Calendars are our friends

There's this thing called, "Scanner Panic"--and I have been experiencing it again. Specifically attacking me is the part where I forget that there's a "future" and feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I want to accomplish. Because of course I have to start them all this week or they'll never get done. Of course.

I'd forgotten how easy it is for me to slip into that.

So I ran to the copier at lunch and snagged three pieces of 11x17 paper. I divided them each into two halves and wrote years at the top of the sections: 2008 through 2013. Six years. Which still looked incredibly daunting and drawn out to me. Won't I be old and possibly dead by then? That's when I decided to also write in the lower left corner of each section the age I will be for most of that particular year. You know how old I'll be in 2013? 36. THIRTY-SIX!!!!! That's not remotely old! Heck, my sister just turned 37, and a good third of my friends are 35 or 36. And they're doing just fine. The age thing was far more grounding that the date notation for me, so I just need to stay focused on that.

For 2008, I plan to:
Edit Oblivion; Send out a book proposal (or 7); try to sell five photos; volunteer at the Equest Center (which I've already started--one down!); pay off the Spicer's; start savings for cottage; put together a columnist proposal package; start freelancing again; take an intermediate French class; propose three articles; and enter three story contests. And I have another nine months in which to accomplish these. That's kind of a long time.

Quitting my job is slated for the end of 2009, learning to cross-country ski and taking a humpback whale tour are 2010 goals, and in 2013, I'll learn to sail and take a calligraphy course. There are 41 other goals on the list for 2009 through 2013, but that's totally doable! I think. Because I don't have to do them all right now. (Getting married appears nowhere on the list, in case you're wondering).