A Plan

Yesterday’s blog post was about something I just had to get off my chest. I’ve been a little blue for a while now and I sat down on Tuesday night and just wrote and wrote and wrote. It was basically a stream of consciousness post, with no apparent theme in mind. I just wanted to figure out what was getting me down. And now I know.

I was up in the air about allowing comments or not. It was a very personal post and I didn’t want to come off as a “Woe is me, leave me ‘Stephany, you are so awesome’ comments, please.” But, in the end, I did allow comments and received some great advice from some great friends. (And some awesome e-mails!) If I could have, I would have given you a great big hug. Just know I consider you gals some very special people in my life and I think about you daily.

With that said, I need a plan. Now that I know what’s bugging me, I need to begin taking steps to fix it. I need to be more aggressive in my approach to life. There have been special moments in my life where I have faced my fears and seen amazing success. But it wasn’t easy, it was an uphill battle, and most times I just felt like quitting. But there was something in me that kept me going, a fire in my belly.

It’s there, it’s burning. Now I just have to do my best to keep it burning and growing. Here’s how I’m going to do that:

Say no to naps!
I mentioned yesterday about taking naps and lots of them. In this past month, I’ve probably taken close to 4-5 naps a day. While I have nothing against naps and I think they are an awesome addition to any life, there comes a point in time where you stop living life. I mean, has that all my life has become? Just one big, giant ball of sleep? I’m happier on the days when I know I’m coming home and taking a nap, and that’s a little sad. My goal is to save my naps for the weekend. I need to at least try to be more productive with my time Mondays-Thursdays and make these naps more special to me.

Get to bed at 9:30 PM every night.
My alarm goes off at 4:30 AM on the weekdays and I’m definitely not getting enough sleep. While my mom can survive perfectly fine on 5 hours of sleep, I need at least 6 to be able to make it through the day, 7-8 if you want me to be happy. As has been the habit for many, many months, I haven’t even started preparing for bed until 10:30 PM, and not turning off my light until after 11. Combine that with my 3-hour daily naps and I’m not getting very good sleep. On Tuesday, I made myself stay up, worked out earlier in the day, and was finished eating by 8:30 PM. I went to bed at 9:30, not waking up once until my alarm went off at 4:30. A full, good night’s sleep. It was marvelous. Imagine how much more energetic and alive I would feel if I did that every night?! My goal is to stop eating by 8:00 and to start preparing for bed around 9. I think it’ll do wonders for my sleep habits.

Make a list.
A few months ago, Kathleen wrote a post about how she stays productive on her days off and one of her tips especially stuck out to me: making a list. I get off work anywhere from 10:30 AM – 1 PM, which gives me a whole lot of time to be productive. Yet I waste it napping, being lazy, and spending too many hours reading blogs. I want to begin making a list of what I want to accomplish during that particular day, so as to be more productive. I think it’ll help me out a lot to be more structured with my time.

Start back interning.
I took quite a long vacation from my internship, due to destressing from school and my summer semester. Next week, I hope to begin working for a few hours a day, two days a week. I love my internship. I love how challenged I am, how busy it is, and the atmosphere. It really makes me crave a desk job! (Trust me – spend a day working at a preschool and you’ll long for your desk job back!) I’m excited to get back in there, get some new projects, and feel challenged again.

Get involved.
Rather vague goal, I guess. But I want to get out more! Sometimes, it seems like I am so attached to my mom, it’s just unhealthy. I want to go places without her, take on challenges that interest me but not her, and just get out! The only way to find friends is to be social, right? There are spinning and yoga classes offered at local rec centers. On Wednesdays, I attend a Zumba class with girls from my work. (Although, last night was only my second time going. I’m hoping to make it more of a weekly thing!) I also found Spanish classes that are offered at these centers. Maybe I won’t find my next group of great girlfriends, but at least I’ll be making more out of my life. And who knows? Maybe I’ll even get brave and attend a meet-up!

I’m not a fan of whining and complaining. I don’t enjoy writing posts like I wrote yesterday, but sometimes, you have to figure out what’s got you down in the dumps and how to remedy the situation. This is my plan. It’s done wonders for my emotions over the past two days, knowing I’m doing something about my life.