My Plan of Attack

Let’s get back to that pesky, parallel-structureless list of the Wheel of Life.  It’s that bad metaphor I mentioned in the last post with a list of 12 areas of life that one should strive to keep in balance. There are probably hundreds of lists like this out there, so it's rather arbitrary that I'm choosing this one, but it happens to be the one I have in front of me so I'm going with it.  Sorry to lack profundity in my choice, but there it is. 

The list (with grammatical corrections) is as follows:
Spiritual(-ity)
Relationships
Romance
Travel
Adventure
Charitable(-y)
Recreation
Education
Financial(-es)
Health
Career
Family

I've decided that for the next—I don’t know how long—somewhere between 12 days to a year, I’m going to focus my attention on each item individually, and move down the list until I’ve hit them all.  My original plan was to do one subject a day for 12 days, but seeing as I've been working on the first one for three days now and still have nothing close to a conclusion, that seems laughably delusional.  So instead I'm going to focus on each subject until I feel like I've gotten as far as I can, and then move on to the next.  Clearly, I can't take longer than a month on each (there being only 12 months until my 30th birthday), and hopefully I will take significantly less time than that (on average) in order to have time to make changes before the big day.  

The general structure I'm thinking I will work with is as such:

A) First, I will try to really figure out how to look at the item on the list.  Harder than it sounds.  I will need to question my feelings and "common knowledge" about it (what do I know and what do I just think I know that is actually wrong?  where am I being psychotic and where do my feeling genuinely point me in the right direction?).  I will need to delve into the stories of my life that inform my current way of thinking, and what that means.  I will need to question what society may have gotten right or wrong.  I will need to determine criteria by which to assess myself and measure my progress.  And, hopefully, I will not get too buried in philosophy or logic along the way (as I have a propensity to do).  I've started on the first subject, and as I am quickly learning, this part will probably take the longest and involve extensive research.  But I think it will be well worth the time.

B) Next, I will try to give a general assessment of where I stand now, kind of a starting baseline by which to determine progress.  

C) Third, I will move on to the tough part--asking "What do I want to do about it?".  What do I need to do about it?  Decisions will have to be made, and I reeeeeaaally don't like making decisions (my husband can attest, much to his dismay).  But that's what this is all about, right?  And hopefully all the research from the first part will make this clear and easy...in theory.

D) Lastly, I will set up specific goals or benchmarks, and a way to track them over the course of the year, thus proceeding to drag my husband (and any poor souls reading this) along for the ride.

Phew.  I think this will work.

The Time is Now 

Given the order I listed them in, one might think I would start with "Spiritual(-ity)", but trust me, we don't want to jump into the deep end just yet.   Also, given my particular circumstances, I feel like I need to prioritize them in an order of what is most pressing, and therefore more likely to affect later subjects on the list.  For instance, it seems silly to do Finances before Career, because I need to find a job and know my income before I can balance a budget.  

So, the first one I pick is going to be...drum roll please...Health!  Why?  Well, I'm in a bit of a diet crisis right now (which I will explain), but it's also one thing I feel like I can get a handle on now because it lies almost completely within my own control and I'm not actually that far from where I want to be (at least I don't think I am).  Sort of like the idea when people snowball their way out of debt (when they pay off the easiest debts first, instead of the one with the lowest interest rate, because it will make them feel better to accomplish something on the list and more motivated to move on to the next one, even though by a purely mathematical standpoint it's not the best way to go about it).  So, emotionally I need to do Health first.  Logically, I should be picking Career, but it's going to be harder, so I will do it second after I get my feet wet and have made some decisions and accomplishments.


To my Health!!