Big Audacious Goal #2

I have another Big Audacious Goal I hadn’t counted on, and that is to lose some weight. I am way too plump for my doctor’s liking, and now I have to do something about it. My weight is starting to affect my health.

This is going to be a neverending goal, and that is a bit daunting for me. I have a sugar addiction (and I mean this in the most literal way possible). I have always had disordered eating in the form of sweet foods. My doctor said, “I mean you can have those things occasionally,” but given our game plan, I don’t know how.

The goal is to eat around 120 grams of carbs a day. That is not a SMART goal, so I need to work on it. I will set a goal of 127 grams of carbs, 48 grams of fat, and at least 60 grams of protein a day (give or take a few). This is based on a 1500 calorie a day intake. I will choose complex carbs like fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I will track my food intake daily to see if I meet those goals. I will weigh myself once a week. I will wean myself onto Ozempic according to my doctor’s instructions.

Notice I focused on my actions instead of the results. If I had said “I will lose 2 pounds a week”, I might have run into problems, as this doesn’t take into account my 62-year-old metabolism. Focusing on my actions makes more sense, because that’s what I can do something about. I made my goals realistic (I can do this!) and specific and measurable. The only thing is it isn’t time bound because it’s open-ended. I should be eating this way for the rest of my life, I suspect.

There are things this BAG needs. Like “how often can one diverge from this meal plan to have occasional ‘bad things’?” (I don’t care what dieticians say, there are ‘bad foods’ when an ice cream concrete leads to a sugar binge). A goal of how much weight to lose (at the moment, that’s 50 pounds. I have more than 50 pounds to lose, to be honest, but we’re being realistic).

So far, after two weeks of following this protocol, so good. I haven’t had a bad eating day and I have lost 3 pounds. Knowing my past attempts at losing weight, this stage is not the problem. The problem is keeping it off, especially when faced with desserts. Wish me luck.

What I’m Passionate About

I am passionate about many things; that’s just what kind of person I am.

I am passionate about hope. I think hope is one of the most powerful forces of the universe. It is my natural way of meeting with the world.

I proselytize about flow. This is Csikszentmihalyi’s concept, that there are activities that take us out of ordinary space and time, completely captivate our minds, and give us a sense of well-being. I tell my students that they need to find a flow activity eventually to help them deal with stress.

Then there’s coffee. It’s a small thing to be passionate about, but we roast and grind our own coffee in this household, and make it in a very good coffeepot. I am passionate about good coffee, and occasionally share the home-roasted stuff with others.

I have passion for my goals. I keep Big Audacious Goals on my list of things to do because they motivate me not just to act, but to be better. My BAGs for the moment are to lose weight and to get back into writing. (Although those are not SMART enough for goals, I am working on making them so.)

That’s enough to feel passionate about for now. If I were passionate about everything, would it really be passion?

Absolutely Nothing

It is 5:57 AM on June 5, 2025, and I am pretty sure nothing of note will happen to me today. And I’m glad of that.

One of the things about being over 60 is that the big good things are likely not to fall into one’s lap. They’re not likely to happen under 60, either, but younger people don’t know that. My younger years were brimming with possibility. Now that I’m older, I’m doing pretty good at work but not to the point of winning any awards, I know I’m not going to win the lottery, and I’m not getting a new kitten because I already have three.

Bad things, on the other hand, seem part and parcel of one’s 60s. Am I going to develop another health problem? Is social security going to be dismantled? Is my roof going to fall on my head? Those things would also be worthy of note, but I don’t want them to happen.

I don’t know when I became a pessimist, but I think it was when I started getting arthritis. So nothing of note will happen today, and I will be grateful.

Because I don’t want to lose my 300-day posting streak

I guess I have a Big Audacious Goal to post for 365 days straight. So posting daily is a thing, even when I’m tired and have nothing to post about. Even if I’m on the road and it’s raining out and I’d rather sleep a while longer. It’s good for me while I drag my feet on writing a new novel. It is purpose.

My Favorite Season

In the midwestern United States, winter brings cold and snow and dirty slush, summers are too hot, and spring nearly nonexistent. This leaves Autumn, a glorious time which starts in late September and goes on until November.

Autumn is a glorious season, with days in which trees in flaming red and orange stand against cloudless blue skies and soppy evenings with tumbled leaves tugging at people’s feet. Autumn sun brings with it the sense that the moment will last forever, while the thunderstorms bring memories of past loves.

Autumn is deep. It doesn’t flirt like Spring, or stupefy like Summer. Nor does it oppress like Winter. It delivers crisp afternoons for delight and cool evenings for shelter. It stays with us.

Luxury or Necessity?

This is a hard question to answer, because the one thing I “can’t live without” is my iPhone, and I don’t know whether that is a luxury or necessity these days. I use it for work, I use it for entertainment, I use it to record my carbs every day. I read and compose email, I keep up with people I know — it’s a tool that’s no longer a luxury to me.

At the same time, it’s a luxury. I pay a decent amount of money for my iPhone, although I only replace it after several years. I have lived without a smartphone, but I used to have a Palm Pilot back in the days before the iPhone. (I remember the Palm Pilot for its tendency to regurgitate all its data and become useless until synched on the computer.)

I suppose I could live without my iPhone, but it would have to be a different world, one in which I didn’t get daily emails from my students or have to fill out paperwork for them. One where I don’t need a handy reference for counting carbs. One where my life was a lot slower than it is now.

My Tagline

Daily writing prompt

If humans had taglines, what would yours be?

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My tagline would be ‘a simple woman’, which is meant with a bit of irony. For example, I think I’m very simple. I’m a Quaker, which is almost the definition of simple. I live an ordinary life. Simple, right?

My friend Les (rest in peace) thought I was anything but simple. I suppose, what with my active spiritual life, my bipolar disorder, and my musings about the world, I am anything but simple. One might even say I’m complicated. I don’t think so.

I wish I had a better tag than that. But “mostly harmless” has already been taken.

For a Good Life

Daily writing prompt

What are the most important things needed to live a good life?

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I don’t think my answer to ‘what are the most important things needed to live a good life?’ would be as good as Martin Seligman’s, so I will talk about his definition of ‘a good life’. Seligman is a professor of psychology, and the father of positive psychology, which I teach a class in every spring.

Photo by Thu00e1i Huu1ef3nh on Pexels.com

Seligman’s definition of ‘a good life’ incorporates not just pleasure, but a practice of identifying one’s signature strengths and seeking out activities that realize them. For example, if your top signature strength is a sense of humor (as mine is), one gets happiness from doing things that allow for your sense of humor, like using humor to defuse tension or telling humorous stories.

These signature states include a long list of virtues (or signature strengths). To find yours, access https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/testcenter and click on the survey called VIA Survey of Character Strengths. You will need to register on the site, but the security is good.

Seligman has another, higher level of happiness which he calls ‘the meaningful life’. It incorporates the above plus finding meaning in one’s life. It may be through religion, through ethics, or through appreciation of nature. Just a seeking of transcendental experience.

I try to seek as meaningful a life as possible, although some days aren’t as meaningful as others. According to Seligman, these are the things we need to be truly happy.

Routine

I just about forgot to post today. It’s a matter of my schedule getting disrupted. I’m going to Des Moines for a couple of internship visits, and we’re supposed to be out the door by 8 AM. I was going to sit on the couch and veg until Richard said he was going to make coffee, and I realized that I sit on the loveseat and drink coffee at this point of the morning.

I didn’t consider myself such a lover of routine, but I get discombobulated when my routine changes. My brain locks into a new groove and I forget what I’m supposed to be doing. I understand that people with ADHD have a love of routines, but I don’t know if I actually have ADHD. (At my age, getting tested wouldn’t change anything). I just need my routine.

I don’t like transitions. My routine gets obliterated when the school year ends, and again when the new school year begins. I want to lay in bed and hibernate when a routine changes. I don’t, because I feel guilty when I don’t get up and do something.

My brain is really strange to me. Why do I need routines? Why do I stall out when my routine is broken?

Dubai Chocolate

Daily writing prompt

Describe your dream chocolate bar.

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Dream chocolate bar? That has to be a Dubai chocolate bar. I can think of little so decadent as a milk chocolate bar stuffed full of pistachio butter filling. If I was allowed only one chocolate bar for the rest of my life, I would have a Dubai chocolate bar.

A Dubai chocolate bar from the outside looks like any other chocolate bar, although a bit thicker. When you break off a piece, a green paste oozes from the chocolate, and anyone who has seen pistachio butter will know what to expect. But still, that first bite is unexpected because the paste is textured, pleasantly crunchy to the teeth. This is the unexpected ingredient, which is a very fine shredded wheat.

The chocolate, very sweet, contrasts with the richness of the pistachio butter. It’s almost too much to eat, but almost too good to share. I suggest sharing it, though, because it’s a big candy bar and so maybe too much for one person.

Now I’m hungry for a Dubai chocolate bar.