“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.”

I can hardly believe that it is December!  However since I have finished up all my Christmas shopping and just have the one last task of getting a few items sent off at the local post office, it must be.  It feels like a warp-zone between January to December.

Well as I have been making plans for my annual get-the-heck-out-of-Salt-Lake New Year’s Eve trip, I realized that I have some posted goals that I need to make myself accountable for this year.  So I pulled up January on my blog to keep myself honest and here are the results. . .

Temple: My goal was to continue attending at least once a week, but that I needed to attend an endowment session at least once a month.  Results:  Since there isn’t a temple in Jordan, Israel or Egypt . . . I did miss a couple of weeks of attending the temple.  Although if I count visiting the Temple Mount in Israel, then I only truly missed one (okay that doesn’t count so I really did miss a couple of weeks).  I was able to do at least one endowment session each month.  One of the sessions I even was able to do in the Manhattan Temple. 

Preparation: My goal was to put my affairs in order by having a Will prepared.  Results: This was all signed, sealed and delivered before my birthday.  I officially have a Will, a Trust, a Power of Attorney and all Medical decisions made and documented.  This really made me feel like a grown-up!

Travel: Visit six new places, with at least one on my “must see” list.  Results: I do believe that I FAR exceeded this.  I hadn’t ever been to the Manhattan Temple before and then I went and saw more new and exciting things within my two weeks of vacation than I could even begin to count . . . this also included 3 “must sees” of Petra, the whole of Israel and the pyramids.  Before the end of the year I will also be in Phoenix (as this is where I am going to New Year’s) and believe it or not, I have never been to Phoenix before.

Physical Fitness:  My goal was to drop 20 pounds.  Results: If this was all looking so shiny and almost perfect . . . well here is my big, fat failure.  How much have I lost?  Not one pound.  Pathetic!!  There is one shining happiness in the midst of it though is that  I am in better shape than I ever have been in my life.  I have been swimming twice a week, biking twice a week and running twice a week in preparation for a triathlon that I will be doing next year.  It has been a bitter fight against my asthma every step of the way but well worth it. 

Reading:  My goal was to read 30 new books along with re-reading Jane Eyre, the Book of Mormon and the New Testament.  Results: To date I have read 33 new books (more will be finished before the end of the year).  I had re-read Jane Eyre before the beginning of February, the Book of Mormon soon thereafter and I finished re-reading the New Testament a week before leaving on my trip. 

I think that I did okay.  There are new goals being formed and old goals being re-worked.  I can’t ever say that I am completely finished.  I still have so many things accomplish, to learn and to overcome in order to be a better daughter, a better sister, a better aunt, a better friend, a better person.  All I can do is continue to try.