LIFE GOALS|TAKING OFF

6 Things to Help Push You to Be a Better You Than You’ve Ever Seen

In response to Coffee Challenge: Why I want to be a better me in 2022

Winston of the publication Coffee Times created this writing contest for December.

I came across it about a week ago, skimmed it and decided that I had too much on my plate to participate.

In all honesty, I also thought that I didn’t want to share that much of my personal reflections on the chosen subject matter with such a public audience.

Here are a few of the requirements:

This competition is about being truthful to yourself. Reflect and write about the challenges you faced in 2021 and what changes are you going to make, to become a better you in 2022.

Note: It should not be a boastful story about your past accomplishment or your empty plan for 2022. I am challenging you to write about the problems you are struggling with, why you want to change for the better, what changes are you going to make and how to become a better you in 2022? The key here is stories that can inspire others to better themselves.

There is only 1 winner who will receive $100.

“The writer with the most inspiring story will walk away with US$100.”

Also…

“To progress and remain at phase 2, your Contest Article must garner at least 1000 claps by 5 Jan 2022.”

And….

Phase 2 — Peer evaluation (from 1 Jan to 10 Jan 2022)

All participants are on the judging panel. You are required to write and publish a summary article with Coffee Times during this phase, and within this article to select 5 other participating articles to talk about your takeaway or inspiration from each of the five selected articles (writers can include more than 5 articles if they want, but it should not include your own article).

However, when I came across this contest again today, now that I’m on the other side of Christmas, I felt differently towards it.

I read Winston’s words differently and knew that he was right.

Simply participating in this challenge will change my life for the better.

Just a few days ago, I wrote a story about the power of writing down goals.

I stand by it and wish to share some of my upcoming goals for 2022 in order to participate in this contest and possibly inspire others to create and work toward their goals.

Let’s review the questions with my short responses underneath:

This competition is about being truthful to yourself. Reflect and write about the challenges you faced in 2021 and what changes are you going to make, to become a better you in 2022.

Challenges:

• 1- Moving more than I’ve ever moved in my life (10 times in 2021)
• 2- Communicating in Italian, Croatian and German when I am no where near fluent in any of those languages
• 3- Not working since I went on vacation in February 2020, right before the pandemic started
• 4- Not knowing that I needed certain key documents before moving to Germany, which extends my visa process by 3 more months (6 total)
• 5- Spending more time than I ever have in my life away from loved ones
• 6- Having to exercise more and eat less in order to attain and maintain the quality of physical health that I had when I was just 5 years younger

I am challenging you to write about the problems you are struggling with, why you want to change for the better, what changes are you going to make and how to become a better you in 2022?

Now, I’ll go into details…

I’ve written about many of these things over the past few months, thus including links to stories that go into even more detail.

#1 and #2 of my challenges, moving so frequently and speaking in other languages of which I am not fluent, are at the top of list of things to improve in 2022.

One of the most challenging things about improving my German is making more time for studying German while staying active with writing and publishing on Medium.

Ever since I started (September 22, 2021) writing and publishing on Medium every day, I have become terrible at making time to practice German.

I get practice by going shopping and watching German television shows sometimes. However, I used to spend a lot more time reading and writing in German, learning new words, etc. before I moved to Germany.

The biggest change is Medium.

It’s more fun for me.

That brings us to challenge #3, which will also affect and help #1 and #2.

Starting in January or February, I will start teaching English online and in March or April I will start teaching in person as well. Teaching in person here in Germany will help me practice German more.

Teaching, in general, will also give me more structure and will hopefully help me be more disciplined about making time to learn and practice German.

In January I will also FINALLY move into my new apartment after moving from one Airbnb to another since August 6th, 2020.

The pandemic has taken my life on a HUMONGOUS detour.

Words cannot convey the depth of peace and gratitude I feel simply having a stable place to call “home” again.

However, I am at the mercy of the immigration office and job market as to what will happen in regard to my immigration process as an American who is seeking to live and work in Germany indefinitely.

I’m now well aware of the things I can do to help this process go as smoothly as possible.

There was one thing I could’ve and should’ve done before moving here that has extended things by 3 months. However, I didn’t know. I try not to ruminate about it and focus on the things I can do.

I’m about halfway through and should have a final answer by mid-March (fingers crossed).

This brings us to my second to last challenge, #5- being apart from my loved ones in the United States for entirely TOO long.

If all goes well with my visa process, I should be able to work here in Germany for a bit, but I’m not sure where, when and what that company’s policies with be.

Thus making it extremely hard to plan a trip back to the United States. This is all on TOP of the ever-changing COVID updates regarding travel restrictions.

I try not to think about it too much. It just stresses me out. I simply try to be in touch with my family and friends in the various ways that I can.

Some days are better than others.

Last, but not least, #6- slacking too much when it comes to my health.

This is the hardest one for me.

I love to eat food and don’t love working out.

I eat a vegetarian diet, primarily- technically pescatarian.

It’s only in recent years that I’ve begun to eat fish and I’m selective about where it comes from.

However, I absolutely looooove chocolate and have a piece of its deliciousness almost every day.

I’ve also recently discovered how much I enjoy drinking a warm mug of Glühwein (sometimes with ginger rum!?) on long and cold winter nights, while watching shows like The Witcher and Game of Thrones.

My partner and I try to play around with the soccer ball twice a week. I go for 1–2 hour walks 5–6 times a week.

However, at 45 years old, it’s not enough physical activity.

I know the things that I need to do, but it’s been too hard to restrain myself while living for 3 months in Italy, followed by 3 months in Croatia.

The food (especially the pizza), landscape and wine were all divine….

…and Germany has some pretty incredible food options as well!

I’m especially fond of German cakes, like Black Forrest cake.

There will always be a place in my heart for tiramisu as well and there are always more tantalizing variations for me to try…

Alas, I’m not one to deprive myself completely. I simply need to scale back on the sweets and my caloric intake overall and increase my physical activity.

I plan to buy hand weights and do yoga 3–4 times a week to build muscle strength.

Muscle building is extremely important for women my age and older.

It helps prevent me from having brittle bones and it helps me burn more calories at rest.

So there you have it!

I feel so exposed…

These have been my biggest challenges this past year and will also be the biggest hurdles that I hope to overcome right from the beginning of 2022.

I hope that you are or become clearer about your own goals and are inspired to bring them to life this upcoming new year.

WRITE ON!

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