Notes – Page 3 – Notes of All Types

March Goals

Woah, we’re almost a fourth of the way through the year. I’m excited. Ok, here’s how my goals have been going.

Reading Challenge

This month I read:

Till We Have Faces, by C. S. Lewis. C. S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and this book was fascinating.

Living Forward, by Daniel Harkavy and Michael Hyatt. This was my “book with multiple authors.” It was also my Audible book, so I’ll talk more about it in a moment.

Captive in Iran, by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirzadeh. This was one of the best books I’ve read this year. I learned a lot about Iran, and about what it means to trust God in all circumstances. If you want to read Captive in Iran, you can find it here.

I also started reading The Essential Tea Companion, from Hearst Books. This book has been fun to read, and inspired a mini tea party with my sister Rebecca (which grew to most of my family).

Writing Every Day

This has still been one of my harder challenges. I’m working to be more consistent. Even though I haven’t done perfectly in this challenge, I’m glad that I’ve written more consistently this year than I ever have before. Since I’ve been writing more consistently, I can write my thoughts more quickly and naturally.

Anne’s Earworms

I’m still enjoying writing the Earworms, even though it can be hard to write two posts a week. I decided to try to find one new artist or album each week (If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them in the comments section!).

This month I wrote about Sam Tsui, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, and two of my favorite songs. I’m happy that I’ve made it all the way to Episode 12.

The Bible in a Year

I did get behind for several days this month, but I’m back on track now. I’ve completed 273 chapters of the Bible so far. This month, I made a goal to choose a verse to meditate on throughout each day. Sometimes I choose a verse from my Bible reading, and sometimes I choose a new memory verse, or a review verse. This has helped me to apply the verses better, because I’m actually thinking about them.

Audible

Reading audible isn’t even a challenge now. This month, I listened to Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s book Living Forward. The book talks about the benefits of life planning, and how to do it. It was a great book, and the Audible book was read by the authors, which made it even better. Last Saturday I made a life plan (hence there was no blog post then), and it was helpful for me to think about where I wanted to go in the future.

Ways to Gain Energy

Sometimes I get pretty tired in the afternoon, or wake up feeling moody. Here are some ways that I’ve been helping myself gain energy and get in a better mood:

Use Essential Oils. I like using a combo of orange and geranium essential oils.

Get Exercise. This one is more prevention than cure. After I exercise, I generally feel more productive and happy.

Go Outside. Because I’m a college student, it’s easy for me to spend most of my time indoors. I have to be intentional about taking walks, or jumping on the trampoline with my younger siblings.

Listen to Upbeat Music. I learned this one from a Blimey Cow video called “7 Ways to Turn Your Day Around.” I like Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas’ version of “St. Kilda Wedding.“

Do Something Productive. I always feel better after I’ve gotten something done, whether it’s cleaning my room, or forcing myself to practice music for an hour.

Check My Nutrition. Drinking enough water, eating enough food, and eating the right kind of foods are all important to me. I have had problems with eating properly in the past, so I have to be extra careful about this.

Anther great article about getting more energy is Michael Hyatt’s post “10 Practical Ways to Boost Your Energy.“

On Failing – February Goals

This post is about my goals that I made at the beginning of the year. If you want to see my list of goals, you can find it here.

Reading challenge:

This month, I read the first three books in the series Finishing School, by Gail Carriger. I listened to all three of them on Audible. I would recommend the first book in the series, Etiquette and Espionage. For the next two books, I recommend using your own discretion, as they contain some inappropriate content.

In January, I finished reading the book Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. I was hesitant to add it to my list because I started it in December, but I decided to keep it. It was an amazing book, which I highly recommend. I’m putting it in the “wartime book” category.

I just started the book Captive in Iran, by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizadeh. So far, it’s been an interesting read. This is going to my book written by someone I’ve never visited.

Writing Challenge:

I missed this one several times this month, but I became more consistent after I set a daily alarm for 7:30pm. Aside from just recording my thoughts, I can also give myself links to things that I found helpful, or might want to share later.

Anne’s Earworms:

I wrote a couple list Earworms, such as my favorite love songs, or my favorite Anthem Lights songs. I’ve enjoyed the variety that the lists allow, so I want to try a few more in March.

The only problem that I’m having is learning new music. Because I’m in the middle of a busy school semester, it’s hard for me to find new songs, since I don’t have tons of time.

Bible Challenge:

I’ve been mostly keeping up with my Bible goal. I want to get better at meditating on the chapters that I read. This would help me apply them better, and not just read them and forget them.

Audible:

Since I read three fiction books in a row, I’m ready to move to a different genre for a while. I decided to start reading the book Living Forward, by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy. I’m a Michael Hyatt fan, so I’m excited about starting it.

On Failing:

In Michael Hyatt’s podcast episode, “The Top Ten Mistakes Derailing Your Goals,” he talks about his goal to get his book Living Forward on the New York Times best seller list by a certain date. He didn’t achieve his goal by that day, but he did get his book on the Wall Street Journal best seller list. He didn’t make his goal by the time he wanted, but he made huge progress promoting his book by having a specific goal. I want to have this attitude about all of my goals. Even though I have messed up twice with my Bible goal, and several times with my writing goal, I want to have an attitude that is happy about my progress.

Getting Up Earlier

Last month I started trying to get up consistently at 6:45. For most people, this isn’t super early, but since I usually get up around 8, it was a jump for me. It was hard, but I’m glad that I’m getting better at it. Here are some of my reasons that I like getting up earlier:

It’s generally quiet for the first few minutes. I can get a shower and have my Bible time without being distracted.
I can get some of my goals done early. Instead of rushing to read through the Bible before I run to go do other things, I have time to sit and meditate on the Scripture I’m reading, and pray through it, without feeling like I’m ignoring other work that needs to be done.
I get to see my siblings after I’ve had a few minutes to wake up. The first 10-15 minutes after I wake up, I’m very sluggish. So, if Becca walks in and starts talking to me, normally grunt in reply or ignore her. When I’ve had a few minutes to wake up, I can greet her cheerfully more easily.
I get to see the beautiful scenery. I wrote about this on my second day of getting up at 6:45. I forgot it until I was looking through my journal today. Tomorrow, I think I’ll stop to enjoy the scenery a little more.

Since there are a lot of good reasons to get up a little earlier, here are three ways I help myself do it better:

I get ready the night before. My mom taught me this when I was younger, and Michael Hyatt recommends it. If I plan ahead, I don’t have to make tons of decisions while I’m waking up, so I’m not as tempted to go back to bed. Also, if I go to bed earlier, I can wake up more easily.
I get moving immediately. I usually get a shower, and then immediately go downstairs and do my Bible reading. Usually if I sit around, I want to go back to sleep.
I pray for help getting up. I tend to be very lazy in this area, and prayer has helped me more diligent about getting up.

What are some of your favorite tips for getting up earlier, and having more energy in the morning?

Things I Want to Try

Sometimes I get stuck in a mentality that says “I never do anything new, and I never will.” This mentality tends to start a couple weeks into the semester, after the excitement of new classes wears off. But I want to stay excited about life. Aside from all of the amazing new things I’m trying at school (like songwriting), I have lots of things that I want to do someday. So, I made a list:

A half-marathon.
A daily blog challenge.
Acting.
Gardening.
Art (Confession, this one was a summer project that I failed, so I’m insecure about it).
Running a sound board.
Taking my own pictures for my blog (after I started this post, I actually took all of the pictures for a post that I wrote! Maybe this is a first step to awesome pictures!).
A silent retreat.
A new musical instrument.
Recording my own music.
An a capella group.
A solo road trip (someday when I start driving myself places).
Flying a plane.
A trip to Europe.
Making skit videos.
Joining a writer’s group.
Making Lasagna (Yes, I’m allergic to tomatoes and I don’t even like lasagna, but I can’t stop imagining how cool it would be to make lasagna).

Hopefully there will be lots of edits to this post, saying that I’ve done some of the things on the list.

A Gratitude List

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article by Michael Hyatt, talking about the importance of gratitude. He challenged his readers to make a list of twenty things that they were thankful for. I was convicted that I’m often not thankful enough, so I made a gratitude list:

Food to eat, and the ability to choose what I eat.
Tea.
My parents.
Access to the Bible.
Audiobooks.
Forgiveness.
Braces.
Playing music.
Paper books.
My siblings.
Amazing weather.
The smell of good food cooking.
College classes.
Shoes.
Clean water.
Playing in orchestra.
Walks in the rain.
Blogging.
Going to church.
Brownie-in-a-Mug.

There’s my gratitude list. What are you thankful for right now?

January Goals

The semester has started! I’m so excited, and I hoping that I’ll be able to keep up with my challenges and my school assignments. Here’s how I’ve been doing so far:

Reading Challenge:

I’ve read three books so far (I’m reading my fourth one now). I’m trying to read one book each week, so that I have room to be flexible.

My first book was The Silver Chair, by C. S. Lewis. This was from the category “A book you loved as a child.” C. S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and this book did not disappoint me. Lewis writes in a way that is engaging and comfortable.

My second book was The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri. This is the book that’s been on my “TBR” list for too long. It inspired many Facebook posts of horror. The boiling in blood chapter was disturbing. Over all, I enjoyed reading the book, but probably won’t read it again. Here’s my favorite quote from the book:

“For such defects are we lost, thought spared the fire
and suffering Hell in one affliction only:
that without hope we live on in desire.”

My third book was The Undoing of Saint Silvanus, by Beth Moore. This book falls in the category of “written by someone you admire.” This book was outstanding. It had a little mystery, a little drama, and a little romance. It was fun to read.

Right now I’m in the middle of a book about Amelia Earhart, in the category: “an interesting woman.” Amelia Earhart was very interesting, but the book is not so far, so I’m not going to share it here.

I’m going to start the book Present Over Perfect next. My mom bought the book for me, and I’m excited about reading it. Here is her review of the book.

Writing Challenge:

I’ve completed this challenge every day except for one so far. Some days I work on blog posts or school assignments, and some days I journal. It’s been really cool to record some thoughts that I have, because it helps me think about them more clearly, and keep them for later.

Anne’s Earworms:

These have been fun to write so far. I wrote about some older artists, and some new artists, and made a spring semester playlist for fun. My only concern is that I’ll run out of music that I can write about before I run out of weeks. Because of this, I am being pushed to find new music that I love, which was one of the reasons I started writing them.

Bible Challenge:

I have successfully read through 92 chapters of the Bible, without having to have any make-up days. The thing that has helped me the most is getting up earlier. I was getting up around 8 every day, but this month I decided to try to get up at 6:45 every day (except Saturdays) to do some Bible reading and studying, and work on my other goals. At first this was really hard (it was actually really hard for the first three weeks), but I was able to complete my Bible reading earlier in the day.

Audible:

Audible has been wonderful so far. I read The Silver Chair as my first audiobook, and I loved it. I was able to cook and clean and such while enjoying one of my favorite books. Since I loved The Silver Chair so much, and our family had a couple of extra Audible credits, so I read The Undoing of Saint Silvanus on Audible also.

So there’s my summary of January. I did pretty well on all of my goals, so I’m hoping that I can continue my momentum during February.

Also, here’s my sister Christina’s Reading Challenge she’s doing this year:

http://youthfulhomemaker.com/52-books-2017-challenge-list/

A Beginners Guide to the Four Temperaments

The four temperaments is a personality typing system. This is a compilation of things I learned from a lot of different websites and such over the past few years; feel free to do some research if you want more in-depth analysis of the temperaments. In the four temperaments, there are two pairs of opposite personalities.

Melancholy and Sanguine:

The first temperament is Melancholy. Melancholy people are organized and thoughtful, and value quality. When they do work, it tends to be excellent. In chaotic situations, however, they tend to break down. If amelancholy person’s house is disgusting, and they don’t have time to clean the whole thing, they might not do anything at all.

Another trait of Melancholy people is that they tend to be “down” a lot. They don’t get big spikes of energy often, and they can be sad. This isn’t always a negative trait.

The second temperament is Sanguine, the opposite of melancholy. Sanguine people tend to be spontaneous and social, and value freedom. They’re less organized than the Melancholy people, which can be good in uncertain situations. They can also be chaotic, and not follow deadlines or commitments well, because they like to live more flexibly.

Sanguine people tend to be very friendly and upbeat, which makes them naturally better at meeting new people. They often can make people feel comfortable and engaged. They also love to be in the center of attention, which can be fun, or annoying, depending on the circumstance.

Choleric and Phlegmatic:

The third temperament is Choleric. Cholerics are leaders, and value control. They are great at taking a group of confused people, and get them working together under their leadership. Cholerics can be pushy about getting their way, but usually they are blunt and honest about their goals.

The fourth temperament is Phlegmatic, the opposite of Choleric. Phlegmatics are followers, and value peace. They strongly desire to avoid conflict, and prefer to avoid decision making. They tend to get along well with others, because they are laid back. They can be overly easy to sway, and struggle to self-motivate.

Finding your temperament:

No one is entirely one temperament. Rather, people are a mix of all four. Your temperament will be the strongest temperament. Everyone has some of each one in them. Whichever one is the strongest is your type, and your secondary is whichever is second strongest. Your secondary is not the opposite of your primary type, because that would be weird. I’m a melancholy, and my secondary is phlegmatic.

If you want to take a four temperaments test, click Here: http://psychologia.co/four-temperaments-test/

A Note to My Readers

Dear blog buddies,

It’s been a year since my first post, an open letter. This blog started as an outlet for my desire to write more. I had just finished ENG101 and 102 for college, and I wanted to try something new. The experiment has helped me with consistently, willingness to try new things, and my writing ability. But I have a few confessions to make to you:

I’m not totally honest with you. I try to be transparent, but I can’t write about everything. If I decide to write about my musical anxiety, I’m not writing about a terrible day that I had the day after writing it. If I write about the MBTI, I’m not writing about my fight with my sibling, or about my lunch, or about my sleeping goal for January. I have to choose what I think will be interesting, or encouraging, or helpful (or all three).

Even after I choose a topic, I don’t know how to stop editing and push the “publish” button. I get frustrated because my posts “have room for improvement.” Michael Hyatt helped me think about this better:

“Anyone who knows me knows that excellence is a high value for me. But it’s not the same thing as perfection.
Perfection doesn’t take into consideration of the cost, time, or significance of something. It’s just an illusive, unreal, unattainable goal. It’s better to do good work really well.
That way you’re contributing to people’s lives, instead of locked in your own head about whether your work measures up an impossible standard.”

I want to write well, but sometimes I get paralyzed by my perfectionism. I care more about what you think about my writing than whether I can encourage you or help you learn something new.

Sometimes I don’t even treat you like people. After I post, I get stressed by how many people look at my posts, and I forget how amazing it is that people even look at my posts at all. I’m afraid to do this, because people are scarier than numbers. I’m afraid that you will hate my post or laugh at me, so I try to pretend that “visitors” don’t really mean people. I need to be reminded often that people are more important than numbers, and I shouldn’t let my fear hold me back from connecting with some amazing people.

Thank you so much for bearing with and encouraging me, even though I’m quirky and flawed. I’m a work in progress, and blogging this last year has helped me through a lot of hard things. It’s amazing that you guys take time out of your lives to look at my thoughts about life. I hope that I’ll continue to improve, and that you’ll stick around for the ride, because you’ve made blogging a wonderful experience for me.

With exceeding joy,
Anne Mary

On Worrying Well

I’m older now. It’s a new year, and soon to be a new semester. I’m getting older, driving, and taking almost a full-time college load. There are a lot of great things about my life right now: I have great friends, great classes and teachers, and lots of music to fill my time. I used to worry about my life, but I’m starting to realize that my fears were a bit small-sighted.
I used to worry about my grades at school. I was young to be taking college classes (14), and I thought I might be too young. What if I failed the class? What if the professor hated me because I took his class and failed?
I used to worry about never having friends. I was afraid to talk to new people, because I thought they would reject me because I was awkward. What if I never got the hang of meeting new people?
I used to be worried about how my music sounded when I finished it. I didn’t like the sound of my voice, and I assumed no one else did either. I thought that my piano playing was amateur, and that everyone else hated it. What if my barely new friends decided I was a failure and abandoned me?

I’m older now, and I understand that those fears were small. I’ve done fine in my college classes. I’m starting to more easily talk to new friends, and I realize that my music doesn’t sound bad (sometimes it even sounds good). I was worrying about the wrong things. Maybe I should re-frame my thoughts.
I get good grades at college, but what if I picked the wrong college? My friends are probably judging me for having a lesser college.
I know that I can make friends, but can I keep them? I’m afraid of being too clingy, or scaring them away, so I try to maintain a strong distance from my friends, and never talk to them about my problems. I will post online about my fears, but I don’t talk to my best friend about them.
My friends like my finished music, but what about the process? I’m was super embarrassed when my friend walked in the house in the morning to hang out, because I was warming up. I could just feeling him judging me: “you sound terrible before 10am”.

Earlier this week I started to think: Since my worries before weren’t as bad as I though they were, what if my fears now aren’t as bad as I think they are? What if my friends don’t hate me, or judge me? I should think about this more, but I’m just too busy. I’m older now, and I have more important things to think about, like how to practice music and singing at school without anyone hearing me.