Happy New Year’s Eve! I am most likely third-wheeling to a party a coworker is throwing with my roommate and her boyfriend, but I think I will have fun. As much as I’d like to stay home, I’m trying to remind myself of all the lonely NYEs I’ve had where I’ve been alone and sad. A little perspective never hurt anyone.
To conclude my “Best of 2015” posts for this year, I wanted to review the goals I set at the beginning of the year. It’s blowing my mind that I set these goals a year ago and now I’m here, thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2016.
Let’s take a look back at the goals I set, shall we?
1. Complete the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (and read 52 books).
This year, I ended up reading 90 books! That’s one of my highest totals ever. (I read a ton of books in December, ha!) So I definitely blew my goal of reading 52 books out of the water completely.
My other reading goal this year was to complete the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge, and I completed all but two categories. I have no desire to read books in those categories anyway, so I am counting this goal as complete. Yay!
2. Get a tattoo.
Nope, I did not complete this goal. I want to get a tattoo, but I’m also encountering some inner resistance that has me hesitating. And until I can figure out what is causing the resistance (do I really want a tattoo, or do I just think I want one?), I don’t want to put such permanent ink on my body. One day, though!
3. Move into my own apartment.
Yes! I am typing up this post from my apartment in Tampa, which I share with one of my best friends. This was my biggest goal for 2015 and I am so happy I made it happen.
4. Put 20% of my income towards savings/debt each month.
Uh, no. I forgot I even had this goal. This year was a strain on me financially between moving and some traveling and car repairs. And I just chose other priorities rather than focusing on this goal (let’s face it: I did not need half the stuff I bought for my new apartment).
5. Travel to a new state.
Nope – the only traveling within the U.S. I did was to St. Augustine and Savannah.
6. Race a 5k.
Yes! At the end of March, I completed a 5k in Savannah. It was a beautiful race as we ran through the historic squares and Forsyth Park, but it just affirmed how very much I hate running. No more races!
7. Master the 80/20 rule for healthy eating.
Not even close. Eating healthy on a consistent basis continues to be an area of immense struggle for me.
Okay, well, in terms of my 2015 goals, this year wasn’t too successful. But even though I love to set yearly intentions and strive to achieve them throughout the year, I don’t beat myself up too much about not marking everything as complete. That’s not exactly the point. The point is to have a guide for what I want to accomplish.
I am making goals for 2016, as I am hoping this is a year of immense change – with my health, my finances, my relationships, my writing. I will be finalizing them over the weekend and sharing them on the blog next week. I love setting yearly intentions, to visualize how I want my life to look like a year from now and setting goals to make that dream life happen.
How do you feel about yearly goals – yay or nay?
I looooove setting goals. It’s in my blood. But I am careful about how many I set and I make sure that I set myself up to succeed. That’s not to say that I don’t challenge myself, because I do. But I don’t want to set too many goals and risk feeling overwhelmed because as an upholder, I’m not great at taking a step back from a goal is it’s not working for me. I’ll be sharing my goals next week as well and am excited to tackle them. Out of my goals there is one that I have a chance of not accomplishing and that’s PR’ing at my marathon in June and tri in August. I’ll give it my all but you just never know what will happen on race day.
Happy new year! I hope that you have fun tonight at the party! Maybe you could drive separately so that you can bow out if you aren’t feeling it or want to leave earlier than your friend? You are trooper for going out, though! I know what you mean about the possibility of feeling lonely, though.
90 books?! That’s amazing! Well done.
I waited and waited to get a tattoo until finally one day it just felt…right? I actually decided on the plane to Seattle this past summer that I would get one while I was there, haha. Now I love my tattoo and am trying to decide what to get done next.
I love setting goals for the new year. January through March are usually quieter months for me, which makes them the perfect time to tackle new goals. Besides that, since I quit drinking I’ve found that the time between my soberversary and the new year is just the right amount of time to reflect on the past year and look forward to the new one. I love it!
I’m so glad you were able to accomplish your goal of moving to your own apartment! I know that was something you’ve wanted to do for awhile, even though you were scared. Hopefully it’s given you an added boost of confidence to tackle other scary goals. Happy New Year!!
Awesome that you achieved your biggest, #1 goal though which was moving out on your own! Way to go! I’m not sure if I’m going to set any goals for 2016 yet. I didn’t set any for 2015 – at least not on my blog! But two of my goals in 2015 were to become a fitness instructor, which I did yay, and transition my body off of taking birth control which has NOT gone as planned and is a lot of the reason 2015 was such a crappy year for me. I will have to think about whether I want to set any goals for 2016 or not!
Good job on completing some of your goals! Man, I think I’ve said this before but you are a READING MACHINE!!!
One tattoo idea for you: my sister recently got a small tattoo of our mom’s initials done in our mom’s own handwriting. I thought it was a great way to honor our mom’s memory and it’s obviously a tattoo my sis will never regret getting. Maybe you could do something similar to honor your grandma’s memory?
Good job on these goals overall!
I’m a mostly yay I think. The only thing I failed was my pay down 5k of my student loans. I made it to 2k before I got laid off. But I was successful in climbing 3 rooftops to practice night time urban photography, taking my parents on a trip, and reading 50 books.