Before beginning my program, I received some wise wisdom from past Remote Year participants. The wisest, in my opinion, was to begin looking at our lives in terms of months. This seems to be good wisdom no matter what lifestyle you're living, but especially when you're picking up and moving homes/cities/offices every month. By looking at your life in 30 days, it makes objectives simpler to quantify, evaluate, challenge and achieve.
So when our wise remote alumni recommended we approach the year by making actionable goals each month, I jumped right in. I quickly wrote a list of goals that I wanted to achieve - some every month (so a total of 12 times) and some just month-by-month.
Here's my list:
Network with a local (in each city)
Have a development conversation with my mentor (each month)
Network with someone from home (each month)
Read a book (each month)
Find a favorite local coffee shop to work at (in each city)
Practice mindfulness, meditation, reflection (each week)
Start an interest group (in month one)
Go to a local church (once a month)
Lead a yoga practice for my program (each month)
Establish a workout regime (in each city)
If you didn't get the gist from this post title, none of these things happened. Literally not one.
When talking to a close friend in my final week in Split, we pulled out the journal where I had written these goals and I felt instantly disappointed in myself. Not only did I not accomplish all that I was planning to this month, but I didn't even accomplish one thing that I was planning to this month. I couldn't even read the 100 page book that my grandma had gotten me before I left. To my core, I don't handle failure like this well. I am harder on myself than anybody else.
And then I started to think about my month in Split. As quickly as it came, this feeling of disappointment flew away. I realized that I wasn't looking at a list of goals that I had failed to achieve, but I was looking at a list of inaccurate expectations. This month was nothing that I expected it to be, and I have no doubts that the rest of the year will be the same.
Too fitting for words, our program is referred to as 'Yugen' which be definition means, an awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and powerful for words. I'll do my best in recapping what this month entailed, but like a true Yugen, it's just too powerful for words.
So with that, let's take a look back at what I did achieve this month in Croatia.
... A cowering lifestyle that is shaped by the inspiring people around me. I've learned to use my mornings for productivity (or sleeping, if we stayed out too late the night before), my daytime for cranking through work and my evenings for fun (and lots of it).
... I conquered my fear of heights and jumped off numerous cliffs, countless times. More than that, I enjoyed every second of it (and got the obligatory pic).
... I never found that local coffee shop to frequent, but I did buy and drink homemade wine from a Croatian mans basement. Fun fact: He actually doesn't drink and has never tried his own wine. He makes it from feedback he gets from others and it's straight delicious.
... I took a rad side trip with these two new best friends and enjoyed every moment exploring Dubrovnik and drinking Shame cocktails on the Shame Stairs.
... No yoga for the group, but yoga on my balcony overlooking the sea and on the old Dubrovnik walls. Okay fineeeee, I can deal.
... For 29 days in 100+ degree heat we stared at a pool from our balconies that we weren't allowed to use. On day 30 we said "forget that" and jumped in.
... I didn't get that workout regime down (I actually didn't go to the gym at all), but I did hike some pretty incredible waterfalls, bike a beautiful mountain, raft down a river and run along the beach.
... I may not have had top notch local networking, but take a look at these 60 people from 10 countries that I get to call family this year.
...Holy Split, that was fun.