I was asked by my chiropractor, Dr. Kevin O'Hara of Arlington Heights, this week, "What are your goals?" I really couldn't answer him. I told him I had some. He asked me if I had written them down and I realized I really hadn't sat down and written down my goals for 2011. He said to me, "You know they are not really goals until you write them down."
I've made a 2011 vision board so I have a visual reminder of my goals, but that is really where this board stopped, just at a visual reminder. I havn't gone any further than the visual reminders. I have not sat down and written down my goals or thought through just how I was going to reach those goals, so today I am attempting to do that.
As you can see above in the middle of my vision board there is a heart with the year 2011 inside of it. I have always been a loving person, but I want to be more intentional this year in regards to showing love to everyone. I want everyone whose path I cross to feel like someone cares about them. Whether it's helping an older lady in the rain at Costco, or sending gifts to a single mom with 4 kids. I want to make a difference and show love to both people I don't know and people I do know. I want my kids to know every day just how much I love them. I want them to go to bed at night feeling like, "Wow, my mom really does love me." It's not always easy to love everyone, but I am going to try every day this year to make a difference in someone's life and show them how much they are loved and cared about.
Below the heart is my key Bible verse for the year. My friend, Darlene, shared this verse with me on the first Sunday of January. It really hit home with me. I memorized it that day and have it on my vision poster so I can focus on it everyday. The reason that the verse in is the center of my board is because this year I need to focus on putting God back at the center of all I do. That has kind of slipped to the sidelines in recent years, but I am determined to change that this year. Without God, I am just trying to do this all on my own. "With God, ALL things are Possible."
My theme verse is this:
For God gave us not a spirit of FEAR,
but of LOVE, of POWER, and of SELF-CONTROL. 2 Timothy 1:7
I mean how awesome is that? That I have nothing to FEAR because God is with me. Wahooooo. The next part of the verse fits along with other goals I have. He will give me POWER to do the athletic events that are in my future for 2011 and he will give me the SELF-CONTROL with my eating and things that I need to do to lose weight.
The two major athletic goals that I will need POWER to finish this year are a 1/2 marathon and a 1/2 Ironman. If all goes according to plan I will be doing a 1/2 marathon in May. I just talked to my wonderful Coach, Bob Mitera of Kokua Multisports, just last night and we have a plan to get me to the starting line of the 1/2 marathon. Running is really hard for me as I have just come off of months of being sick with a recent diagnosis of Chron's Disease. In those months I have gained some weight back due to medication and lack of working out. I am losing weight again and am committing to a new run schedule to reach the goal of running a 1/2 marathon.
I am also planning on doing the Timberman Half Ironman in August in New Hampshire. I plan on doing everything that Coach Bob asks me to do to reach this goal as well. That's the reason I have hired a coach. I know that on my own I could not train for these events and reach my goals. Every week I have a new workout schedule, that I don't even have to think about. I just turn on my computer, look at my workout, and get it done. Thanks, Coach.
On my vision board there is a picture of Jillian Michaels from Biggest Loser. She is pointing at me and saying, "I want you to lose weight." I have another saying on there that says, "Lose weight like nobody's business." I have not sat down and looked at what that looks like, how much I want to lose total, or set small weekly goals. As you know I go to Weight Watchers. I have been avoiding the scale because of my recent weight gain. I have finally gotten back on the scale and faced reality. I gained 40 pounds since getting sick in August. Before that I had lost 106 pounds. As of my weigh-in this past week I weighed 240.6. This weight gain has been hard. I know it is because I have been sick, but it is still hard. When I get down I just look at the picture below and realize, even with a weight gain of 40 pounds, I am no where near the person I was, physically or mentally, and for that I am very grateful. This weight gain is what it is and I know what I need to do.
My weight loss goal for the year 2011 is to lose 90 pounds and hit my goal of weighing 150 pounds. When I hit this goal I will have lost 1/2 of myself as I weighed 306.2 pounds when I started my journey in 2008. I am very excited to reach that goal, so this week I made a goal of losing 2 pounds. That is my goal for each week going here on out. As I sit here and write this today I have 15 weeks until the half marathon. My goal is to be 30 pounds lighter by then, so I hope to weigh 210 pounds. It is 29 weeks until the half Ironman. My goal is to be 60 pounds lighter by then, so I hope to weigh 180.6 by that event. By the time I go to volunteer at IMWI 2011 and sign up for 2012 in September, my goal is to weigh in the 170's and by December 31, 2011 my goal is to weigh between 145-150 pounds. This is the first time I have figured this all out and made such a detailed plan with my weight loss. I look forward to the challenge and know that I can do it. Wahoooo!!
I just realized this is the year of 1/2's for me. I will be completing a 1/2 marathon, a 1/2 Ironman, losing 1/2 of me, and doing nothing 1/2 hearted. Once I complete all these 1/2's I will be a more whole person.
I have made it a goal this year to learn all I can about Chron's disease and volunteering and raising money for the Chron's and Colitis Foundation of America. I will be speaking about my Chron's journey 5 times in March. The Chron's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA from now on) has a group called TEAM CHALLENGE. It takes a group of individuals and trains them to do a 1/2 marathon. I cannot train with them this year due to our move, but look forward to speaking at all their Illinois informational meetings. Not everyone that signs up with TEAM CHALLENGE has Crohn's or knows someone with Chron's. They are just signing up to do a race. I am going to speak to give them motivation in their fundraising and to give a voice to Chron's. I will be one of two people speaking. For awhile I was mad I had Chron's, but now I have accepted it and am going to use it to help as many people as I can in the process and I will start in March at these informational meetings.
There are two words on my vision board that I really want to embrace this year. They are EPIC IMPACT. My goal this year, through my spiritual journey of putting God back at the center of my life, through showing love to everyone I meet, through my weight loss goals, my race goals, and my involvement through CCFA, I hope that I can have an EPIC IMPACT on not only my own life, but the lives of others. I have always been public with my journey to help others, but this year I don't only want to help others I want to have an EPIC IMPACT.
You can have an EPIC IMPACT in your own life and the lives of others. Look at what your goals are, write them down, and make plans on how you will achieve these goals. Once you do that, you will have a bigger impact then you could ever imagine.
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