{"id":1765,"date":"2019-01-01T09:40:03","date_gmt":"2019-01-01T14:40:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/?p=1765"},"modified":"2019-01-02T08:25:39","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T13:25:39","slug":"ellis-2019-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/2019\/01\/ellis-2019-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellis’ 2019 Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m happy to report that, aside from epilepsy, my medical adventures have ended for the moment. Surgery is over, all biopsies have come back benign, I\u2019m back on my feet\u2014thank goodness!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The past few months have been rough, and even though I tried to keep up with writing and such, I simply didn\u2019t have much focus or creativity in me. While drafting, I lost track of things like who said what to whom and when. I have to go back and fix all that, so I hope you don\u2019t mind me skipping the writing updates for now. I think next month, I\u2019ll have patched up some holes and will be in a better position to discuss progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sure, though, I\u2019m nowhere close to done with my Book 3 draft like I hoped I might be at the end of 2018! LOL If I\u2019ve learned anything, it\u2019s that I\u2019m terrible at estimating how long I need to finish a project. Throw in medical complications, and estimates truly start to mean nothing. At least I have successfully reskinned this blog, and it was far less painful than I feared it would be!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Goals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m giving all of 2019 a look here. Aside from making more progress on Book 3, here\u2019s what I\u2019m hoping to do:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get back into the saddle. <\/strong>After months of my normal routine being interrupted with doctor\u2019s appointments, having trouble focusing whenever I did have time to write, and having to stay off my feet for recovery\u2019s sake, I need to return to basics. First, I\u2019m getting used to my old writing and exercise schedule again. Next, I\u2019m getting back into writing and editing for The Daily WTF<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well-rounded Latin practice.<\/strong> Studying vocabulary flashcards daily, textbook work and conjugation\/declension practice most days, listening to a podcast on a weekly basis. I\u2019m also meeting weekly with a professor at my alma mater to practice speaking. It\u2019s supposed to be a speaking group, but we haven\u2019t yet found anyone to join us! We\u2019ll keep hunting for Latin speakers in our area. I have also just applied to attend a week-long Latin immersion seminar in my state this summer. We\u2019ll see if they\u2019re willing to accept a tiro<\/em> (beginner) who\u2019s not a student or teacher, just a dedicated nerd!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a good Stoic.<\/strong> I\u2019m still striving to have gratitude, be kind, focus on the positive within the present moment, step out of my comfort zone regularly, and be satisfied with simplicity and doing my best rather than racking up money and rewards. I have lots of books and notes that I review regularly to remind myself, and since my Latin is improving, I\u2019m able to go and read primary sources (like Seneca) more often :) Two insights that really sank in for me this past year: 1) My fear of something is always worse than the thing itself. 2) It\u2019s impossible to eliminate that initial negative emotional reaction to a new problem or novel situation. I will never<\/em> stop<\/em> feeling fear, grief, anxiety, etc. I have to accept the emotion, sit with it until it subsides (which I learned how to do in therapy), then figure out how to move forward constructively. Stifling the emotion, or scolding myself for feeling that way, only makes things worse later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listening to German.<\/strong> Haven\u2019t been listening to Deutsche Welle<\/em> as regularly as before. I need to get back into this; it gets hard sometimes when the news is all depressing. LOL I should probably look for a movie or cartoon I like that’s been dubbed into German …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civic Engagement.<\/strong> I\u2019m still involved with the League of Women Voters, so I hope to keep volunteering at voter registration events this year. The most fun ones are at citizen naturalization ceremonies. Everyone\u2019s happy and excited to start exercising their rights as Americans!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel 2019?<\/strong> Still up in the air on this. We’re probably visiting family in upstate NY this year, and if I’m accepted to the Latin seminar, that’s another week-long trip. It may be that this is enough traveling for one year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year! I hope 2019 is wonderful for you! :)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m happy to report that, aside from epilepsy, my medical adventures have ended for the moment. Surgery is over, all biopsies have come back benign, I\u2019m back on my feet\u2014thank goodness! The past few months have been rough, and even though I tried to keep up with writing and such, I simply didn\u2019t have much focus or creativity in me. While drafting, I lost track of things like who said what to whom and when. I have to go back…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-ellis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1765"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1781,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1765\/revisions\/1781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}