Kristine Joy, Writer

Mission:

As you may recall, the last mission was to get a hold on the number of missions in my life.

I feel caught up to the point that I plan to:

1. Relay the status of each open mission as completed, cancelled or rolled into my restructured approach to wellness.
2. Map out my restructured approach to wellness.
3. Detail the map.
4. FORWARD MARCH

Wellness Why(s):

All Inclusive – Occupational, Social, Emotional, Spiritual, Financial, Environmental, Physical, Intellectual

The Nuts & Bolts:

The old way was to randomly decide on a mission — tied to an aspect of wellness or multiple aspects of wellness — each week via self-mandate, effectively adding the new mission to the pile of existing uncompleted missions whether I was in a state to take on new missions or not.

That got out of control. My head, one day, actually turned in circles, separate from my body, trying to decide whether it was more appropriate for me to clean the storage room, read a book, go for a run, call a friend, write, walk……..

From this point forward, I plan to have a North Star philosophy that guides me in each area and ONE open mission per dimension of wellness. And once I feel that I’ve completed a mission, or get tired of trying to complete a mission, or realize that I never will, or get bored, or decide to prioritize a different mission, I’ll flip the switch to off and release the next mission for that dimension.

And so here goes my attempt to address missions to date, by dimension, hone in on my new North Star pillars and decide upon my first 8 missions under the new framework.

All of which will still leave me with the problem of deciding which of the 8 ongoing missions to choose at any given time, but 8 is less than 21.

Occupational

🔭⭐️ – Engage in work that is fulfilling, flexible, and valued.

Forward March Mission:

To be or not to be a writer. Write a book (see #8 here) between October 15th and April 15th.

In old news….

The only open mission related to my occupational well-being is Image Integration and that is cancelled. If I wind up with an image as a writer, or a (fill in the blank), it shall happen authentically as opposed to active management.

Social

🔭⭐️ – Maintain and grow relationships, prioritizing those in which the value is mutually irreplaceable.

Forward March Mission:

Identify. Invest. Experience.

Over the next 6 months:

1. Identify the 10–100 people who matter most to me and intentionally nurture those relationships.
2. Spend 1–10 hours each week with people I genuinely value.
3. Create at least six memorable experiences (one per month) with people I love.

* Eric and Em are excluded from the above mission because they’re in a league of their own, and evaluated daily per that rubric. 🤣

In old news….

I didn’t have any open missions tied to social well-being. I had a post in drafts titled, Anti-Social Media 🤣, with the mission being to rid my life of social media, which I’ve mostly done despite having never posted this.

I also had a draft titled, Being a Social Being, but that didn’t have any content within because….apparently….I’m not all that interested in being a social being? 🤷‍♀️ Except with the 10-100 peeps mentioned above!

Emotional

🔭⭐️ – Develop equanimity—the ability to maintain inner peace regardless of external circumstances.

Forward March Mission:

To find some fun via completion of an original post, The Pursuit of Joy, yet this Fall. Video game console to be ordered during Black Friday sales. 🎮

Is the idea of fun negated when there exists an official mission, a deadline, and a purchasing plan? 🤔

Spiritual

🔭⭐️ – Live according to Stoic principles, guided by wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance.

Forward March Mission:

The Stoic Scholar: Read three works of Stoic philosophy and apply at least one lesson from each to everyday life.

In old news…

My mission, Quadragenarian Theologian, to become versed in the Bible shall be in a holding pattern. I simply have never been able to wrap my hands around an understanding on this front and want to want to learn, but I only want to learn and that hasn’t gotten me anywhere. I don’t want to force it, nor do I want to give up.

Financial

🔭⭐️ – Understand and optimize our financial freedom in order to live life on our terms in 2027 and beyond.

Forward March Mission:

Spent-It-Well

Identify five things worth spending more money on and five things worth spending less money on, based on our actual values.

In old news….

Yesterday, while managing the golf course during a rainstorm (a.k.a. twiddling my thumbs), I met the goal that I set for supplemental income during 2026. I am at 100.2% with some work left to do in November and December. Next year’s goal will be rolled into the above goal, but not tracked to the $ because the thought of doing anything for the money detracts from the thought of doing that same thing for fun.

As for Cash Flow State of Mind, consider it cancelled. That mission was actually a subsidiary mission of The Seeker of Wellness (also cancelled) mission to write a book about my year spent trying to maximize my wellness across each dimension. And apparently, writing about it didn’t maximize my well-being because I stopped writing about it. I have no regrets though because I believe that I made significant strides in each dimension to the point that I GREW (and this was my WHY behind it all), and I COULD put it in words if Hay House ever asked me to.

Environmental

🔭⭐️ – Create and maintain surroundings that are simple, beautiful, and conducive to well-being and adventure.

Forward March Mission:

In the next 6 months:

1. One Space Monthly: Declutter, organize, and beautify one room or space each month.
2. Explore Our Next Environment: Visit three potential future places to live and evaluate each for natural beauty, recreation, convenience, and quality of life.
3. Nurture Nature: Spend at least five hours outdoors each week, including one new natural setting each month.

In old news…

Singing the Swan Song: Items Be Gone was completed! The goal was to get rid of 400 items and I got rid of 550; albeit late but better late than never. And most importantly, the habit of clearing clutter is in place and to be continued.

Clutter Cutter and Keep the Best. Delete the Rest. are effectively rolled into the more general goal to continuously improve the environment around me.

Physical

🔭⭐️ – Pursue exceptional health and longevity.

Forward March Mission:

Identify and put at least three physical challenges or adventures on my 2027 calendar, whether organized events or self-created experiences; ideally, ones that inspire me to maintain and enjoy being a cyborg.

In old news…

Project Athlete 46.0 is rolled into my philosophy above, but not to the degree in which it was presented. Maintenance of my abilities shall be more subjective than objective. If I were a research study, I’d run a timed 100 each year and measure my leg via made field goal distance and record my strength/weight deadlift ratio and see how many points that I can score against Sinner but my interest is in playing rather than recording….and Sinner hasn’t returned my text.

Snot Funny is the least of my worries: Cancelled ❌. Deviated septum or not, I am breathing. And breathing well enough for my VO2 Max to be approaching 50 (despite my age approaching the same number). The migraine issues are more under control than they have been and likely more caused by barometric pressure, hydration (lack of it), hormones, platelet count, etc.

Twice, in the last week, I’ve been complimented on my complexion. And this was while wearing pants and sleeves so the credit goes to my face and thus, Save Face ✅. I still wouldn’t say that I have a routine but I would say that I do ENOUGH to save face.

Eat Your Fruits & Vegetables is rolled into my philosophy above.

READY, SET, Golf was completed. Nowadays, I hit most every fairway and I can’t remember my last blow-up hole (well, I do actually remember the last hole that I butchered because that’s how our brains work, but it was a long some time ago). And if you take my best score on each hole from throughout the Summer, I shot par!!! I didn’t bust 40, or even 45, but the goal was to be proud of my game and I am. 🥹

There’s no crying in baseball golf!

But, what if they are tears of joy?

Intellectual

🔭⭐️ – Learn and create.

Forward March Mission:

Learn one completely new skill and demonstrate it through a finished project. And maybe learn this skill from my daughter before she’s not here to teach me? 📸

In old news…

A Novel Idea — 50 in ’26 is near done. I’ve completed 45 of the 50 books and will surely finish 5 more. Most importantly, the habit of reading is embedded. And I’ll still track books read moving forward but on an app (per my daughter’s request to share our love for reading 💕).

Please consider Pastable or Impastable? to be cancelled for two reasons:

1. The sense of HAVING to get this done has been eating away at me and I need out of the pressure cooker before it boils over.
2. My intellectual well-being will include the cooking of new dishes once weekly in a while and I may still try and master Cappellacci du Zucca when the stars align — craving for pasta + free time + mood to cook — but if the stars never align, my life will go on.

In Conclusion

The old way included too many missions, too much tracking and too much data. And data is complex and complex is not simple.

I shall forward march under the guiding principles and with the listed goals, broken down by dimension, top of mind!

In old news….

One Day (for the rest of my life) was an all-inclusive mission also. I feel like I’m living my days more and more like the mission prescribed and thus, ✅. The day-to-day docket to move, create, connect, contribute and build competency also feels like a subset of all of the above so we’ll consider it rolled in.

Go BIG or Go Home was a goal to commit myself fully to one thing within one of the dimensions. I will put this in a holding pattern before deciding if we’re going to take-off. In one sense, with the above, I’m all-in on one goal for each aspect of wellness. And I’d say more all-in on the occupational and physical fronts with the goals to write a book and to continue being a physical freak with events on the docket. But, I’m not sure if either of these goals constitutes the degree of commitment that my original mission was calling for and thus, we shall leave it to be determined.

Update On:

Wednesdays (when warranted)