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New Year’s Resolutions: a Mid-Year Check In

ian-schneider-66374-unsplash

Hello, how is your year going?

Mine has been … interesting!

Since the year is halfway through, I thought I would look back on my list of goals for the year and see how I’m doing. Without further ado:

Goals I have accomplished:

  • Get to bed earlier. I do this most nights! How?
    • I get my husband to make dinner on nights I work late, so I eat as soon as I get home.
    • I turn off all screens and start getting ready for bed no later than 9:30.
    • I got a sound machine to drown out the noises of other things happening in the house. (Very useful when you have no bedroom door!)
  • Stay involved in politics. I’ve been voting, calling, donating, feeling helpless. The usual.
  • Start looking at properties to buy. We’re doing this! Looking at houses, organizing finances, being grownups, etcetera. One thing I’ve had to adjust in this process: my expectations. I am not going to find my dream home (or dream life) right off the bat, and that’s okay. We can get a great home for now, look for our dream home later.
  • Adopt a cat or two. See my Instagram for proof.
  • Maintain community of excellent humans. Been doing a pretty good job of this
  • Eat more good foods. I’ve been doing a really good job of this, actually
  • Drink less alcohol. This suddenly became quite easy
  • Don’t pour energy into work in off time. My new job is SO low-stress. SO NEEDED.
  • Pray with intention. I do this most nights
  • Take better care of skin. On it.
  • Be more philanthropic. I now support an organization that promotes literacy in children and adults. Because I really can’t imagine anything worse than not being able to read and write.
  • Learn to use my Instapot. I know how to use my Instapot.
  • Do things I’m afraid of. DONE. More on that later.
  • Speak and act with more confidence. I feel like I do this.
  • Be brave. Again, I feel like I’m doing this.

Goals I am so close to accomplishing!

  • Rewrite the faulty parts of my second contemporary (Swim) and submit them to my mentor. I’m on the last scene! Which I’ve rewritten 90 times! So close!
  • Finish rewriting my first manuscript. I actually did this, but am now finding NEW problems with it, so there’s some more stuff I want to change before the year is out.
  • Switch to all-natural beauty. I’ve switched over almost everything!
  • Stop calling myself a late bloomer. I’ve mostly stopped doing this and am fine with my life timeline for the first time in what feels like ever.

Goals I have sorta accomplished:

  • Write 10 hours every week. I slacked a few times, but am only 20 hours behind where I should be for total hours this year. I hope to play catch up in the next few weeks and get back on track.
  • Do yoga 3 times per week. Sometimes it happens! Sometimes it doesn’t.
  • Do cardio twice a week. I consider once a success, now, especially with my more-walking commute. I get there some weeks.
  • Don’t mindlessly scroll through phone. I’ve deleted Facebook off my phone (I HIGHLY recommend this) and at night, I switch my phone on airplane mode the moment I get to my bedroom. Internet, be gone! However, I can’t say I’ve completely eliminated mindless scrolling. But I’ve reduced it. Progress!
  • Write book reviews. I’ve been doing a good job of getting them up on Goodreads and Litsy. Amazon, not so much. Must work on this.
  • Be less wasteful. We use cloth napkins every night and I carry silverware to work with me sometimes, but not always. I could do better.
  • Evolve personal style. I’ve done a decent amount of purging and only buying stuff I love. Still progress to be made.
  • Get administrative tasks done. I set a goal of 6 per week, which I’m meeting most weeks. But not all.

Goals I am still working on:

  • Blog more. I’ve been preoccupied by recent life developments which make it hard to focus my mind on other things. I’m tackling this with renewed vigor in 2K18 Part II.
  • Read 52 books. I am woefully behind on my reading goal. Stuff on my mind + the ever-present problem, not enough time
  • Draft something new. I started something. I don’t know if it has legs yet. I hope so. It’s pretty cool. Once I’m done with Swim, I hope to tackle it.
  • Stop worrying. I am who I am.
  • Watch my posture. Working on it!
  • Drink water. Ditto!
  • Get things framed. Must find time.
  • Get new desk chair. I CAN’T FIND ONE SHORT ENOUGH FOR ME {end rant}
  • Print photos. Must find time.
  • Seek out new music. I’m addicted to the Hamilton soundtrack, does that count?
  • Whiten teeth. Ugh I hate that bleach stuff.
  • Eat more slowly. I suck at this.
  • Journal more. My mind’s been a chaotic place lately. Maybe it would help to get more stuff written down.

Goals I have put off:

  • Therapy. In an effort to save money, I haven’t been hardly at all. Soon!
  • Do something new and local every month. No time! Time taken up by other things
  • Go back to France. I’m not sure we’ll make it this year, due to aforementioned life changes.
  • Go somewhere I’ve never been before. See above.
  • Go to Seattle. See above.
  • Visit niece in North Carolina. See above. Also, she’s coming to see me soon, yay.
  • Compost. Stupid Jersey City makes you pay to compost. This is dumb. Once I have a my own yard I will look into this again.
  • Pitch freelance work. No time! Maybe next year?
  •  Host dinner parties. No time. Apartment in state of chaos. Maybe when we have a house.
  • Plan more outdoor activities. Maybe when we have a house and an actual outdoors?

New goals

  • Create a budget and stick to it. I did this a few months ago, and while it’s hard, I’m sticking to it. How? Shopping and eating out less. That’s what it really comes down to.
  • Ready myself for major life changes. One step at a time.

So! I’m doing aight, if I do say so myself.

How about you? How are your goals going? Have they evolved, like mine? I’d love to hear!

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

Posted on Sunday, 24 June 2018

Filed under Blog, Life

Tagged: , , ,

2 responses to “New Year’s Resolutions: a Mid-Year Check In”

  1. […] So here’s how I’m doing since my mid-year check in… […]

  2. […] like I did last year, I decided to see how I’m doing with my New Year’s Resolutions halfway through the year […]

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