Alright, so here is my second update from Afghanistan. Life is going pretty good and I am finally getting into the swing of things. The work isn't as hard as it was when I first got here and the hours aren't as long. Starting next week, I should get a couple of mornings off a week, which is great, because I love to sleep!!!!
But I want to keep my update in terms of my goals so whoever is reading this (and my counter keeps going up, so I know you are out there!) can help keep me on track. I'll consider it my online accountability.
Emotional- So, my emotional goal really ties in with my spiritual one. This week, I have really tried to be a good wife by praying for my husband every day and spending the time to reflect on him. For his birthday, even though even when I am stateside we don't normally do much, I decided to surprise him by ordering cupcakes to be delivered to his work. It doesn't seem like much to me, but I want to continue to try and find ways to love my husband better when I don't have a lot of time to do it. And I also don't want to get into a habit of trying to compensate my time with money spent on him (afterall, it is OUR money anyway, so spending it on him doesn't make a lot of sense).
Spiritual- I have reached my goal this week of praying every night. I have said I want to journal, but I didn't expect I would turn to e-journaling. I want to get back to putting my prayers on paper, so I need to set aside time coming up to copy my old ones down from my tablet and writing them in the beautiful leather bound journal my Dad gave me for Christmas. I have also been working on reading my bible every morning, which I have to admit, I am not very good at. After our small group just finished reading through the new testament, I am just not sure what to do next. I have been trying to focus on Galatians since that is what our bible study (our Chaplain just started it this past Tuesday!) is going through.
Physical- So this week, I have started doing CrossFit and I love it! I love the intensity and our beginners classes are great. The instructors are volunteers who all instruct at gyms back in the U.S. who love what they do and want to share it with others. They take the time to explain what right looks like, what wrong looks like, what muscles you should feel movements in, and which muscles you shouldn't. I do an hour every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and my boss has been really supportive (so long as I have my work done, of course!). I have completed 3 out of the 9 beginner classes. Once I finish with these, I think I will do CrossFit Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Monday and Friday run 3+ miles, Wednesday hit the gym for a core workout, and keep Saturday as an open workout for whatever I feel like doing. Sunday is my day of rest of course. I am intrigued to see what CrossFit will do for my P.T. test score.
Mental- So my mental goal has shifted a bit. I still want to get my real estate classes done (which I haven't had much movement on this week), but I have found I have an amazing opportunity here. I have the opportunity to become a Lean Six Sigma black belt. The jist is, I will be working on a project for the next 6 months that measures efficiency in some part of the Army system and I will get to mathematically find a way to fix it and potentially truly change it. For a Lieutenant, this is my best dream. I love the possibility of influencing the Army in a postive way and truly changing things. I am sure as I get into, I will slowly become more negative as it takes more time away. But, I should come out on the other side which will give me a certification I can use in the civilian world. I haven't had a black belt project approved, but if I do, that average salary on the outside is somewhere around $120,000. If I get bumped down to a step below or a green belt project (which I don't think will happen, but it definitely could), the average salary goes down to about $90,000 in the civilian world. And I really think it could help me start my own business. So I am excited about that and will be putting a lot of my effort towards it. Once it is finished, I will hit my real estate classes hardcore.
But I want to keep my update in terms of my goals so whoever is reading this (and my counter keeps going up, so I know you are out there!) can help keep me on track. I'll consider it my online accountability.
Emotional- So, my emotional goal really ties in with my spiritual one. This week, I have really tried to be a good wife by praying for my husband every day and spending the time to reflect on him. For his birthday, even though even when I am stateside we don't normally do much, I decided to surprise him by ordering cupcakes to be delivered to his work. It doesn't seem like much to me, but I want to continue to try and find ways to love my husband better when I don't have a lot of time to do it. And I also don't want to get into a habit of trying to compensate my time with money spent on him (afterall, it is OUR money anyway, so spending it on him doesn't make a lot of sense).
Spiritual- I have reached my goal this week of praying every night. I have said I want to journal, but I didn't expect I would turn to e-journaling. I want to get back to putting my prayers on paper, so I need to set aside time coming up to copy my old ones down from my tablet and writing them in the beautiful leather bound journal my Dad gave me for Christmas. I have also been working on reading my bible every morning, which I have to admit, I am not very good at. After our small group just finished reading through the new testament, I am just not sure what to do next. I have been trying to focus on Galatians since that is what our bible study (our Chaplain just started it this past Tuesday!) is going through.
Mental- So my mental goal has shifted a bit. I still want to get my real estate classes done (which I haven't had much movement on this week), but I have found I have an amazing opportunity here. I have the opportunity to become a Lean Six Sigma black belt. The jist is, I will be working on a project for the next 6 months that measures efficiency in some part of the Army system and I will get to mathematically find a way to fix it and potentially truly change it. For a Lieutenant, this is my best dream. I love the possibility of influencing the Army in a postive way and truly changing things. I am sure as I get into, I will slowly become more negative as it takes more time away. But, I should come out on the other side which will give me a certification I can use in the civilian world. I haven't had a black belt project approved, but if I do, that average salary on the outside is somewhere around $120,000. If I get bumped down to a step below or a green belt project (which I don't think will happen, but it definitely could), the average salary goes down to about $90,000 in the civilian world. And I really think it could help me start my own business. So I am excited about that and will be putting a lot of my effort towards it. Once it is finished, I will hit my real estate classes hardcore.
I love reading these, so keep posting! Although I do read via rss so I'll try and remember to open the page so the counter goes up :)
ReplyDelete-BrianF