing with some grass-is-greener moods myself. After 5 years, I couldn't wait to graduate and have a steady paycheck. Now I do, but it's still a temporary position (cue stress!), and the 19-mile work commute downtown takes longer than my previous 45-mile commute to school. Gotta love that downtown traffic! I guess I was naive last year at this time, in the midst of battling with my thesis, to think that my life would be less stressful without homework; these paychecks are only bringing me closer to student loan bills and "Wait, this isn't what I want to do with my life" concerns.

Anyway, all we can do is continue to take small steps towards where we'd like to be, and remember to appreciate the things we do have now. For the past few weeks, I've been posting quotes I enjoy each Monday on Twitter with the hashtag #MotivatedMondays to try to start the week off strong. And though my Asian Studies degree no longer reflects my desired career path, it did supply me with a wealth of philosophical Chinese quotes. Here's one for today:

"It does not matter how slow you go -- so long as you do not stop." 

~Confucius

-Simone