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