February can be a strange month. For some of us, the winter chill is far from gone; while others bask in the advent of spring flowers.
You can probably guess what weather we’re having here in Southern California, but my memories of frigid temperatures around this time of year are not buried yet. It was so fun to see photographs of friends who actually enjoyed their time in the recent New England storm. That’s the odd thing about snow– once it’s done its damage, it’s hard to ignore the fact that it’s beautiful.
After I published this post last month about blogging less, I’ve been sort of on a journey figuring out how I want to allocate my time everyday. I foresaw being busy– in a good way– but I haven’t quite nailed down my daily schedule.
For one, my tutoring students have increased in number and I’m so grateful. But on the other hand, I’ve been trying to put more effort into personal home and health-related responsibilities. My husband and I do our fair share of chores, but somehow I often feel we’re behind schedule. Is this something we ought to just get used to?
Furthermore, I’m reading a great book recommended to me by a friend: What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles (here). It’s an incredibly inspiring book about careers, callings, and changes (and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is in between jobs, looking for something better or just ready for a change).
Bolles has published an annual edition of this book for years, but I imagine much of the core material is similar. I particularly liked something he wrote about unpredictable periods of life transition:
Use this opportunity. Make this not only a hunt for a job, but a hunt for a life. A deeper life, a victorious life, and a life you’re prouder of.
The world currently is filled with workers whose weeklong cry is, “when is the weekend going to be here?” And, then, “Thank God it’s Friday!” Their work puts bread on the table but… they are bored out of their minds. They’ve never taken the time to think out what they uniquely can do, and what they uniquely have to offer to the world. The world doesn’t need any more bored workers. Dream a little. Dream a lot.
Boy, does that speak to my heart.
And it’s so timely that this particular (Kindle) book is in my hands. As I mentioned in January, I had an interview with a potential teacher residency program just south of Los Angeles. I’m very grateful to say that I think the interview day went well, but I won’t have a final answer until the end of this month. Before then, I’ll need to think long and hard about whether I want to participate in this residency.
In addition, my husband and I are making serious plans to move! We’ve beenapartment hunting, and with a little luck, have found a place that we like. And we just might move in if everything lines up! It’s only about 5 minutes from our current place, but it’s a very different space, and we’re pretty excited.
So, our February looks rather full– full of big things, life things. And that means that setting goals for February somewhat revolves around that reality.
5 Realistic Goals for February
- Nail down a consistent weekly routine that balances work, household responsibilities, quality time, relaxation, exercise and good food.
- Come closer to a career decision about whether I’ll join the teacher residency (if accepted), continue tutoring or work on something else after the summer.
- Continue to meal plan based on our Community-Supported Agriculture boxes, full of seasonal organic produce that we pick up each week (more on that this week!).
- Strip my current wardrobe down to the essentials and put together a “uniform” for work.
- Finish What Color is Your Parachute, because it has been such a great read!
What are your goals for this month? I’d love to know!
