March Update + April Intentions.

Right on April 1st, a slew of monthly goals posts appeared in my reader. I’m late, as per usual!

[March Update]

Say hi to people in the elevator. Probably one of my favorite goals ever. It was hard sometimes, when I just wanted to stare at the ground or avoid awkward conversation in some way instead of reaching out. It’s hard to strike up a conversation with someone you know nothing about other than where they live. But every time, I left that little elevator ride happier – because talking to people makes me happy and because I was proud of myself for going outside of my comfort zone. Part of the reason I love living in an apartment building is the sense of community we have here – but for those folks I don’t know, I want to try and be friendlier, even when it involves putting myself out there in a way that makes me nervous. (If you are super outgoing, you might think it’s crazy that I need to try and talk to strangers. But I do!)

No screens when someone’s talking to me. Another challenge that taught me a lot. Namely, how often I mindlessly pick up my phone and just…check stuff. It’s the complete opposite of intentionality. At work, I would stop whatever I was in the middle of when someone talked to me. As a result, my relationships with coworkers and students blossomed. I had no idea I was so distracted or what effect it was having on my relationships! Most of all, I want my actions to tell Gabe and Mike, “YOU are the most important people ever. Not whatever is happening online.” And it felt good to do that. But, also hard. And I didn’t always succeed.

Find the sunshine. Well, I think we can safely say that I didn’t succeed at this goal. ;)

[April Intentions]

Clean out the ever-loving car. It’s a hot, hot mess. Crumbs everywhere. Junk in the trunk. I just always forget about taking care of my car. I get home and just want to go inside, not spend time cleaning it out!

Read a fiction book. I have been reading a lot of non-fiction lately (that seems to be typical for me). I am currently reading 3 non-fiction books (though one of them has been on there since November, so I don’t know if that counts as current.)

Nightly 10-minute tidy. The apartment is also a hot, hot mess. We are back into the grove where we pick up when we have people over, but it gets messy otherwise.

Floss + stretch daily. Just two little ways to take care of myself. Simple but effective.

Let’s go, April!