Reevaluating Goals when the World is Against You #50_before50

Last Updated on May 7, 2020 by Jody Halsted

Could April have been any worse than March?

Apparently so.

The panic, confusion, and conflicting information inflicted by COVID-19 set the world into a tailspin.

The travel industry began to collapse, thousands of people cancelled flights, car rental, and dream vacations.

Schools cancelled for the remainder of the year, many people lost jobs.

No one could imagine what has happened – and it is very difficult to see what will come next.

I spent this morning updating my goals. Many have been cancelled, many will not happen, and a few have been altered.

#50_before50 Goals – What Has Changed

Looking at my goals realistically was difficult. Many of my goals included travel, flights and train, and logically I just don't know if any of those can even happen this year.

And even if they could, the incredible loss of income we have experienced will negate all but maybe one of them.

One of my ‘BIG 3' goals was to complete a bike ride across Iowa (goal #17). The ride officially cancelled last week.

Monetary goals (#25 & #26) will not be met. Website traffic was down 87% in April and while I hope one of my sites will recover, advertising rates have dropped to pennies and are unlikely to recover until the seasonality of that site topic has passed.

Goal #27 has been pushed back to the end of September and I will be putting quite a bit of effort toward the completion of that.

With higher focus on my 2 smaller websites the plans for writing a new Ireland guide plus a workbook to go with my current book are on the back burner. I hope to focus on those later this year, but they are not a priority right now. (Goals #28-#29-#30)

I did not reach goal #32. I had hoped to really have a big push on growing the Facebook group as people planned Spring Break – but that event didn't happen.

Goals #34 and #35 were joined. And with the cancellation of #35 it looks like #34 won't go ahead (though followup needs to happen to verify).

I need to see if Goal #45 is going to be of interest to people in 2021.

Goal #46 is not happening as the Genealogy resource library I use is closed. While I *could* do this online there is much that is just not there.

April #50_before50 Goal Report

With all those changes you must be wondering if anything GOOD happened in April! Let's see…

Goal #1 Lose 50 lbs
April report: did not lose but did not gain

I'm going to take that as a win. With the addition of a job outside the house and the emotional fluctuations that come with not knowing what the next week or month may bring I am happy to have not gained weight.

After Mother's Day I plan to do a 14 day cleanse and get myself back on track.

Goal #9 Pay off debt
April report: made all minimum payments

Last month I took a part time job working in online order fulfillment for a local grocery store. With social distancing in place orders have been constant and I was able to work a full time schedule, which helped us stay current on bills, though there was no additional for over-payment.

I count this as a win as things could have gone so horribly the other way.

Goal # 41 RV in Door County, WI
April report: booked dates in July

Our initial dates for this trip were in August but the rumor that school may start earlier in the year prompted a change to July. Either way, I can't wait to return and spend a week exploring this terrific destination.

Want to know more about Door County, Wisconsin?
Fun Facts about Door County
Bring Your Appetite to Door County

Looking forward into May

My focus will shift from my main website (Ireland travel) to my smaller camping site as well as this one.

I will do a 2 week cleanse after Mother's Day to get my cravings, eating, and weight loss back on track.

And, even though I won't be completing the cross-state bike ride, I do plan to hit my independent cycling micro-goals. My plan is to do 30 miles this month (after not cycling at all in April. Ouch.).

How are you holding up in this time of fluctuation and uncertainty?