Survival and Strength: Part II (The Eight Dimensions of Health)

As I posted yesterday, my goal for 2020 is to improve my health along eight dimensions, as a strategy to survive whatever the universe gives me to survive. The eight dimensions I've identified are: 1) physical health; 2) mental health; 3) emotional health; 4) social health; 5) professional health; 6) financial health; 7) environmental health; and 8) spiritual health.

I'm making a list of things to do in each category. Some (the best ones!) are one-and-done tasks. Some will require constant attention all year long, but with luck will become habitual after a while. Others fall somewhere in between. My only rule for myself (with one exception) is that all of them should be things I'm actually looking forward to doing.

PHYSICAL HEALTH:
1. Walk 10,000 steps a day (more or less, give or take). I already do this, but it goes on the list anyway.
2. "Strive for five" servings of fruits and vegetables a day. I'M TERRIBLE AT THIS. But I'm so sick of how I've been eating that I find myself actually eager to ingest more green and red and orange fresh and crunchy things.
3. Drink water! Eight glasses a day! You'd think that after kidney stone surgery two years ago I would have already incorporated this into my daily routine, but I haven't. But I'm looking forward to it because it's so DARNED EASY. I can do it while lying on the couch if I fill a water bottle and position it conveniently ahead of time.
4. THIS IS THE ONE I ALREADY KNOW I'M NOT GOING TO DO, BUT HEY, MAYBE I WILL: Try to find some exercise class that involves strength training, balance/flexibility, and other things I don't get from daily walking. I found a suitable class last fall that's free with my Silver Sneakers benefit, but it meets mid-morning, and somehow that just disturbs the entire rhythm of my day, as morning is my prime work time. I have to think more about this one....

MENTAL HEALTH:
I already have this one in the bag, as I'm committed to teaching a philosophy class (starting January 13) at the University of Colorado, and a children's literature class online for University of Denver (starting in March), and a children's book writing creative class for Hollins University in person in Roanoke this summer. Plus, I've agreed to write three academic articles/book chapters, so my brain will get a wonderful workout with no additional effort needed.

EMOTIONAL HEALTH:
1. Do a month-long Twitter fast. In fact, give up Twitter for the rest of my life. I HATE TWITTER. I DO IT ONLY TO MAKE MYSELF MISERABLE ON PURPOSE. Here I've already deleted the Twitter app on my phone - hooray! One and done! Bliss and transfiguration!
2. Hire someone to clean my house twice a week. NOTHING WILL IMPROVE MY EMOTIONAL HEALTH MORE THAN THIS. A clean and tidy house is Nirvana for me.
3. Read more for pleasure. I want to lose myself in big, beautiful books during the time I'm no longer lacerating myself on Twitter. I already ordered five from the public library. Will one arrive today??
My goal is 100 books this year (some for adults, some for young readers).

SOCIAL HEALTH:
Here is where I already excel. I have so many friends whom I love so much! And I see so many of them so often! But here is where it will be SO MUCH FUN to do even more. So:
1. Make sure to have one delightful social outing on average every week (fifty for the year).
2. Plan six SPECIAL getaways with friends who don't live locally. This may involve flying on airplanes, or inviting them to come visit me via airplane, which works against my goal of environmental health, but I have some small way to deal with this (see below). I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE!!!!!

PROFESSIONAL HEALTH:
Also already in the bag - see MENTAL HEALTH, above. In addition to my teaching gigs and academic commitments, I'm also resolved to launch some new creative project for myself, most likely the verse novel I started and set aside last year.

FINANCIAL HEALTH:
This is a hard one for me as I am spending an average of $8000 every single MONTH on lawyer fees for the criminal case I'm involved with, and the retainer just for the week of the five-day trial in March is - wait for it - SIXTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!! And my husband's nursing home costs over $10K per month as well. With that much money hemorrhaging out of my life, money has almost lost meaning for me. (In case you're wondering how on earth I'm paying for all of this: I got a Home Equity Line of Credit - HELOC - against my home here in Boulder, where property values are ridiculously high).

But I miss being frugal. I love frugality for its own sake. So in 2020 I will:
1. Meet for the first time ever with a financial planner. Another lovely one-and-done item.
2. Have a buy-absolutely-nothing week every month. SUCH A FUN CHALLENGE!
3. Make a serious commitment to repaying the HELOC loan once the case is over.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH:
Oh, I so want to live more lightly on the earth - to take up less space in the world - to be burdened by less stuff. So my plan is:
1. Become a vegetarian and stick to it this time. Last time I lost my resolve because in my house there is Someone Else who is NOT a vegetarian and who wastes huge amounts of food, and I hate to see the waste, so I end up eating the leftovers myself. This can be justified from an environmental standpoint, I think, but I feel pretty terrible after shoveling in other people's half-eaten cheeseburgers.
2. Use up the (vegetarian) food that is already in the pantry and the fridge!
3. Radically reduce my car use. Go back to blissful bus riding for almost all local trips.
4. Declutter my attic - OOH! How I love decluttering!
5. Declutter my garage - OOH! OOH!
6. Buy carbon offsets for plane trips.

SPIRITUAL HEALTH:
Here my little United Methodist Church is a great source of solace and strength for me, but as with the category of social health, it will be a treat to explore ways to do more.
1. Try some new spiritual practice - SHOULD I finally try meditation? Other people rave about it.
2. Ask our wonderful pastor's wife for ideas for events I can attend.
3. Go to a spiritual retreat at a convent somewhere. I love writing retreats, but now it's time for a retreat for my soul.

That's my list for now. I don't have to do all of these. But I'd like to do most of them. And I've already deleted that Twitter app, so day 2 of the new year already has progress to report!

Here's to health in 2020 for all of us.