Goal: the result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end.
Well, here we are at the end of another year. 2019 started off with my being extremely hopeful about the prospect of getting outside on my two new hips. I was determined to be strong enough to hike some new trails and to spend a lot of time outdoors.
Then our family situation changed rapidly and it took a rather large chunk of my time and energy. Both sets of our aging parents required us to help them downsize and move out of their homes and into different living situations. We struggled through hospice, strokes, deaths, and moves across state lines.
This was not part of my vision for 2019 at all.
But, because I know it helps us to stay balanced emotionally, we made time to be outdoors when we had the opportunity. I kept my nature goals in mind and made tentative plans each month to go somewhere new and experience the refreshing powers of the outdoors. Those plans didn’t always pan out but it helped to keep them in front of us.
Looking at the definition of a goal I realized that I was indeed working with effort towards an aim or an end. The aim was to use the Outdoor Hour Challenges to learn more about my local habitat, to keep a detailed record of my nature observations, and to keep on hiking/kayaking as much as we could.
I think we achieved most of those goals.
In addition, I visited a new national park and rode my bike far more than I have in the last decade.
I’m choosing to look at the positives of keeping my nature goals, forgetting the perfectionist tendency to focus on what I didn’t accomplish in 2019. I will start again in 2020 with fresh goals and hopefully a little smoother ride through spring and summer than I had in 2019.