Over the last several days, I have been thinking about goals. I didn’t set birthday goals this year because they were starting to feel almost arbitrary, like I was setting the goals out of habit. However, it is absolutely true for me that if I write something down that I am much more likely to get it done…even if I forget that I had written it own. There are lists that I have found this year that prove that to me.
This year was an interesting one for me personally. I made some adjustments that I needed to make in the spring and my life took on a different shape. I found myself doing a bunch of things that I wanted to do, but had not been doing. I took myself on a solo trip to Tennessee which is probably one of the most important things that I did this year. I took myself to a concert. I went by myself to the west side of the state to enjoy the lake and enjoy myself. I took in several movies at the theater with only myself as my companion. This year, though I spent considerable time in the company of other people, I made a point to do things by myself in a way that I had never done before. I’m definitely better for it.
Part of me wants to look back over the year and pull out a list of accomplishments. The rest of me doesn’t. I think that I tend to feel like a collection of achievements and failures, but I don’t want to feel like that anymore.
Speaking of feeling, in 2017. I think that I did a better job of letting myself feel my feelings than I ever have before, and I think that has been good for me. Feelings come and feelings go…letting myself just go with it made that seem a lot more manageable.
I lost about 20 lbs this year. Part of me wanted to set a goal to lose 10 more–30 was my original goal–but I just don’t feel like making that a priority. And that’s fine. I might change my mind. And that’ll be fine too. I’ve enjoyed good health, and this body is always down to be physical. I think that’s enough.
- In 2017, I found myself wishing that I had kept a list of the media that I had consumed. I aim to do that in 2018.
- I began to write for PULP this year which was extremely rewarding. Through this, I made a point to pay more attention to what was going on around me and to take advantage of the opportunities that make this area appealing. I aim to keep this up.
- I started this in 2017, but I have a bazillion t-shirt ideas. I want to turn them into reality in 2018.
- Secret poetry project.
- Get back into Mathematics of A Race Riot. To make the goal measurable, I intend to write about 25 riots in 2018.
- Put a fire pit in the back yard!
- Make bao at home.
- Get the bricks on my house taken care of.
- Replace my stove.
- Find a household chore routine that works for me.
- Decorate the big, blank, living room wall.
- Put order to the basement.
- Return the humiliating collection of bottles that reside in the garage.
- Grow some food.
- Try the new workouts that I have been pinning over the last few years.
- Successfully make sauerkraut. If at first you don’t succeed….
- Take another solo trip. Maybe camping?
- Private donation #1.
- Private donation #2.
And that’s it. My totally unsexy list of 2018 goals. Who cares if there is an odd number? Not I! That’s how I’m rolling into this new year.