I know… I’m a little late to the party here. A third of the month is over and I’m just now setting some goals. Furthermore, I don’t intend to implement one of them for another week. My son is home until the 16th. I don’t think I’ll look back and regret that I didn’t get more sleep for these weeks, but I will be sad if I don’t make the most of the time I have with him here. Speaking of sleep…
Goal #1
If I said my goal was to get more sleep, that would be an oversimplification. I’ve been saying I need to get more sleep for months (years?) now, but being sick the week between Christmas and New Years really brought my sleep issue into focus.
For that week, I slept better than I’ve slept in… oh, I don’t know- nineteen years? For seven nights in a row, I crawled into bed and slept solidly for 8-9 hours. I would wake up once to use the bathroom, but then immediately fall back into a keep sleep.
The night before I went back to work, I suddenly had trouble falling asleep. I wasn’t anxious or worried- I was just aware that I had to get up the next day at a specific time and be somewhere, and I couldn’t fully relax. I proceeded to eventually sleep fitfully, waking several times to use the bathroom, and woke in the morning feeling unrefreshed. And the problem is… that is my norm.
Right now my son and I are watching all the Harry Potter movies in the evenings, which isn’t conducive to getting in bed early and sleeping well. That’s okay! But starting next week my goal is to at least get into bed eight hours before I need to get up. I’ll give it until the end of January, and if I’m lying in bed for eight hours but still not sleeping well, I’ll consider a further sleep intervention for February.
Goal #2
This one is more straightforward! I want to read four books in January. For the past few years, I’ve had a (modest) goal of reading 50 books for the year. I haven’t quite reached that goal, but I’ve come much closer to 50 than if I didn’t set it at all. Last year I was doing great, until I re-read all the Harry Potter books, which led to an existential crisis, where I felt like I couldn’t read anything else ever again. Luckily I finally got over that and am working my way through my Christmas books. Four books in January is definitely doable.
Goal #3
Fitness! I’m going to continue to run every other day during January, building up my mileage slowly. That’s the easy part. Everything else gets more complicated. I loved my yoga challenge for November, where I did a yoga class every day. I realized yoga is important for me and I want to keep up with it. However, I need to add in more specific strength training (during my month of yoga, I counted the power yoga classes as my strength training.) So my goal, for January, is to do yoga three times a week, and add some running-specific strength at least twice a week. And pushups. Must keep doing pushups.
Those are my January goals… the hardest one will be the sleep one. We’ll see how it goes!
Did you set January goals? How’s it going so far?
22 Responses
Great goals, Jenny!
I wear my Garmin 24/7. It’s interesting to see the sleeping stats and how the sleep quality varies. For example, I had to get up early today (4.30 am) and I was nervous about missing the alarm to get up. That affected my quality of sleep.
Or if I have alcohol in the evening – same thing, the stress levels remain high and the body battery doesn’t fill up properly. When I had the booster, the body battery even emptied itself during my sleep!
Do you track your sleep in any way?
No I don’t! I’m afraid to! But I know that’s silly- tracking it would be a great way to figure out what’s going wrong.
No goals for a month but just yearly ones and they are pretty doable, I think.
Sleep is a great one but it seems out of my control. I’m in bed, I read but not a great sleeper. My fitbit used tell me tat… I stopped looking…it was too scary.
I also don’t track my reading but I read every day. 4 books sound doable… one a week.
Running pain-free is my goal. For some strange reason my neuroma stopped hurting… I try to only run 3-4 times a week and only more than 3 miles on the weekend. I think that has helped.
FYI – I emailed you about my Delray/ Boca dates… hope we can squeeze in a meet-up
Ooh! I’m sure we can find a time to see each other.
I’m also afraid to track my sleep- I’m sure it would be way too grim.
I cannot wait for you to read I Let You Go! I’m sure we’ll talk about it in the comments as you read it.
A few years ago I wasn’t sleeping very well, and it really helped me to listen to meditation podcasts. I liked the ones from Meditation Oasis and I think that Peleton has them as well. I didn’t actively mediate, I would just listen to them on headphones after I got into bed or if I woke up in the night and they would make me drowsy and let me fall asleep. I think that I had just gotten into the habit of sleeping poorly and the meditation helped train my body to break the habit and to relax once the lights went out.
Yes, that’s a GREAT idea. I think that’s exactly what it is- my body is just in the habit of sleeping poorly. Maybe I’ll try one of the peloton ones- thanks!
Sleep…what’s that again? Ironically, being on east coast time has been a great fit for me. I feel like it gives me an extra hour each morning to “sleep in” until the 6:00 hour (which is technically my usual 5:00 hour when I’m in Iowa). Baby steps! That’s a great goal of four books! I’m slowly working my way through a book right now. Hoping I can finish ONE book for January is big for me (I spend too much time, admittedly, reading blogs).
Ha, yes- reading blogs does take up reading time! I don’t know how these people who are reading 100 books a year are managing to do it. I’m glad you’re getting to sleep in- but I hope you don’t feel like you’re losing an hour when you get back to Iowa!
These all seem like great goals – and I like the fact that you’re putting off starting them until your son leaves. Good priority.
I had two months of insomnia (3-5 hours sleep each night) for two months after the time changed this fall. I think a lot of it was anxiety from COVID + time change. Not sure because I’ve gone through periods of INTENSE stress before and sleep was never impacted. I ended up talking to my doctor and working through on some solutions, mostly to do with stress. Thankfully, things have been a lot better lately.
I always hesitate to give “medical” advice, but in the past I have had really good luck with magnesium supplements (recommended by my doctor) like Natural Calm and I know several people who found Valerian Root helpful (it did nothing for me, but a family member has used it daily for YEARS with good success). Melatonin can help short-term, too?
Of all your goals, hoping the sleep works out well as it has such an impact on the rest of life and is such a struggle (especially for women).
You got 3-5 hours of sleep a night for TWO MONTHS??? You must have been a basket case! I’m glad you’re sleeping better now. Yes, if I can’t start sleeping better naturally by the end of January, I’ll look into supplements. I know other people have had good results with magnesium- I can try that.
I have been having some back pain recently and it is messing up my sleep, which is bad because one of my main skills in life is being a good little sleeper. I always feel badly when people say they have trouble sleeping because going to bed should be a glorious thing! I think that sounds like a most excellent skill. Developing a solid sleep routine should be everyone’s goal!
It really should be- people don’t give sleep enough credit, but it’s one of the most important parts of our health. Sorry to hear that you’re not sleeping well- back pain is terrible because it’s hard to get a relief from it.
I get up at 4:20 on Tuesdays to get to a CrossFit class before work. I sleep terribly on those nights because, as you say, I know I have to get up. UGH I take CBD oil which helps a lot. I just don’t stay asleep for long.
Reading 4 books for January is a great goal and it’s probably all I’ll get in this month. I’m reading some really long ones and they are taking me a while to get through. Quality over quantity, right?
Yes, I just finished a pretty long book! And… if I had to get up at 4:20 i would toss and turn all night. There must be a solution to this.
Oooh, good goals! I started strength-training last year (through Peloton, the Strength for Runners, and then I added upper body with a program made for me by my boys). It REALLY helped my running and it actually changed my body.
Yes, as much as I wish I could just run every day and do nothing else, I have to admit that strength training is essential. I’m sure your boys designed a good program for you! I’m doing much better with upper body while my son is home.
Very good goals! Running every other day is my same goal.
About Harry Potter I remember some years ago I went with my son to a pub in Edinburgh and on the table we read: “Here J.K.Rowling wrote Harry Potter”!
WHAT!!!!! Really? I wonder if that’s true! I want to go to that pub!
Those are some great goals. I am glad you stuck to three. It’s easier to focus if we don’t have a gazillion things on our plates. 😉
I am usually a good sleeper and don’t envy people who deal with insomnia. I hope you’ll find a good sleep routine this month!
So far I give myself an “F” on the sleep goal- but the month is still young! There’s time to raise my grade.
Oh, I really hope you can figure out how to sleep better. I go through bouts where I just toss and turn at night and it’s the worst. I’m a fairly good sleeper overall, and I always feel so terrible for people who have trouble sleeping.
Reading 4 books is a wonderful goal! I read and loved I Let You Go… a great thriller!
Oof_ I’m in the middle of it right now! It definitely has some interesting twists!