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Q1 Review

April 1st, 2017 at 10:13 pm

Financials First: My net worth is up to $490K, so I'm getting very close to the half-million mark. Very exciting!

My debt is also down, but still beyond what I would like it to be. There's more on the credit cards than I can pay off in one month and that makes me unhappy. I just need to keep that in mind and keep the discretionary spending more in check. Q1 always leads to my eating out going out of control what with tax season busy-ness.

Time also for a Goal Review. I definitely need a re-boot! Being at another new job and going through the tax season here for the first time, having them reorganize our work flow in the middle of this (which is ultimately much more effective, but the transition from the old system to the new system was bumpy since I didn't yet have the old system fully mastered) and then getting sick and feeling not entirely well for the past month have done a number on the goals.

So: Goal #1, Job performance: I'm improving on my technical mastery, but don't have full mastery of everything at work yet. I've definitely NOT managed to shift to an early schedule of getting in half an hour early. And I need to start studying for the CFP exam again--that's what got most off track during Q1.

Goal #2: self-care. Again, got off track. I've been feeling really tired and have been going to bed early but this doesn't mean that I'm getting eight hours sleep each night. I need to turn all screens off at 9 pm. I have spent too much time on social media, especially in light of my upset over the current administration's performance.

Does anyone else here have a Fitbit Charge HR 2? Have you noticed the new sleep screens? They now use your heartbeat to track your sleep stages: deep, light, REM, and awake and display your pattern over the whole night. Up until last Sunday, they just tracked times awake and times restless. The new output is much more useful.

I did really well on meditating daily until I got sick. Now I need to get back to it--and to find a new PCP.

I did get a blood test (one I ordered myself) and found out that my Hashimoto's has gotten a bit worse since I last assessed my antibody levels a year ago. I'm reading Isabella Wentz's Hashimoto's Protocol, which was just released this week, and I have made appointments with a couple of functional medicine doctors. I'm not sure if I will actually enroll in their programs right now, but getting a doctor's Rx for some additional testing and talking to someone will help. The traditional (allopathic medicine) approach is to wait until autoimmune disease gets so bad that it pretty much destroy's an organ (the thyroid in the case of Hashimoto's; the adrenals in the case of Addison's) and then just put you on medication for the rest of your life. The traditional thyroid tests that they give you if you ask your doctor to test your thyroid (TSH, T3, T4) don't necessarily catch the disease in progress. My regular thyroid tests are normal but the antibody tests are not, and I'd prefer to prevent this from getting worse and having to be on some form of medication for life, so this may mean more out of pocket health care expenses.

The Hashimoto's protocol author suggests that following her regime (supplements, more money sigh) will help significantly with fatigue. I've started with thiamine, selenium, and NAC. If I'm to get back to regular exercise, I need to feel more energetic.

I did walk to work one day this week, at least, and am looking forward to doing that much more often as the weather continues to warm.

Finally: Goal #3, getting organized. I have tentatively found someone to help me with the landscaping, and as things get warmer, I'll try to make progress on the inside-the-house organizing as well. This was always intended as a primarily Q2 goal, since this season has the best weather and is less busy with work than the end and beginning of the year.

So: I'd give myself a C- in overall goal progress. But today is the start of a brand new quarter, so hopefully by the time I sit down July 1, I will have a more positive self-assessment to report.


4 Responses to “Q1 Review”

  1. snafu Says:
    1491086338

    Hope you're feeling better with each passing hour. It's difficult to be in a new career, new job, in the midst of re-structuring during the pressure of tax season when you are ill.

    I mention 'The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up' [available at most libraries] as a tool many of us on SA have used with considerable success. It's a different philosophy and organizational structure but once completed takes between 20- 30 minutes of daily maintenance. I completed the process in May 2015 and am enjoying the continuing success with so very little effort.

  2. creditcardfree Says:
    1491090855

    Wise move finding a functional medicine doctor if you have Hasimotos. I've saw some videos by that doctor recently.

  3. Dido Says:
    1491145647

    Thanks, Snafu. I have Marie Kondo's books. I read the first one when it came out and will read the second one, which I bought when it came out but never read. Definitely feeling someone under the weather makes it harder to make progress, and hopefully I'll be turning that around soon as well.

    CCF--so you saw the Thyroid Secret? I subscribed to the video series, but I really dislike watching videos--all that time commitment when I have limited time. Hopefully that was just a teaser for the new book, which I pre-oredered and have read half of.

  4. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1491155669

    I'm loving the weather (mostly) right now too - that plus daylight when I actually have time to walk ... Smile

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