Category: Goals

New year, new goals. Normally this is where I’d review my previous ones, but after having a really bad relapse in 2022 I don’t even remember if I set any last year. Not a big problem though 😊 I’ve got quite a few for this year, though as always they’re very much health dependent, and I’m not expecting to manage them all. I have some for games, but they’ll be in a separate post as this is already very long.

Read 15 books

The only one I remember from last year was to read 20 books. I managed 10. I figured I’d start with a goal of 15 since I feel more able to read again (already managed two books) and I can up it if it feels too low.

Sort out my social media

I miss talking to people, and I’m hoping that with my slight improvement in brain stuff I’ll be able to manage it more. I currently use 6 services, and need to figure out which are most useful to me and how best to use them. I’ve found a multiposter website which helps a bit with posting at least, and Firefox with add-ons is now usable on my tablet.

• Discord – Go through servers, leave unneeded ones, reorganise them so the most important ones are at the top.
• Twitter – Find the people who I want to keep up with who haven’t moved, unfollow those I don’t/struggle with, see if there are ways of blocking the intrusive posts.
• Bluesky – Remember it exists 😛 Find those who moved over from Twitter I want to keep up with. Give those I know who want to join invite codes.
• Facebook – I found an add-on that makes it much easier to use by blocking sponsored/suggested posts, so I just need to leave unneeded groups, mute/unfriend those who I struggle with, and favourite those I really want to keep up with.
• Instagram – Remember to use the following mode, maybe occasionally post stuff? When well enough, comment.
• Mastodon – Continue organising my lists, check for Twitter friends who have moved over, upload penguin emojis.

I think Mastodon will continue to be my main social media service, but not everyone is on there so I’ll try and check in on the others reasonably regularly. I’m not going on Tiktok as it’s far too overwhelming, and I don’t use YouTube as social media.

Create list of meals we both like

Izzy and I are both forgetful. It’ll make food shopping a lot easier if we know what we want to eat. We’ve done well to reduce how many takeaways we’re eating by swapping to Ocado for our main shop (they put the use by/best before dates on the receipt so I can see them, and they tend to be longer so we waste a lot less food and are actually saving money), so the next step is to list our favourite foods, how easy they are to make, and what we should keep in stock for when my health plays up and I can’t feed myself or chew.

Do more loom knitting

This one depends on both my hands doing well and me remembering to ask for the stuff to be given to me, but I miss creating things. I’ve got three projects I want to focus on:

• New arm warmers – Simple, but require accurate row counting so needs some concentration.
• Hat and scarf set for Sammie – I started this a few years ago, but realised quickly that I needed to redo it with the extra pegs on the loom removed. That’s going to require Izzy’s help. The patterns are simple but the yarn is a little fiddly.
• Hat and scarf set for Izzy – The easiest of the three, as the yarn I’ve picked is easy to work with and the patterns are pretty much keep going until it’s big enough. This one I can do while watching or listening to something.

Eat more vegetables

I love most vegetables. I want to eat more. Fruit is easy, because Izzy can just hand me a pear or a pot of prepared fruit or similar even at 3am, and when I can’t chew the baby fruit pouches are tasty cold.

Vegetables are harder. Literally, for most of them, when uncooked. I like things like raw carrots, but they’re not worth the digestive pain they cause. Cooking them is often beyond Izzy’s ability if I’ve been asleep all day, and the baby veg pouches are not nice cold (we’ve not yet tried them hot, because that’s cooking).

We’re looking into a safe way to give me soup that also isn’t too complicated for Izzy. She mostly vetoes it because she’s fed up of me getting covered in it, which is fair. I wanted to replace my Sucup as the mouthpiece went missing, but they’re not sold any longer which is annoying.

We’re going to keep microwave veg packs in stock (preferably without too much sweetcorn which is fiddly to eat with hands) and also sweet potatoes which I like just microwaved and then topped with cheese. I’m going to keep looking for options when I’m awake only at night, preferably that don’t cause massive pain.

Drink Tea

I’m British. I like a good cup of tea. Izzy does not like me and the bed being covered in hot tea, which has happened even using various special cups and straws. I’ve solved the milk being off whenever I want a cup by buying milk powder (I’m not fussy), now we need to figure out a way I can drink it safely that is also easy for Izzy. Hot chocolate has the same issue, but should also have the same solution.

Work on sitting up

It sucks having to start from the beginning again, but I’ve done it before so I can do it again. For much of the November/December relapse I had to tilt the bed backwards so my head was lower than my heart, but I’m back to flat now with my usual two pillows. My dizziness is also getting back to my normal, so I’m hoping soon I can start working on raising the back of my bed so I can hopefully get back into my wheelchair without it causing another relapse.

If I can sit up enough, go outside for fun

It’s been over two years since I last went outside other than to go into hospital or respite, and I was on a stretcher for the former and completely out of it for the latter. Since my wheelchair tilts and reclines, I don’t need to be that sat up to be able to manage it. Even going on the ramp would be awesome.

Work on making my bedroom nice

My bedroom is currently a mess, with a lot of clutter and has random blobs of blue tack and missing paint on the walls where things have fallen down, which really bugs me. I got a new curtain pole and curtains in 2022 which helped a lot with the window (and means it’s much easier to adjust light levels).

As I’m not well enough to have it redecorated right now (and we’ve got no idea where we’d put everything to get it done) I’m hoping to at least get the blue tack off the walls, and cover the missing paint with posters or stickers. Izzy covered up one patch with a penguin sticker and it makes me smile every time I see it, so I know that can work. We have Goo Gone for when it’s time to remove them to decorate.

I’m also slowly sorting out my bed bags and want to work on my bedside trolley. During Covid my room became a bit of a dumping ground for anything Izzy didn’t want to misplace, on top of the stuff I need, so I’m hoping quite a bit can go (either out of the flat or in a better place).

We’re getting an hour a week of help for tidying and cleaning, so even though I could only tolerate 20 minutes last time progress was made. Apparently the rest of the flat is much better too. With that, and little things like having matching bedding and displaying photos and penguins, I’m hopeful it’ll be nice in here again 😊

See People

I’m not well enough for this right now, but I miss seeing people. I know there are people who want to see me too. My brother has a boyfriend I want to meet, and there’s friends I’ve not seen in years. I’m hoping I’ll manage it later this year 😊

That’s quite a lot. No idea yet how achievable they are, especially those requiring help from other people, but I like having things to look forward to and having stuff to do when I’m bored. My awesome carer says this is gonna be my year, and I’m going to do my best to make it so 😊

Most years I try and set some goals for the year, and review last year’s goals to see how they went. These were last year’s goals:

• Have at least 2 baths or showers – Nope. Didn’t happen. Had none. The Event meant I didn’t go into a care home and Izzy was far too overwhelmed to try and give me a shower.
• Use a toilet or commode – Also a nope. Requires too much organisation for during The Event.
• Go out somewhere nice with Sammie – We had plans! I was gonna take her places! She was gonna go to a Theme Park with Izzy! Then The Event happened. She came over three times in total.
• Keep up with Daylio (my diary) – Partial yes. Had a period in June and July where it just got too overwhelming for a bit, but I managed it most of the year other than that.
• Make progress on my Stuff that Helps series – Another nope. I’m blaming The Event for it being too much.
• Sort out my Twitter – I started this, but failed miserably. I need to be ruthless and unfollow pretty much everyone I don’t interact with, but it’s scary.
• Get my room more organised – Nope. See The Event that prevented me getting someone in to help.
• Read 20 books – I did this one 🙂 Only one I fully completed.

So yeah, I wasn’t prepared for a pandemic causing massive upheaval, not having carers most of the year, and having to hide from the world even more than my normal. I think I’ll be more gentle with my goals this year.

• Don’t get Covid-19 – Obviously it’s very contagious, so it wouldn’t be anyone’s fault if I did get it, but as it’s likely to make me very ill we’re going to continue to basically shield and hopefully we’ll get vaccinated and then maybe I can think about going out further than that ramp again.
• Do more loom knitting – This is dependent on my hands cooperating and stuff, but I enjoy it and even if I only make things with the most basic e-wrap stitch, it will be good. Even finishing the arm warmers I’m working on currently will be a win.
• Plan getting my room more organised – Hopefully we’ll be able to actually do some of it, but if nothing else, planning to sort it out so I can just hand the plan over to someone when it’s safe for them to come in here will be helpful.
• Keep up with Daylio – Even if it’s just doing the mood portion. It does help.
• Read 20 books – Since I managed this last year, I’m hoping for the same this year 🙂

That’s enough to be getting on with. I do hope to use a toilet, get a bath or shower, go out with Sammie, and generally do more stuff, but after last year I think I’ll stick to ones that can be done even during a pandemic.

January was a write-off due to getting two colds. Right now I’m full of caffeine and taking advantage of my slightly less drowsiness to write this post.

Most years I make goals for the year to come. Last year I didn’t get around to making them, as I wasn’t doing too well at the beginning of the year. I did make some in 2018, but I can’t remember how well I did with them (other than only showering once). Anyway, the goals.

• Have at least 2 baths or showers – Last year I managed one bath and no showers. I do need to get in touch with an OT to try and fix the shower chair not working for me problem, but hopefully when I go into respite I’ll have at least one bath and I also have an inflatable one that I just need to figure out the logistics of using (and help the other half be less scared of it :P).
• Use a toilet or commode – This is staying on the list until I actually manage it 😛
• Go out somewhere nice with Sammie – Last year we went to watch the Great North Run and to the cinema, and it’s great having a teenager who wants to spend time with her parents, so hopefully we’ll do something nice. One of her birthday presents is outings this year, though we’re still working out the details.
• Keep up with Daylio (my diary) – This is really useful for keeping track of what I’ve done when, and is why I know I had one bath and no showers last year (and that the bath was in April). At the beginning of January I also added tracking my cognitive/pain/sensory and physical symptoms seperately, as sometimes I can be doing great with light and noise but be unable to move. Right now, I’m doing okay for cognitive (which is how I’m writing this), good for sensory, but pain is high and moving makes me feel horrendous. It’ll be interesting to see how much my mood is related to my symptoms, but to know that I need to keep it up to date.
• Make progress on my Stuff that Helps series – Still thinking of a better name for it, but I’m hoping to take less than 18 months for the next post. I have the list of items ready, just need to describe how they’re useful.
• Sort out my Twitter – I follow too many people, and can’t keep up with my timeline even though I spend quite a bit of time on there. This year I want to go through and unfollow some and put those remaining in lists so I have some chance of keeping up. To do this I need to get over the guilt I feel when I unfollow people who are awesome but aren’t ideal for me to follow.
• Get my room more organised – this one is going to take some help, as I can’t do much, but I’d like my room to be sorted. A good start would be getting my clothes in my chest of drawers. I’d also like the wrappers removed from my rainbow roses.
• Read 20 books – I managed this last year, and I’m hoping to do so again this year. My main problem is choosing what to read.

That is enough to be getting on with. I’m also hoping to get on my computer and play more World of Warcraft, but that is very health dependent. I also want to make a list of films and TV shows I want to watch now that I’m able to do so. Hopefully I’ll stop getting colds so I can get back to where I was in December and doing stuff 🙂