On January 31, 2022 I made some goals for 2023. Let’s see how it all shook out.
2023 Misses:
Home: The garden wasn’t great, which I’m blaming on weather and the smoky air in June. I didn’t find a concrete person, the electrician continues to ghost me, and I am overwhelmed by the projects I need to get rolling here.
Safe/Loved/Warm: I only gave blood once instead of twice. I tried twice to schedule a second appointment and both times I cancelled due to illness.
Fun: We did travel to DC in January and WDW in October, but most of our daytrips were put on hold because of WM’s knee surgery. And I still didn’t learn how to juggle. I never do.
Mental/Emotional: Still no new friends, even though I extended a few “hey if you want to get together, I’m free, let me know” offers, most were well received but none were taken up on. Which is embarrassing. I suppose I should be more forward with “HEY DO YOU WANT TO GO OUT FOR A DRINK NEXT FRIDAY AT 7PM Y/N?” conversation, but I don’t want to have to resort to a hard sell of myself. I thought I’d meet people at the watercolor class, but many people came already paired with a friend, and the ones who didn’t were just there to paint, which I understand.
Financial: No extra mortgage payments, and not much paid down on my large credit card. Both Murphy and the cars had expensive health problems in 2023. I’m fortunate that we had the money to pay them, but that took away the extra I would have used elsewhere.
But I’m not depressed at all over the ones I’ve missed (except the friend one, that’s a bummer) because in 2023 I finally quit biting/picking at my nails! That wasn’t even a goal!
Even though they are short compared to others, they are long to me and I really enjoy filing and painting them. It’s nice to not have to hide my hands in photos anymore. It’s nice to not have aching and swollen cuticles. My cuticles still get dinged up quite a bit from housework, it’s nothing compared to how they were. I had Disney nails for my Florida trip and holiday nails for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. They are so pretty!
2023 Wins:
Physical: It took me until September, but I finally began a regular morning yoga and lunchtime walk routine. Moving is good, and I will do more of that in 2024. I was also on top of almost all of the necessary doctor appointments I needed to make. I missed the followup window on my mammogram abnormality, but I’ll get that all done in Jan/Feb. This year that will be easier because I won’t need a colonoscopy or an eye appointment this year. I’m also taking vitamins regularly.
Home: I, uh, had the gutters cleaned. But I also finally got into my town’s Facebook group and will be using it for professional recommendations.
Safe/Loved/Warm: I wrote over 300 postcards last year. About half of those went toward Democratic election campaigns/Ohio’s abortion laws and the other half went to Florida’s Vote by Mail initiative. Out of the eleven candidates/issues I wrote for in 2023, 8 were winners, which is much better than I did in any of the previous years. I started a recurring donation to Everytown’s gun control efforts, and became a Friend of our local library.
Fun: I took a watercolor class and promptly didn’t paint at all once it ended. BUT I TOOK THE CLASS. I tried various other crafty things, including creating an R sign for outside of the house, building the Up model house (yay!), crocheting Woobles (didn’t enjoy it), assembling a Lego Typewriter, making little clay ghosts, and finally got back into cardmaking. We traveled to Washington DC for a fun weekend last January, Virginia Beach in July, and Walt Disney World in October.
Mental/Emotional: I created a morning routine that puts some structure around my work from home days. I worked at creating a clean, mostly-minimal office area (desk, wall) that is calming and uncluttered. I started taking better care of my face.
Goals for 2024:
No surprise, it’s mostly the same things, which are okay.
Physical: I am paying monthly for a gym I do not go to and I refuse to cancel it. I need to find a way to fit this into my life. I don’t want to go before work because I will never stick with that. And after work is difficult because we eat dinner early and I don’t want to keep the others waiting. Maybe after dinner? I also need to work on my posture. Since I hurt my knee in October, I’ve been walking and standing with a little bit of a stoop. Can’t have that.
Safe/Loved/Warm: I’ll continue writing 15 postcards per month, will donate blood twice, will probably textbank for the 2024 Presidential election again (ugh), going to try my best to get Bob Menendez primaried out, and not be coy about contacting my representatives to let them know what I think they should be doing.
Financial: Pay down my big ass credit card. For real.
Home: Driveway project, abundant garden, a clean and well-organized garage, and find helpers who won’t ghost me so I can chip away at these smaller repairs that plague the corners of my brain.
Mental/Emotional: I would like some friends around my age to meet up for drinks or a spa day or typical ‘girls day/night out’ activities. Maybe I should just post on Facebook? Even though there are so many articles about there about how hard it is to find friends as an adult, it’s very scary and embarrassing to put myself out like that.
Fun: Hoping to travel a little more this year. I’m going to San Diego to work TNP’s Big Annual Conference and if WM can’t join me afterward, I might tack on an extra day by myself to visit the beach. I’d love to go back to Seattle. Is it Covid-safe to get back on a cruise yet? I’ve seen many do it and not end up sick. I’m going to keep up with cardmaking too. And learn to juggle!
January 2024 Personal Goals:
Complete YWA’s 30 days of Yoga program, write my pen pal, continue my morning routine, call a guy to look at a window, make a FB post in my town’s group asking for concrete company recommendations, make cards for January, research local walking trails for spring, write 30 postcards, schedule blood donation #1, have a low-spend January.
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