Halfway Point

Welcome to July 1st, the halfway point of 2013!  It's time to check back with plans & goals I made at the beginning of the year, and see how I'm doing!  (Uh-oh... I feel a strange sense of foreboding...)

SO, my word of the year is DARE:

Do it!
Assert yourself!
Risk failure!
Experience success!

And back in January, I DAREd myself "to do 3 big DAREs over the year, 3 DAREs each month, and 3 each day."  At that time, I had only come up with one Big Dare for the year (The 12x12 Picture Book Project), and the monthly ones would of course change every month. My Daily Dares were:

1. Call someone on the phone
2. Complete one French lesson on Duolingo
3. Create something

And I came out of the gate flying!  Phone calls were tough, but I was doing my French and 365+ Rabbits project daily. With. Out. Fail.  However, I did need to roll my Monthly Dares over into February, and only completed 2 of the 3.  So when I re-evaluated things at the end of February, I came up with my 2² plan:

• 2 DARES for the year:
  1. 12x12: Complete 12 pictures books in 12 months.
  2. Earn $1000/mo. by the end of the year.
• 2 DARES for the month:
  1. Try 4 things from my new books
  2. Determine 4 steps to improve art sales and take them
• 2 DARES to do each week:
  1. Make 4 phone calls per week
  2. Complete 4 employment applications per week
• And of course 2 daily DARES:
  1. Pass 2 French lesson each day, one on Duolingo, one on Memrise...
  2. Create each day

Now, I will be completely honest with you: despite re-evaluating to make things easier, about mid-March I got depressed and crawled back into my shell.  Everything kind of petered out.  It was just the other day that Chris Zydel posted her Field Guide Through The Transformation Blues, and boy oh boy, am I stuck in Stage Two.

She says, "it often feels like dying."  And that it "is so difficult and confusing it can lead to doubts about the original vision and revelation." ... "And is characterized by feelings of bewilderment and tremendous disorientation."  And it's a bitch.  Second guessing everything, crying for no reason, lashing out at the people who love you, spending days numbing yourself to the hurtful words that repeat in your head non-stop some days...

But I can't let it keep me down; I need to push through the confusion and depression and get moving on this!  So with renewed enthusiasm and intention, I shall reaffirm and resume my DAREs!

• Daily DAREs:
  1. I will water my verbs on Memrise and practice my skills on Duolingo once a day.
  2. I will complete the creation of one rabbit per day in any form and work on creating anything else I want. :P
• Weekly DAREs:
  1. I will try one thing from one of my 2 new (back in March!) books.
  2. I will find one new way to improve my art sales and implement it!
• Month of July DAREs:
  1. I will determine where the local shows are (farmer's markets, art associations, craft fairs...) and how to join them (forms, fees, etc.).
  2. I will submit substitute teaching applications to the local districts for which I am not yet working.
• Big 2013 DAREs:
  1. I will continue to work on my 12x12 Project, even if I feel I won't finished by the end of the year.
  2. I will continue to try to find ways to make $1000 a month.

So again, gold stars & cookies if you read this far! How about you? How are your goals & resolutions coming along this year?