GOALS!!

This is going to be a personal post and may be, for some, boring because of this fact. You have been warned.

I used to post 'To Do' style lists on this blog but for bigger life ambitions (for example, 'learn to drive' was on a number of them and I passed my test last January!). I haven't done this in a while but I have still been managing to achieve some things that would have been on these lists had I made them.

So this is another list but it is of things I have actually done or am in the process of doing...

• Start cycling again - I was ill on and off for a lot of the summer but I cycled to work again for the first time last weekend and hope to cycle again this weekend (though it's looking like I'll have to break out the waterproofs).
• Start Yoga - This has been going well, I have done a little each day that I've not been cycling and did a whole sequence from the book I'm following this morning which is the most yet. I haven't stopped aching since I started but I'm taking that to mean it's working.
• Apply for TEFL/CELTA course - Just waiting to hear about when my interview will be and, if all is well, I will start the end of next February, giving me a little time to save up most or all of the fees.
• Stop washing hair - This may seem like an odd one. I always used to wash my hair with shampoo every morning and I really don't think it was good for it. Since coming off the Roaccutane (which had stripped my hair of all it's oils so it never got greasy) I've made a point of washing it with just water and, very occasionally, a tiny bit of shampoo. It seems way happier so far so I'll see how it goes.
• Learn more about lighting - I have started and I plan to learn much, much more about this. It's proving difficult to find people to model for me so far but I just got accepted onto ModelMayhem (#887031) and using myself as a model has meant I now get everything set up fairly quickly.
• Pay off student overdraft - This was a particularly exciting achievement! Less debt means a big financial step closer to traveling!

So that's what I've been up. Almost everything I've listed there is more of a lifestyle change than a goal as such, or (like with the CELTA course) the first step to achieving a bigger goal but I still have enough things I want to start or do in the near future to create a 'To Do' list so here goes...

• Start PMA/Cycling/Body awareness journal - I have the perfect little book to write in and I kept putting it off because I hadn't re-started cycling but now I have no excuse!
• Try fit in the occasional swim - Between cycling, walking around all day at work and Yoga I don't need the exercise but I really enjoy it and I used to be quite a strong swimmer so this would be nice to do.
• Start putting money away for travels! - This is exciting, I put some aside for the first time when I got paid the other day. It'll only be little bits for now as I'm still paying off the 60D, lenses, etc but it's going to grow.
• SHOOT MORE! - Be it helping out with video work, assisting on a wedding, live gigs, performance art, portraits or fashion, I just want to shoot more!
• Sell/throw out/recycle/or otherwise get rid of unnecessary possessions - This is an ongoing process. I have started though there are a number of large items that are proving difficult to sell so far but are worth enough to warrant trying (namely my longboard, old guitar and rat cage and accessories). I already feel much better but I know if I can continue to minimise I'll feel better still.

It's on the internet now, there's no pretending I didn't intend to do these things.

Finding motivation as the weather gets colder and darker is going to be difficult but I managed it last winter so I can do it again. There are lots of things to love about autumn and winter. The trees around my house look gorgeous at the moment.

I'm going to stop there and leave you with this (well done if you read it all!)...

Unfortunately I don't know who made it.

It's something I think we all need to ask ourselves now and then. Along with...

Don't like something? Change it. Can't change it? Change how you think about it.