Tracking Progress

Unbelievably, I'm two months into my fiftieth year...meaning that 16.67% of the time I have to complete my 50th projects has elapsed already.  (Not that I'm feeling any pressure to honour my commitments or anything.  Okay, I am.  That's the beauty of blogging about this experience).

Actually, for the most part, I'm doing well, according to the excel spreadsheet I'm using to track my progress. Since 50 Frolics or 50 Books or 50 of anything else averages out to be about one a week, it's easy to tell, at a glance, what's on track and what's not.

I'm farthest ahead in my effort to try (at least) 50 New Recipes this year.  Perhaps this is not surprising, given that I have three opportunities a day to try novel dishes.  (Who am I kidding?  Given my food intake, I have twelve chances a day to experiment with new recipes).

I'm also ahead of the game in my desire to enjoy (at least) 50 Frolics, (at least) 50 Creative Projects and many of the categories for which I'm not recording my experiences online (50 Films, 50 Visits, 50 Treats, 50 CDs).

I'm one short in the number of books I had expected to read by this point...and I'm alright with that.  At this point, I'm well on my way to reading (at least) 50 Books this year.

In contrast, I am much farther behind in my plan to enjoy (at least) 50 Water Visits this year.  I live 40 blocks away from the ocean.  It takes twenty whole minutes to drive to the shore.  As ridiculous as that sounds, it's proving challenging to find the time in my week to get to the shore. I know I'll be visiting waterfront places this summer, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up a bit.  In the meantime, I'm seeking creative ways to meet this goal.

I'm even farther behind in my desire to take (at least) 50 Fitness Classes and (at least) 50 Fun Classes this year.  In a normal year, this wouldn't be an issue -- I adore taking all kinds of classes and am usually enrolled in same.  However, this year, my schedule and my personal responsibilities in tending my mother's estate have interfered.  I've missed registration deadlines and start dates and so forth. I'm not sure how to make up for the weeks I've missed.  Interestingly, I find this turn of events ironic more than troubling.  I certainly don't want these projects to be a source of stress or dismay.

The point of all these '50' projects is to make the most of turning fifty.  The real measure of my progress is to what extent I'm enjoying this year.  By that metric, I'm doing very well indeed.