I like evenness, so a few years ago when I started quarterly planning, I made the decision that it would always be Monday when it starts. 13 weeks, every quarter, instead of starting on the first day of the month.
Some quarters, it does start on the first day of the month. Some quarters it starts on the 28th, and you find yourself in a bit of a weird limbo. Which is how I started off quarter four, the fall quarter, at the pool.
You see, it’s still summer-like here in Texas, though that will change, finally, in the next few days when a pacific front and a dying hurricane collide over Texas and dump some much needed rain. Even as I typed this paragraph, the National Weather Service just issued a flood watch to go into effect tomorrow night.
This week very much feels like a transition week, in part, thanks to the weather changing. But it’s also the flip of the calendar month and hopefully a little bit of a mindset shift, too.
At the beginning of the year, my job at my employer changed. And I hate this job. It’s a customer service job where I am on the phones all day, and already as someone that doesn’t like talking on the phone on a regular basis, doing this all day with people who are upset and mad, it takes its toll on anyone and especially in the past few weeks, I feel the toxicity of this job really working its way into my brain.
January-March are always the busiest months at this job, so it’s imperative that I find something new before the new year. That only gives me 90 days, when I feel like I’ve been looking for a new job off-and-on since 2023 (that’s another story for another time). So, we’ll see if I can finally, finally knock this goal off my list. It would be nice, wouldn’t it?
Regardless of that, though, I need to get my own mind right. I need to get my own nonsense right outside of work. And Q4 is always the busiest time of the year, so I’m hoping to fill my well, so to speak, with annual events that always happen - my boyfriend’s birthday, my dad’s birthday, Special Olympics events, my birthday, holidays, extra time off. There is so much I want to do between now and the new year, so many things I want to accomplish so that this year doesn’t feel completely like it broke me.
Quarter Four Goals
Plot and outline And She Hunts.
Write the first draft of And She Hunts
find a new job
celebrate birthdays and holidays
read 20 books in the quarter
declutter and clean my house, like deep clean
start working out in the mornings again
Write some personal essays here (I just need to find time to write them)
I also turn 33 in the middle of this quarter, and after the year I’ve had, I really hope the next year is kinder, a repeat year, and while I love evenness, my whole birthday is odd numbers, so maybe an odd year will be kinder.
But first we have to finish 32 and half a quarter.
Here we go.