Monthly Progress Report - 8% of 2026 is GONE

January was a good month for me. I made progress towards my goals that I'm proud to share. Since I set a goal for 2026 to be the year I live the healthiest possible, I'm happy to announce that the first month of it has been fulfilling and successful on that score. 

In order to work towards the mental-health portion of my goal, I reached out to friends and managed to get some of them to visit me at my apartment a couple of times. I also had dinner with a couple of friends once and went to a friend's house for lunch once as well. On top of all that, I got to visit with some friends at the college to share the things I brought back from Spain. Matthew, my blind friend, and some of my non-traditional-student friends spent a couple of hours looking at everything and hearing about my trip. Spending time with friends really cheers my soul and makes life worth living. 

Club Friends Outside the Politics Center at SUU

Part of my health goal was to lose 30-40 pounds, and I settled on 37 as the minimum while a few more will be welcome. For the month of January, I lost 6.2 pounds which knocks out 16.8% of my overall goal for the year! That is more progress than I expected to make in one month. Half that would have been right on track, but if I lose it all in the first half of the year, I won't complain. 

Another goal I had this year was to read through the Biblia (Spanish Bible) again using the nueva-traducción-viviente (new living translation) version. During the month of January, I read through Genesis and Exodus and completed 8% of my year's goal which puts me right on track to finish in a year. I really enjoyed reading it too. Last year, my Spanish wasn't as advanced as it is now, so I didn't understand everything I read. I was also reading from the Reina Valeria (Spanish equivalent of the King James version) version which is harder to understand anyway. This year I'm understanding basically everything. I was fascinated to learn about how the tabernacle was built and the clothing the priests wore. It even goes into detail about how the gold thread was processed for the decoration of the clothing. It was fun to visualize it all as I read through that part of Exodus. 

I got this beautiful Reina Valeria Biblia to take with me to the 

Spanish church I found to attend Bible study. 

My financial situation hasn't changed yet, but I did get funding from a student loan I applied for last semester. It came just in time for me to be able to pay my rent. It was a good experience. I went to bed one night feeling stressed and overwhelmed about everything. I prayed to God to help me be patient while He worked things through. I knew He was going to take care of me, He always does, but my brain was having a hard time letting go of the details. I prayed about it and went to bed, and the next morning, I had a deposit in my checking account. It was such a huge relief and reminded me that God always has everything under control, and it's OK to release our cares to Him in our time of need. 

My classes are going well. I love all of my classes this semester. I look forward to them every day, and I'm so thankful that I have time to devote to studying and enjoying them for what they are. I can't even say I have a favorite class. My most challenging class is my Spanish class, and my easiest class is my World Cinema class. I really love my British Literature class, and I'd 100% take classes like that over and over for the rest of my life. My education class is so exciting and makes me look forward to being a teacher. It's just a really good semester for me, and I'm having the time of my life right now. 

Taking time to reflect on goals really helps keep me motivated. It's fun to see the progress I've made in just one month, and it gives me the impetus to keep going in the months to come.