It’s FINALLY fall! Yet before we jump into the crunchy leaves October brings, let’s talk about September. One of my greatest hopes for this past month was to find our “new normal” as Jared and I adjusted to his new job. I am happy to report that we are settling in nicely to our new routine. Within the first week of September, I was making unexpected progress on my goals- especially my monthly goals! Maura and I felt like this was going to be our best month yet. Then part way though the month I failed a drug trial and had a major dislocation. This changed the trajectory of my month, but it did not end my month or ruin my month.

Now I could choose to be upset at all that didn’t happen, but I still did so much with the weeks that I could. Parts of living the chronic illness life is experiencing unplanned and inconvenient health challenges. Do I wish there hadn’t been a dislocation? OF COURSE, but it happened and that is apart of my life. Like everyone, I had my moments of pity and frustration, but what a great opportunity to practice living grace-filled goals rather than just preaching about it.

Despite it’s challenges, so many good things came out of September: we celebrated many birthdays, attended the first month of book club, I rejoiced over the 2020 powersheets cover reveal (I’m team #blooms), I refocused my goals for the next 90 days, and have been cherishing time with family and close friends.

Now on to October!

I have refreshed goals for the next three months, so while some goals are the same there are also some new refocused ones (click here to see my refreshed goals.)

My top priority for this month is to be present. I want to focus on real life that is in front of me and not on a screen.

Monthly Goals:

• Record 5 Episodes for the Chronically Cultivating Podcast
• Write 3 blog posts
• Finish book study with Maura: We both read the book It’s Not Supposed To Be This Way by Lisa Terkeurst in August and are going to go through the six week in depth study guide together
• Time with mentor
• Prepare for Jonas Brothers concert- one month away!!!
• Powersheet Prep for November
• Savor Fall: enjoy all the fall things!
• Holiday Shopping: Jared and I have found that splitting up when we pay for Christmas presents is more financially efficient so we do my family, his family, and our friends in different months leading up to Christmas
• Date Night

Weekly Goals:

• Love Jared Well: Spend intentional time together without our phones
• Water Plants: gotta keep those succulents healthy!
• Declare Truth: Meditate on the the truth about who God is and who he says I am
• Harvest Everblooming Friendships: Everblooming means continuous growth and blooming, I want to focus on those friendships!
• All the Things: aka all the medical things like med cart inventory, organizing pills, self care, etc.
• Embrace Fellowship: Spend time with other believers
• Brush Pen Drills: Keep up the practice!

Daily Goals:

• Delight in Him: I don’t want to just spend time with God everyday, I want to spend my days delighting in Him
• Read: Embracing this love of reading on a daily basis
• Downtime @ 11: This means that after 11 pm I go to bed and am not watching tv, scrolling on social media, or playing games on my phone. The only thing I can do after 11 pm is listen to music, use my Bible app, or read on my kindle. (Pro Tip- if you are like me and struggle to stay accountable to a screen related goal, I suggest going into your settings to the screen time, set your downtime limits, and have your spouse make the passcode. That way you can’t cheat even if you want to!)
• Show Kindness: I want to throw kindness around like confetti and so I want to make a point to go out of my way to be kind in big and small ways
• Choose Joy: The past two months I have been embracing each day by celebrating tiny victories and logging a victory from each day. I want to make sure each day I am choosing joy intentionally

Now I don’t normally share my wild card pages but I am in love with the custom fall themed pages I made. I have a daily log for highlighting how I delighted in the Lord and what I cultivated from that (i.e. love, joy, peace, strength, etc.) I also have a custom habit tracker in there too!

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Want to get your own set of powersheets, they go on sale on October 16th! Click here to check out your 2020 cover options!

What are your October goals?

Cassie Nolin is a married spoonie who lives the chronic illness life with EDS + Co. (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and it’s comorbid conditions.) She challenges others to choose grace over guilt in goal setting, and is in ministry part time serving the online community through The Spoonie Study. She loves planting, hand lettering, and sharing the hope she has found in Jesus. Her blog, Living the Chronic Illness Life, is in the top 100 chronic illness blogs and her podcast, Chronically Cultivating, is produced by Speaking to the Heart Network. Cassie encourages women to live authentic and intentional lives through their diagnosis’ not in spite of them. You can learn more about her at www.livingthechronicillnesslife.com

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