The Way I Roll

You know how they say you shouldn’t try to change everything about your life all at once? You’re supposed to pick one thing and stick with it until you’ve accomplished your goal, and THEN you move on to something else.

Or so I’ve heard

Well… that’s not the way I roll. And maybe that’s why I have so much trouble making changes and achieving goals. But have you noticed that once you decide to make one change, everything else follows?

It’s all connected, baby

Here’s the thing: I have embarked on an epic journey, spiraling around western North America, retracing a long-ago trip and also going where I, like the crew of Star Trek, have never gone before.

So of course, I’ve decided to write a series of short books about my trip, WHILE I’M ON IT, because that’s what a blocked writer like me commits to.

That should be big enough but in order to go to the Arctic Circle, which I really, REALLY want to do, I need to get my finances in order. I need an emergency fund in case I have, you know, an emergency. Which means drastically reducing my budget. While on the road.

On top of that, I need to get my health in order, get my blood pressure down and lose weight. (It’s a secret for now but something big is going to happen after my journey is over, and I want to look my best. Because being healthy isn’t enough.)

So here’s the to-do list for the next five or six months:

1. Drive 7,000-10,000 miles (hopefully up past the Arctic Circle too), camping and visiting friends and family along the way.
2. Live on $300/month (after bills and gas) so I can save $600/month for my emergency fund.
3. Finish the last few crochet orders. (Sorry for all the delays, you-know-who-you-are!)
4. Work with Scout every day on that dog-training course I bought and then never followed, so she won’t go running after the first grizzly we come across. (Pretty sure she won’t, though. She recently freaked out and tried to get away from a Smoky Bear SIGN.)
5. Write one short Kindle book a month about both the trip and these challenges. Breaking that down:
   • Write 1,000 words a day (about 800 more than I write now).
6. Lose at least thirty pounds. (Eighty would be better but let’s be realistic.) Do that by:
   • Going vegan, frugally.
   • Giving up junk and fast food (and that means NO MORE NUTTY BUDDY’S, SISTER.)
   • Fixing all meals in the van.
   • Walking 10,000 steps a day (tripling what I do now).

So. I guess I’ll be writing about how to make big changes all at once. I hope you like it.