2020. It’s almost like a swear word now, but on New Year’s Eve 2019 I was so looking forward to what the new year would bring. My nephew was coming. I was getting married. I had goals and plans to look forward to and I was so very happy.
Who was it who said “If you want to make God laugh tell him your plans?” This year wasn’t what we hoped it would be. There was a lot of darkness and doubt, anger and grieving. But those things I was looking forward to on this day last year? I still have them. I have a beautiful nephew who is the happiest child I’ve ever met. I have a wonderful husband who has helped me through this year in so many ways. I have my family and a group of girl friends whom I wouldn’t have survived this year without. I have my health and my faith. Despite everything 2020 has taken, I have those things and I am so very grateful.
I also have hope. Hope that this year will be better. The slate wasn’t wiped clean at midnight. COVID didn’t vanish when the clock struck 12, but I believe we’re making progress towards winning this war and I’m going to choose to be optimistic for a change.
Last year I didn’t make a resolution for 2020; I only had three goals. I managed to accomplish most of them. (I didn’t read all of Shakespeare’s works – unfortunately I fell way behind on that while focusing on wedding planning and never found my groove again.) I decided to try to the same again this year. You can call them resolutions if you would like, but these are the main goals I plan to work towards this year:
- Continual Self Improvement – I’m not a bad person, but I could be better (we all can) and I want to work on this more intentionally this year. I want to be an awesome aunt, a good sister, loving daughter, caring friend, and supportive wife.
- More Focus on Self Care – Because let’s face it, I let 2020 kick my ass (and I know I’m not alone). Working from home has made it too easy to be lazy. I made myself a promise to do more for myself this year, and take better care of myself.
- Expand on Knowledge in my Chosen Career Path – One of my 2020 goals was to become Salesforce Certified, and I accomplished that early in December. (YAY!) But I want to continue that journey and learn more, possibly diving into some coding (something I never would have thought I’d be interested in 5 years ago).
- Stick to My Reading Plans – In addition to my general reading goal (60 books – slightly lower than my 2020 goal of 70 books, even though I beat that goal by 13 books), I have several other reading plans I’m working towards this year:
- Shakespeare: I’d like to finish last year’s goal of reading all of his works, but I also joined a group that’s doing a deep dive of all his Histories this year – one per month (plus The Merry Wives of Windsor to equal 12). I’m really looking forward to this slower pace and more focused study.
- Dickens: Because I couldn’t help myself, I also joined a group attempting to read all of Dickens’ novels by the end of the year.
- Bible/Devotional: This sort of also ties into my first and second goal, but I’m attempting to read through the Bible chronologically this year and actually stick with it. I bought a book to follow along, subscribed to the corresponding podcast, and hope to stick to the plan!
- Blog More – I say this every year. I know I do. I’m hoping maybe this is the year I actually stick with it. I’d like to blog weekly, but at this point I’d be happy starting at 1-2 times a month and going from there.
2021 won’t immediately fix all the problems of 2020 and it will not a perfect year either, I’m going to do my best to appreciate every moment as much as I can. What are your goals and/or plans to try to make the most of 2021?
Not Another Dumb Blonde 