As I told you on Wednesday, I have a mental illness that explains part of the reason why I have repeated financial failures. I wanted to share with you how mental illness can affect your finances, which I did on Thursday.
Today I want to share with you some goals for me to begin ASAP. I’m not waiting for January 1st. I’m starting them immediately (ok, maybe after classes are complete next Thursday).
1. Contact a mental health professional.
I am going to contact the same therapist that my son sees and ask if she’d be willing to work with me as well. She’s younger than me which is a little daunting but I think it would be a good idea so we can also work on my relationship with my kids, especially my oldest son.
I am also going to contact a psychiatrist for a med check and to establish myself as a patient. I think my ADHD medication needs to be increased so I want to talk to him/her about that.
2. Start exercising.
My apartment complex has a small work out room in the clubhouse that I am free to use. I know it has a treadmill, not sure what else but I plan on starting with walking 30-45 minutes a day five days a week. I am going to get up in the mornings and go before I begin to work. On the weeks that I have the kids, I will take my oldest to school and then head over with my youngest in tow. He can watch the television there since we do not have it here.
I may also add in yoga at some point since I really enjoyed doing it in the past. I’ll look around online to download a video or two and do that each evening.
3. Write out a schedule.
With being a single mom, graduate student, freelance writer, a substitute teacher (hope to start that in January if I can get all my paper work completed in time and once I have the money to pay for fingerprinting) as well as working on my free weekends as a product demonstrator, I am very busy. However I find myself blowing off a lot of time by reading leisurely. I avoid doing class work until the last minute and I have completely ignored a larger freelance project that I should be working on.
I am going to force myself to get up at 8am every day that I don’t have the kids, 7:30 when I do. I’m going to do my very best to stick to a bedtime of no later than 12am. I’m a night owl by nature. I hate going to sleep. But I’m going to do my best to change this. I will be forced to when I’m substitute teaching anyways.
4. Adjust my diet.
I need to tackle this for a multitude of reasons. I’m overweight (I need to lose about 75lbs.). I have very high blood pressure (I require a CPAP and 2 BP medications just to keep it only a little high). My father died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50 so I really need to focus on this. I believe I may be gluten intolerant based on some new issues I’m dealing with (need to find a physician to have the testing done). And finally, I need to do this to maintain my mental health.
A low salt diet is a must so very little eating out, but definitely no fast food. (This is going to be a must since my grocery costs will have to increase.)
I’m going to cut out caffeine with the exception of a cup of coffee each day, hopefully, maybe working toward decaf. Someday. I will replace this with water, lots of water.
I’m going to cut out all refined sugars and crappy white flour (especially if I’m gluten intolerant). I’m going to eat A LOT more veggies and fruits. And I will stick to chicken and lean meats (I don’t eat much beef anyways.)
5. Find a hobby and try to socialize.
I’m a social person. I like to be around people. I don’t have that in my life right now with the exception of school. I haven’t made many friends in the area and the couple that I have are busy with their own families. I am going to do what I can to see my current friends a bit more, reconnect with them.
I am going to look for a hobby, even if I can only do it once a month. I’m hoping to try pottery again however I can’t afford to take classes. I’m going to look and see if it’s possible to take it as a grad student without increasing my tuition. I could do this as an Undergrad, just not sure about it as a graduate student.
I think I have a good plan of attack and I’m excited to make these needed changes. Please do me a favor, if you are a regular reader. Ask me how I’m doing with these goals. Hold me accountable, please.
If you need an accountability partner for something yourself, maybe we can team up and help each other out.
If you have any suggestions, tools or any ideas of things I should be doing, please let me know.
I’m going to try to keep you updated on these goals, much like I try to do with my finances. Hopefully we can all benefit from it.
I also blog at A Five Star Life. I write about anything that comes to mind but try to focus on finding the good in daily life.
I am so very very proud of you! Making these changes will be so benefical to you and your boys. I will stop by often to make sure you are keeping up.
Big Hugs!
Jesort415(Quote)
Thank you very much! I really appreciate the supportive comments.
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)
Jessica – I read your blog faithfully, even if I don’t comment too much. I follow you on Facebook, Twitter and by email. Your blog is in my favorites on my computer and I love reading the updates on your life and finances. I think it’s amazing that you’ve created a “blueprint” to follow the get things in your life back on track. You have several wonderful things on your list and they’re all positive and helpful. You should be very proud of yourself for everything you want to accomplish and everything you’ve already accomplished. Please keep us posted on your progress. Can’t wait to hear the updates!
Madeline(Quote)
Thank you so very much Madeline. I’m so glad you found my blog (during a contest if I remember correctly). I’m touched that you have followed me in all ways that you can and feel honored to have a place in your favorites. I appreciate all of your comments whether it’s on every post or once every couple of months.
Thanks again!
Jessica The DebtPrincess(Quote)