My plan

For the past many years, I've been trying to go many different directions all at once because I am interested in more things than I actually have time to do. Now I have a plan. Hopefully now I can keep on going in one direction, rather than changing course so often that I never seem to get anywhere.

For November and December, my focus will be on getting healthy and on catching up on various projects at home. I'll try not to go out much. I'll just go to work, get my groceries, and go to the laundromat. Otherwise, I'll be at home resting up and puttering about (and of course continuing to get exercise and do my radio show).

Starting in January, my focus will turn to professional development. I will be looking toward doing more with research and databases. This will include finding ways to pursue my interests in the context of fulfilling the duties of my job, as well as doing some outside activity such as taking a class or getting involved in a project. I do actually have some ideas about how I want to proceed. For the past several years, I've felt that professional development should be a top priority, but whenever I thought about specific ideas, they just didn't seem very appealing. I think though that the time I've spent thinking about different directions has finally paid off, and now I feel like I've found what I'm really interested in. I hope it lasts.

My other interests will have to stay on hold for a while. I really need to be healthy in order to do anything else. Enjoying my work is also pretty important to my overall happiness, since earning a living is the activity I need to spend more time on than anything else. Once I get those things under control, I can turn toward my other interests:

• Music: hosting radio shows, volunteering at concerts and festivals, compiling information, playing a musical instrument, participating in singalongs. Right now I share a radio show with others, which means I'm on every two months. When I have more time, I would like to get my own radio show. That way, I wouldn't have to fit the format of the show I'm a part of, but could make the show what I want it to be.
• Outdoor activities: rollerblading, hiking, kayaking, sailing, cross country skiing, downhill skiing.
• Dance/movement: ballroom, swing, Latin, modern, jazz, contra, African, Afro-Caribbean, Nia, yoga, etc. I'm taking Nia now and plan to continue, but if I get more free time in my life after the health and the professional development are under control, then I'd like to do more.
  
• Habitat for Humanity.

This plan of mine is based on the assumption that getting healthy and getting caught up on my projects are things that can be achieved by the end of December. I don't actually expect to finish every single project, but I do need to get some health before I can do anything else with my life. I do think there's hope for that, because things have been improving since I saw the naturopath.

I was depressed over the past few years over the disappearance of my friends. Now it's just as well. It gives me more time to pursue the things I want to pursue. Maybe when I get the health and professional development under control and start adding my other interests back into my life, I'll add some friends too, but for now it's good to be able to turn inward more.