Back in August, I wrote a blog post naming my five goals called My Goals for the Future. I set some goals for myself because I feel like I haven’t really accomplished anything in my life. I said I was going to post about my goal progress, so I’ll do that now since I have winter break from grad school. You can read the full details of my goals in that blog post.
Goal #1: Write one poem every one to two months.
Synopsis: In August 2020, I started a personal writing project where I write one poem every month or two with my final poem being written by June 2021.
Progress: I have written three poems so far as of this posting. I intentionally skipped writing in October because I was busy with studying for my midterm exam. However, this meant that I definitely had to write a poem in November. I have up to seven more poems to write if I don’t skip March to study for midterms or June for the vow renewal.
Goal #2: Recite one of my poems at next year’s annual poetry service in July.
Synopsis: I will present a poem I wrote during my personal writing challenge at my Unitarian Universalist church’s annual poetry service in July 2021.
Progress: I think I have decided on a poem already to present in the poetry service, but I still plan on continuing with my writing challenge. I think I have to wait until June to express interest in reciting a poem, though.
Goal #3: Do a lay-led service next year.
Synopsis: I wish to do a lay-led service at my church with the topic being “You’re Never Too Old to be a Changemaker”.
Progress: While I have some ideas in my head, I haven’t had the time to sit down and work on what I will say in the Call to Worship and the Sermon part. I also should decide if I want a reading or have someone do a reflection. I’ll look back at previous orders of service during the 2020 lay-led service time for inspiration.
Goal #4: Keep my grades up
Synopsis: In the Master’s program, I need to keep my GPA to at least 3.0 because that is the minimum GPA requirement for graduating with your Master’s degree.
Progress: My GPA is still above 3.0 and I did better than I did in the 2019-2020 school year. I think my GPA was brought up a little bit, so I’m happy. For my Software Engineering class, there were some assignments where if we emailed it to my professor no later than 5 days before the due date, he would review our assignment and give us ways to improve. I hate asking for help and I have trouble accepting critique, so I would always be nervous when I’d get my assignment returned with the suggestions. I only did this so I could get extra points that I would not have gotten before. A few extra points here and there can make a difference between letter grades.
Goal #5: Getting proper mental health help
Synopsis: Therapy has failed me in the past and I want to figure out why.
Progress: I started with a new therapist in September (therapist #6) because therapist #5 left the practice because she was relocating for her day job. I switched to a new practice with a much lower turnover rate and this new practice treats more severe mental illnesses compared to my previous practice where it seemed like the main things treated were anxiety, depression, learning disabilities, and a few people treating ADHD. This therapist could tell right away that I’m neurodivergent and that my Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a comorbidity of whatever neurodivergent condition I have. Right now, I can’t get a neuropsychological evaluation because none of the neuropsychologists she works with is doing evaluations right now due to Covid. I don’t want to travel out of state for an evaluation because my therapist only works with neuropsychologists who are knowledgeable about the difference in symptom presentation in women and girls. Studies only focus on neurodivergent males which is why girls slip through the cracks. I am learning some things, but I feel like we can only work on so much until I can get a new diagnosis in hand.