The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good

Cindy asked that I keep you all updated on my goals for the year. Seeing as we’re now a quarter of the way through 2012 (when did that happen?), I figure it’s high time for that update.

You may remember that I picked my five goals by categories I wanted to work on: physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental.

Physical: Get more exercise.

This one’s a doozy to start off with. Yeah, I haven’t been doing so hot here. Like most people who make this new year’s resolution, I started off well in the first few weeks of January, got busy, and quickly fell off the bandwagon. I didn’t do any yoga for all of February and March. My new goal is twice a week for yoga/Wii Fit. I did it once last week, which is at least a step back in the right direction.

With the glorious weather we’ve been having, we’ve taken a few more walks, but I haven’t kept up with it like I want to. It always feel like such a production to get out of the house with the baby and both dogs, but when I do, it’s never as bad as I expect it to be. This one needs more intentionality and mental discipline on my part. Also, I should probably learn to be okay with just taking Sam for a walk without the dogs sometimes. I just feel guilty kenneling the dogs when I know how much they love and need walks too.

Emotional: Go on at least one date with Jeff each month.

We’ve done well with this one so far. In January we had our fondue night at home, and in February a friend came over to watch Sam for a few hours while we went to a local bookstore and played a little book-related scavenger hunt type game. March was supposed to be “Choose Your Own Adventure” date night, but we haven’t done that one yet. Sam stopped taking a bottle so our plans were temporarily thwarted. Jeff has since gotten him to take a bottle again; we just need to plan for babysitting and get it scheduled since we’ve got April’s date to squeeze in too. We’re not used to this whole getting a babysitter thing! We did take a day trip to celebrate our anniversary in March so we weren’t completely devoid of date time last month.

Spiritual: Read my Bible, pray, and meditate each morning.

I was specifically thinking of this one when I wrote this post title. I made this goal when Sam was sleeping pretty well at night and sleeping in ’til 10am most mornings. Well, we went through a couple months of worsening sleep patterns and earlier awakenings shortly thereafter, and I learned important mothering lessons about assumptions and how I function on little consecutive sleep.

Just in the last few weeks he’s started sleeping much better at night and I feel more human again. I still struggle with my mornings however. I’m lucky if I’ve showered, dressed, and eaten breakfast before he wakes up, let alone spent time in the Word, prayer, and quiet reflection.

I kept waiting for “a good time” to sit down for an extended quiet time and in so doing would miss the little moments I could sneak in during the day. Some days I’m good about using nap time wisely and for this goal, other days I’m too focused on the rest of my to-do list or on vegging out for some “me time.”

Overall, I’ve read my Bible consistently more than the last few years, but I still need work to make this a daily habit.

Mental: Read 18 books.

I’ve actually done really well on this goal, mostly because I’ve been reading eBooks on my iPod to keep myself awake during many middle of the night feedings. I’ve read six books toward my goal, which Goodreads tells me is 2 books and 6% ahead of my goal. I reviewed 5 of the 6 here a few weeks ago.

Mental: Blog and write more regularly.

I’m not 100% satisfied (re: perfectionism), but I’ve done okay with my blogging goals so far. I still have a lot of posts in my brain that I’m excited to write and photograph so stay tuned…

Overall, I give myself a C average. I’m not totally failing, but I still have lots of room for improvement. My perfectionism gets in the way often, but so does my lack of mental discipline of a tired body. You’d think I’d be getting used to this whole stay-at-home-mom schedule after 8 months, but I’m still learning and struggling.