I was helping a friend who wanted to write her life "herstory." It was a wonderful experience but one thing she wrote always made sense. She wrote that when she was young, she had lots of fantasic dreams that never came true. The older she got, she stopped dreaming and instead, gave herself small goals. By achieving them, she has gained confidence, happiness and after years of small goals, she's achieving her dream.I tend to think of life in terms of small goals as well. Like this vow to cook and eat healthier. A few weeks ago, we joined an organic vegetable coop. This means we get a bunch of vegetables and eggs sent to us every week. But we don't quite know what it will be until it gets here!! My son hates vegetables and for the longest time, I'd only buy things I know he'd eat. My daughter loves vegetables and she's always been shortchanged because I can't bother to make so many different dishes. But now, we all have to eat more vegetables because it's in the fridge. It's a yummy beef curry but with your choice of vegetable toppings. Rio only had pumpkin. Reina had extra okra and no eggplants. Mom and Dad, the works.
In Japan, recently, there has been so many reports of poisonous processed foods made in Chinese factories. Babies have died from powdered milk. No specialized dietary plans, no lofty goals but just the general aim so my family will eat healthier, no or much less processed food.
The other goal I've recently set and achieved is reaching out to more people. I am a fun and socialable person but when someone would ask me out for lunch, I'd always say, "I don't do lunches." The reason is because 10 to 2 pm are my peak writing hours and going out for lunch would just take away a working day. I had my little group of close friends, park days, and weekends. That was enough. But since moving away from my friends and having no park days at the new school, I've had to consciously reach out. It was a conscious goal though because without doing so, I would have slid into a routine of being be bored and lonely in this new part of town. That's not for me!! I am also trying to cut back on work so I will have more time for other things. I've also started blogging and reaching out to my Internet friends. That's what gets me up in the morning. Social e-mails!!
When I started this blog, I was miserable about the move. I still haven't found the perfect supermarket, but it made me feel great that others go through "where is the aisle" anxiety too.
Silly and insignificant perhaps, but like Joei says, that's how dreams are achieved.
