39 and Feeling Fine

This post is two weeks late, but its been a crazy few weeks. We went to the beach with my family the week of Memorial Day (my birthday was that week) and while G did come with us for the first few days, I was solo with the kids the last few days and had to do 2 flights home alone. I was all ready to jump back into work Monday and realized I had jury duty. So I rescheduled things to the next day figuring I'd be there all day. Well I got out at 1pm, but not until I was picked to be a juror on a week-long criminal case. So that was exciting (it was actually quite an experience, I may write about it---no specifics---later). I had to cancel my clinics, work late into the night or early in the morning, and made it through the week. Sunday I got to the airport early in the morning for a conference---I'm heading home tonight. I haven't spent a day in my office (a few hours here and there, in the evenings, but not a full day) since May 22nd.

As a (quite belated) birthday gift to myself, I decided to write a list of the things that I've accomplished and are going well in my life right now.

• I've gotten physically strong. The strongest I've ever been. I'm really proud of that! I guess I'm not genetically made to get much stronger (I've hit a plateau, that I can't seem to break out of) but I'm satisfied with where I am.
• I've completely turned around my shopping habit. I did not buy one stitch of clothing (or any non-consumable in fact), for myself from January 1st-June 5th (a personal record). I did spend some birthday money my dad gave me on a few things last week. I debated this, but my parents and G insisted I spend it on myself. I mostly bought workout clothes (I have 3 pairs of non-tragic workout gear and wanted to add a 4th workout each week), a set of summer PJs and 2 tops for work that I brought with me to the conference. I have money earmarked for a pair of grey full-length pants, but I couldn't find any. I may go looking once in the fall (all the stores have now are cropped pants) but I have no plans to buy anything else until January of next year
• I've completed most of the other "money smart" tasks I set out for myself this winter. I've also been tracking spending on YNAB and Mint (we fell of the wagon for a while but just hopped back on)
• I've done some new-to-me stuff at work---starting a sub-specialty clinic, started two different clinical research studies, will be starting completely new lab techniques. There is a lot that I need to be doing that I haven't quite done (grants, papers, duh), but while I'll focus on increasing those, I can still be proud of what I DID do.
• I'm starting to care less what other people think. I'm still not where I want to be with this, but on the not-giving-a-shit scale, I've definitely gained a few notches. This has also made me way less shy to talk to strangers. I was chatting up a storm with my fellow jurors and was the first to offer my opinion on the verdict. I speak up at our case conferences  and division meetings at work, too. Not too much, I am the last to want to prolong a meeting to hear the sound of my own voice.
• I'm confronting things with therapy. Just going and being honest at the first meeting was really hard and I'm really glad I did it. I actually haven't gone in two months but need to make an appointment soon. I was making some progress with dealing with my anxiety.

And lest you think I'm becoming too content, my next post will be a list of goals for next year!