Five Goals For Fall

I'm a goals person. Setting goals helps me get stuff done and gives me purpose for my days beyond work, cleaning, and cooking. Can I get an amen?

Completing my two goals this summer (camping three times and climbing two 14ers) left me with a sense of accomplishment, and motivated me to make some goals for fall.

I know the latest blog craze is to set monthly goals, but that just seems a little daunting to me. Let's be honest, I'm writing my list for fall now and it's already halfway through October (how does that happen?) I've had these goals in my mind for longer than just today, but today they're going down in writing. I have until the first day of winter, December 21, to complete my goals. Or until I decide that fall is over which may be December 1st or it might be December 31st. 

Without further ado... 

1. Start working on our wedding scrapbook. 

 It's been over a year, and all our wedding pictures lie in my virtual Facebook album , and on the jump drive our photographer (my brother) gave me. 

I decided this is the season to change that so I bought some materials at Hobby Lobby (holla for 50% off!), started gathering some ideas, and hopefully will be off to a good start by the end of this season!

2. Increase the posting frequency on my blog to 2-3 times a week. 

If you've been around here for any sort of time, you've probably gathered I only write about once a week. This is partially because I second guess my post ideas and let my conscience tell me they're lame, partially because I'm getting used to the sheer amount of time it takes to put together a good quality post, and partially I've been working on my blog design a lot and sometimes find that more fun than actually writing posts (weird right?) 

All that to say, you can expect some more posts this fall! 

3. Get involved in one way at church 

The husband man and I just moved and fortunately found a church that we love on our very first week in Denver. I can't even begin to describe how much of a blessing this has been! Our very first time at church was their fall small group (they call it "house church") kickoff, so right away we were able to get plugged into that and have met some great people! 

We were in the process of getting more involved at our old church but our 45 minute commute and my work schedule made it really hard to find something that we could consistently commit to. Although my work schedule is still the same, we are a lot closer to this new church and would love to get more involved. We don't know what this is going to look like, but we are praying about it, and Alex (I'm at work) will be attending a type of "new member welcome gathering" on Sunday where he can find out where the help is needed. 

4. Be intentional about making connections and creating community

I realized not too long ago that a belief I've had since I was a kid was "If people want to hang out with you, they'll make an effort to reach out and see you." While I believe that there is some truth in this belief, I also have come to realize that thinking like this puts me in a position of waiting for people to befriend me which is #1 lonely and #2 not very effective. 

The Bible study I am currently working through examines King David's life, and in one of the more recent lessons, the study pointed out that David was one who initiated relationship. The study went on to examine a few passages that highlighted this, and it made me realize that, while there might be some truth to the above statement, I need to be willing to step out of my comfort zone and make new connections and create community. 

This could look different for different people, but right now my tentative idea is to text/reach out to 2-3 people that I've either never hung out with, or rarely hang out with, and see if they would like to do something. Maybe it'll turn out being more than 2-3 people, but for now that's my goal! 

5. Get ACLS and PALS certified

This is a goal that's 100% related to work and is actually my professional goal for the year at work, but it's something I've been wanting to do for about two years. ACLS stands for Advanced Cardiovascular Life support and PALS stands for Pediatric Advanced Life Support. 

These are two certifications that go more into depth regarding specific ways to treat life threatening conditions including lethal heart rhythms and shock. I'm signed up for the two classes mid-November and a good chunk of time will be spent doing case studies, simulations, and studying for both certification exams. My inner nerd is kind of excited. 

So, those are my five goals for fall. Do you like setting goals or not particularly? If you do, what are some of your goals? I'd love to hear them in the comments below so I can cheer you on!

(Joining in with all the lovely people at Goals with Grace and Jack of All Trades).