Intentions for 2020 – Review for October

My Star Word for this year is “Encourage”. The internet says “encourage” means to give support, confidence or hope to someone.

Here are my intentions for 2020.

NOTE: We are gradually opening up, a little. The Wellness Center is open, but you have to sign up for a time to use the equipment – only two people at a time. The staff has a couple of classes a week – but no personal training. Still no dining rooms open, still Happy Hour in our driveway even though it’s getting too cold to comfortably sit outside. Still no gatherings, including Senior University, Gazebo Group, although we meet by Zoom. Still no visiting in any of the other buildings. Masks at all times outside the house. Shopping is still of the on-line variety. I go to Trader Joe’s about once a month, and to the commissary about once every six weeks – otherwise, I order from Safeway and they bring it out and put it in my trunk – no contact, or from Amazon – again no contact.

Physical Health

• Continue to eat real food, and, hopefully, lose about 15 more pounds this year. – I’ve lost 1.4 pounds since 12/31/19. The weight I lost at the beginning of the pandemic has almost all returned.
  • Minimize chocolate, including mochas. – The mochas keep calling me, and, unfortunately, I have very little willpower over them. I TRY to keep the numbers down, but I find I sleep better when I have a mocha in the middle of the afternoon. It keeps me from going to bed hungry, I guess.
  • My endocrinologist wants me to get more calcium (preferably from food or drink) and she told me it’s okay to count the mochas towards my calcium intake.
  • Be sure to get 25 grams of fiber every day.
  • My cholesterol was a little high when I had my blood tests for my annual physical. I cut down on the number of eggs I eat weekly – no more than 4 per week, and I’m keeping the cholesterol under 350 gms on the days I eat eggs, and under 150 gms on the other days.
• Continue to work with my personal trainer for strength, balance, and endurance.
  • Still no personal training but my trainer worked up a routine for strength and balance that I can do by myself – and I try to do it three times a week. It’s a new month and she is going to give me a new routine – Hooray! I was getting bored with the last one.
  • I’m walking outdoors when the weather is decent, although now that it’s turned colder, I have a hard time encouraging myself to go outside. I have a long walk scheduled on my calendar to remind me and I try to walk the indoor track at the Wellness Center if the weather is bad.
• Notice and report any unexpected physical changes (rashes, bumps, etc.) to my doctor. – my dermatologist diagnosed rosacea and prescribed a cream. She also froze several places of precancerous actinic keratosis.
• My mammogram was completely clear. The bone scan showed that I have a little bit of osteoporosis in my left fibula – 1.7% chance of a broken hip in the next 10 years.
• In the light of COVID-19, I’m trying to be much more intentional about washing my hands regularly – ALWAYS after I’ve been out of the house. – Wash Your Hands, Don’t Touch Your Face. We carry Lysol wipes in the car for complete sanitation for our hands.
• A third case of the virus was reported by a staff member at Franke Tobey Jones, one in July, one in September, and one in October. That staff member was in Skilled Nursing, and apparently infected five residents. One is in the hospital, and four are in the isolation unit here. They are still doing weekly follow-up testing of all the staff and residents in Skilled Nursing.

Emotional Health

• Remember that excessive encouragement can be nagging. – I’m trying to remember.
  • Say it with a smile. – I think I’m doing better at this now. Generally, I’m less on edge or easily irritated.
• I’m becoming more resigned to this enforce confinement. Still thinking of it as liminal space with no sign of ending. God puts us in liminal space because we need to learn something, and we can’t get out until we learn it. I just wish I knew what it was that we need to learn, so I could get busy on my homework.
• Continuing to post “Five Things that Made Me Happy Today” every day on my blog helps me with my frustration.
• I’ve returned to my Meditation practice, daily. I’m using the Oak app. It fits my needs, and helps with my mood.

Intellectual Health

• Expand my leisure reading. Read 50 books this year (not just “fluff”).
  • The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – finished
  • Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo – finished
  • Lords of Discipline by Pat Conroy – finished
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson – finished
  • On the Bright Side by Melanie Shankle – finished
  • 142 Ostriches – by April Davila – finished
  • Pretty Girls – by Karen Slaughter – I gave myself permission to quit after 25% of it
  • The Tuscan Child – by Rhys Bowen – finished
  • The Victory Garden – by Rhys Bowen – finished
  • Carrying Albert Home – by Homer Hickam – finished
  • Clair de Lune – by Jetta Carleton – finished
  • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek – Kim Michelle Richardson – finished
  • Educated – by Tara Westover – finished
  • Shameless – by Nadia Bolz-Weber – finished
  • All American Boys – by Jason Reynolds – finished
  • When We Believed in Mermaids – by Barbara O’Neal – finished
  • How the South Won the Civil War – by Heather Cox Richardson – finished
  • Caste by Isabel Wilkerson – finished
  • The Lakehouse by Joe Clifford – reading
• Keep up with the national news daily without obsessing over it.
  • Listen to NPR. I’m a member of my local Seattle station, and have started taking advantage of special on-line interviews they offer to members.
  • Watch Rachel Maddow
  • I subscribe to The Washington Post, The Seattle Times, and CNN’s 5 Things You Need to Know, and I try to read most of the important news once a day.
  • I’ve subscribed to Heather Cox Richardson’s daily letter. It’s helping keep me sane.
  • I’ve also recently subscribed to WTF Just Happened Today? A daily newsletter that arrives at 3:00 pm.
• Participate in Creative Writing classes here at Franke Tobey Jones. – Creative Writing resumed in September on Zoom. I’m working on refining my essay about Little River Country Club.
• Participate in Great Decisions here at Franke Tobey Jones. – We read and talked Artificial Intelligence on Zoom. Not much that I didn’t know already, but then I have two sons who are big into that kind of thing.
• I’m listening to Heather Cox Richardson on Facebook on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She has spent most of this month trying to bring an historical perspective to the current election cycle and to encourage us not to give up if the election doesn’t go as we wish.
• Senior University here at FTJ hosted a couple of Improv Classes on Zoom that I attended.

Spiritual Health

• Participate in virtual weekly Bible study on Zoom.
• Participate in virtual weekly Worship on Facebook Live.
• We have an interim pastor through the end of the year or until the Session hires an official transitional pastor who will help us call someone permanent.
• Participate in Interfaith Dialogue – No meetings because of COVID-19
• Continue with General Assembly Nominating Committee – Nothing happening for a while

Social Health

• Tend the relationships I have at Franke Tobey Jones.
  • Wellness Center – The center remains open, and I use it. No other people there, usually.
  • Gazebo Group – We continue to meet weekly on ZOOM.
• Tend the relationships I have at Bethany Presbyterian Church.
  • Bible Study – Fewer people attend via Zoom than attended in person.
  • Earth Care Congregation – we have been certified as an Earth Care Congregation.
• Keep up with family.
  • My sisters and I have an Instant Messenger group set up and we check in on each other every morning, and through the day.
  • My sisters and I continue to do a Zoom call every Sunday afternoon. I’ve seen and talked to them more since the COVID than in years. I hope we continue that even after all this is over.

Social Justice

• Participate in Town Halls and face-to-face meetings with elected officials. I try to participate when there are virtual meetings.
• Support the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union, and MoveOn.
• I have regular donations going to my US Representative, and to the Democratic National Committee.
• Support the election of officials who are champions for Social Justice issues.
  • Climate action
  • Racial justice
  • Health Care Availability
  • Wealth Inequality
• We vote by mail, exclusively, in Washington State – there have never been any large examples of fraud with our voting.
• Al and I voted as soon as our ballots arrived, and we carried them to the drop box here.