QOTD: When’s the last time you took inventory of your life?
If you’re wondering what taking inventory of your life is or how you do it, you came to the right place.
We all have goals, we all wish to be the best and accomplish the most, and blah blah blah. But life gets hectic. The only plans that ever work are the plans you create back up plans for with back up plans for those back up plans that constantly change.
To think you can ever have a plan that will work out 100% is to be stupid.
That being said, you shouldn’t go beating yourself up for your plans failing not should you get resentful toward the world.
Instead, take inventory of your life.
Take a deep breath, take a few minutes to relax and then refer back to those goals, personal, professional, whatever they are and ask yourself:
- Which of these goals have I accomplished?
- Which of these goals are no longer suitable for my grand scheme of life?
- Which of these goals require some additional work?
And then come up with a new list of goals.
With that being said, time for a check-in on my “2023 New Year’s Resolutions“, a follow-up to my first “2023 NYRs Check-In“. This is me taking inventory of (some of) my life.
College Classes – I might get one B. Constitutional Law is a fun class and I’m kicking ass with in-class participation points and I’m sure I did fantastic on my research paper on Affirmative Action (thank fucking god the Supreme Court finally decided it’s unconstitutional). But that paper was submitted a couple days late and I have no clue if he’s gonna take points off for that. Also, the Midterm while it went better than I expected, I don’t think it went well enough that it’s possible for me to get an A unless I get at least a 95% on my paper and my final exam. With my paper having been submitted, now I have to focus on making sure I get a good grade on that final exam. Which means, I’m spending my Thanksgiving Break catching up on the textbook readings which I’ve been procrastinating on. As for all my other classes, I’m doing great and it helps that they have more assignments than this one. I do have to catch up some work for some of the other classes, but nothing that’s going to slow me down or drag my grade down. I think. I hope. We’ll see. But I can live with As and Bs. I’ll even be happy about it. As long I don’t get any Cs— ever —I will be happy.
Tutoring Job – As I predicted, I’ve been working an average of 17 hours a week and it’s been awesome. I’m proud of myself for managing to do that and do it efficiently too. Definitely planning on working an average of 17 hours per week next semester as well.
Campus Paper – Well, fuck the six articles. I’ve been doing almost three to six per edition. And… I took up position as the Beacon’s Features Editor and founded my own column called “Created by Behrend Students” in an effort to promote creative endeavors among students and get their work out into the world. How awesome am I? And I’ve made the front page so many times. I’ve stopped counting. Also, in the campus production of Cabaret, a Beacon edition with one of my articles on the front page was selected as a prop. How awesome is that? I love my life.
Swimming – … It’s been happening when it’s been happening. Next semester, I’ll reset the goal. For now, not as important. But I have three weeks left on campus once I go back after Fall Break and I definitely do plan on going to the pool at least a couple of times before the semester ends.
Yoga – Yeah, stretching while watching a show or listening to music is definitely the way to go for someone with ADHD. Way better than trying to meditate in silence. I do think I need to find some more time to do yoga though. I can feel my body stiffening up and aching a little more than usual. But, even if I can’t manage to find enough time to do it regularly, at the very least, I’m managing to do it before swimming or running to make sure I don’t pull a muscle and hurt myself.
Running – Five times a month did not work out. We’ll reset this goal in the Spring as well. But for now, while I’m home for Fall Break, for the next seven days, I’m going to run once a day on my treadmill at home.
HitaRocks – This one did not work out. Completely. I missed my September deadline. Exactly as I was getting ready to figure out the rest of the lyrics and the instrumentals for “A Love That Feels Right” so I could record the full song, my old Chromebook decided to be a bitch and started glitching and… And I was left laptop-less for the last two-ish weeks or so of September. And then I got distracted and… So, here’s my new plan: I have an instrumental work-in-progress that I’m calling “Freedom of Fate” and I have the instrumentals done now am currently working on the illustrations for the video. I will release “Freedom of Fate” by December 16. And then as I originally thought, release “My Hemingway Moment” by New Years 2024 along with the 2nd edition of 21 Days. I will release the finished version of “A Love That Feels Right” in the Spring. In the meantime, check out the work-in-progress version of “A Love That Feels Right”: “A Love That Feels Right: Friendship (a capella version)” I also have another work-in-progress song up: “Count on Us” – a Capella Work in Progress“. I’m also planning on releasing a full cover of Veturi’s “Manasa Vaacha”. You can check out the a Capella cover I did of one stanza a few days ago here.
Painting – Take a look at the paintings that I’ve already finished and are in-progress on my Arts-tagram: @SamhiC8LovesArt. I have started a new collection of five: oil paint on black canvas. You can see two of them in-progress on my Arts-tagram. I’ve yet to start the next three but when I have the time and inspiration, I will. I’m planning on continuing to post photos and videos of them in-progress and then do a grand reveal of all of them at once when they’re done. Maybe in conjunction with another instrumental song?
Clothes Making & Other Fabric Art – I haven’t had time to work on my third piece for the year. I have drawn up some designs but wasn’t really in the mood to be cutting fabric and stitching. But as soon I get back to campus after Fall Break, I’m going to work on it and I will have it finished by December 16 so that when I come home for Winter Break, I can work on the other piece I have in mind. The epic one. That feels like a fair plan.
MML – You can track how my view counts have been progressing through my Writer-gram, @SamhiC8LovesToWrite. I will say that of this minute right now, MML has had 3199 views for 2023. As per my original goal of wanting 4000 views by the end of 2023:
Or, my back-up plan:
Now, with all this being said, the 4000-Views-in-2023 goal was something I came up with because I really wanted 2023’s views to go above 2021’s. And 2021 saw 3758 views. And as such, the following logic applies:
Whitestone Veil Series & When You Saved Me – As before, tentatively, expect the release of WV2 in Summer 2024. Also, I’m not in charge of the cost of the WV paperback on Amazon.in and I wanted to mention that that cost is fluctuating based on the USD to INR relationship. Right now, it’s actually lower than before. As of 2:02 P.M. EST on November 19, 2023, it is exactly ₹1476.
21 Days – As already said, the tentative release for 21 Days is New Year’s 2024.
Another Poetry Collection – I will admit, I kind of forgot about this one for a little while. But once I get back to it. In any case, since I’m releasing the 21 Days 2nd Edition this year, this new collection will be released next year so I’ve got some time to finish writing and formatting and… But also, the collection I initially thought I would be working on… I think I might bench that for a while and try something else. I had a lot of fun with “Navvu“, “Sundara“, and “Velugula Raju” this summer. I’m thinking of turning them into a collection and adding to it. Telugu poems with English translations. I’m loving that idea.
Other Writing Projects – The Rupa Rajput & Harban Kaur story has been coming along well. I’ve finished Short Story 2 and almost finished Short Story 3. I have a draft due of the last scene of Short Story 3 and the entirety of Short Story 4 due before the end of break. This project is going a little slower than I expected but that’s okay. I’m going to see if maybe I can even finish up to Short Story 5 before the end of Break? We’ll see.
I am really excited that I got the first two songs of the soundtrack that will accompany the collection. They came out really great. I need to do a little re-recording of the vocals (I skipped a word on one of them and I sang a little too loud on the other), but, apart from that, I’m rocking it!
Also, I decided to cut the ethical essays (which, note to self, I need to write an email to my thesis advisor about). For two reasons: 1) time & 2) there’s just too much for a few essays. I’m thinking that perhaps once I finish the entire collection, and after the collection has been in circulation for a little while and a couple of reviews roll in, doing a short book filled with ethical commentary might be the way to go.
We’ll see.
Coursera Screenplay Course
I realized that this should be a separate goal. And I really need to come up with a proper schedule on how to complete the course modules because as of now, I’ve only completed up to the end of Module 2. I think until the end of Fall Break, one module a day sounds like a good plan? I’m hoping they’ll all take the same amount of time on average. But even if not, I’ll see if I can stick to one module a day. I prefer giving myself complete tasks as opposed to an x amount of time to work on something per day. The latter would drive me crazy. It would require me to work when I have zero motivation and force me to stop when I’m on a roll. And then I’ll figure out another plan once I get back to campus.
Japapathi Charcoal Portrait
I’ll do that during Winter Break. Might not be finished by New Years, but definitely before my Spring semester starts.
While the above is all the goals I’m keeping you updated on because they’re career-related and you have a stake in them, I have many other things I need to do and want to do and… sometimes, you just need to take a step back and see what’s what before moving forward into chaos.
And that is how you take inventory of your life.
It makes you realize how much you really did accomplish and it helps you simply what you still need to do. So give yourself a round of applause for everything you did accomplish, take a deep breath, and push forward to the finish line before doing it all over again.
