Goals. For some of us, that word creates an immediate shudder. I am one of these individuals. Years of goals being set for me in a prescriptive manner, with little to no input from me makes me severely avoidant of goals. It was far too disheartening to not be able to achieve them and even be questioned on what went so wrong. Fast forward to adult services where the language they speak is goals. They are arguably different, as you lead in terms of what you want to achieve in this set of sessions. My kind of goals is still far from what they are used to. For physiotherapy, my goal was to move less like an elderly individual without as much pain. The question, “so walk more and for longer distances?” was asked and met with a resounding no. The team got used to my style of goals and we weren’t left disappointed. I managed to move around not looking quite so elderly, with only a couple of dips in health.

My goals have to be achievable for me as I’m a realist. There would be no point me saying what they might expect or want to hear because in the 6 sessions we wouldn’t get anywhere.Goals are still a sticky point for me, I’ve gotten used to never really organizing anything more than a month in advance. I normally am not sure if I will be able to stick to those plans until the day of. However, even if you call them future plans, objectives, aims or ambitions I think it is important to still want to get the most out of the tiny slice of life we have left.

Disney World is a dream of mine, near on impossible at present, but I hope to get there one day. That’s the key for me personally, is to still look forward. I have to say my hope for a significant recovery is nearly gone, if not fully gone. I still have hope for my opportunities and things I’d love to see and experience. Plus looking at hotels, you can’t afford, for trips you aren’t going on can be rather entertaining.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Big or small, I think it gives us something to plan and think about. It can help with the feeling that you are on pause, whilst everyone is going full speed ahead. Your goals and ideals may not match up to your peers and friends, but it doesn’t matter. You may go against the grain, not everyone can stick to the cookie cutter style life. Be open to having hopes to look forward into the future.