Year of the Heifer

I was in the car yesterday afternoon, and I heard a brief interview with a woman who has been an activist most of her life.

I'm pretty sure this is one of those situations where I heard what I needed to hear and not necessarily what she said, but I'm also pretty sure that's how God talks to us sometimes.

What I heard was, "Make a longterm goal and work toward it."

What my heart said was, "Your life is really, really fantastic. You don't want it to change. Because you don't want it to change, you're living in fear that something will happen. You need to put your energy into doing something positive rather than being afraid of some vague, nonexistent negative."

Yes.

I like to make goals. I really like to make goals that I know I can reach. I'm the sort of person who makes lists and includes things that are already finished so I can have the pleasure of marking them off.

This goal, however, needs to be bigger. It needs to be something that I'm not sure I can reach. It needs to be a stretch.

(Warning: This may sound like a small goal to you. If so, please don't tell me.)

I'm going to try to earn enough money through exercise by December 31, 2013 that I can give the Heifer Project $500. 

Photo from Heifer's website here

My usual pay-as-I-exercise guidelines apply:

• For every time I exercise, I earn $1.50.
• If I exercise 4 times in one week, I earn $10 instead of $6.
• If, by some miracle, I work out more than 4 times in a week, I earn $2.50 for each of those additional workouts.

I started doing this because I wanted a reason to get my bum on the treadmill. Having $10/week to spend however I like without worrying about the overall household budget is a good motivation for me.

However, earning enough money that I can buy the equivalent of a cow for someone who does not have such a delightful life that she has to make up goals in order to be fulfilled is much, much better.

I'm starting this week, so I'll have 56 weeks to do this instead of 52. That means that I have to meet my goal of working out four times a week for all but six weeks over the next thirteen months. That's ambitious for someone who loves knitting on the couch as much as I do.

I'm calling it the Year of the Heifer.