Kninja Knitter

While the month hasn’t yet ended, there isn’t much of it left to go. And although I haven’t completed documenting my goals, milestones, and critical drivers, I can still look at how I did against my high-level objectives.

Financial: more in than out

This one didn’t go as planned, but I won’t let that be a source of disheartenment. I’m still evaluating the cash flow annually and monthly, identifying expenses I can eliminate or reduce. I also made a few choices this month for the sake of short-term benefits that were more costly than I would have liked. Live, learn and move on. There will be some additional income in February, so I hope to improve the overall circumstances. (-)

Belongings (General Stuff): more out than in

This goal took some time to engage. But yesterday, I made serious gains! I spent several hours working through a few of the “more heavily populated spots” in my living room. There’s still a LOT more to do, but it was nice to roll my trash barrel to the road last night, knowing several large bags full of long-overdue trash were leaving my house for good. I also donated a few boxes of clothes earlier in the month. And while the usual consumables came into the house, I only acquired a couple of items of clothing: a belt and a new pair of gloves. (+)

Yarn: more out than in

This objective will undoubtedly be a year-long project. While I have been working diligently on a project I cast on January 1st, I haven’t finished any projects this month. And yet, I received my sizable year-end order from Desert Vista Dyeworks, utilizing my 2021 discount, for my next year-long monthly challenge in 2023. Current net change: +4,248 yds

Health & Wellness

This last goal is still too nebulous for my liking. But I’m working on it. I am thinking of splitting out specific bullet points regarding my physical and mental well-being. We’ll see if I get there. In the meantime, I did have my InBody scan completed at OrangeTheory over the weekend, so I have my starting statistics for the Transformation Challenge that kicks off today and runs through the end of March. There are prizes to be awarded to the top three men and women with the highest fat loss percentage. In addition to the weight loss, I’m looking to change my body composition, increasing the amount of lean muscle mass. Oh, and I was surprised to find I’d lost a couple of pounds since the end of January, even though I wasn’t trying!

Tying my physical and mental fitness, I’m also looking at my resting heart rate. I recognized that when I increased my activity level at OrangeTheory, in particular moving to multiple sessions in a week, my fitness level improved, and my resting heart rate dropped considerably. But I also found that as my workdays intensified and my stress level grew, that number started to climb again. I’ve been fluctuating within a 5-7 bpm range since the new year started – after having a relatively quiet week off at the end of December. Stay tuned for further developments here – I hope the other changes I’ve outlined above will contribute to my improving trend here! (+)

One last update here – in my last post I shared frustrations with the mechanical stuff in my house. There are still issues I’m sorting out, but I was thrilled to figure out that the issue with my garage door opener was a simple one to resolve! The other issues aren’t qiute so easy.

Knit on.