Happy New Year’s Eve, friends! It’s the last day of 2021, can you believe it? I don’t have any plans tonight and I’m pretty happy about that. Just give me a cozy night at home with my cats, please and thank you!
For today’s “Best of 2021” post, I’m recapping my 2021 goals! I love setting yearly goals, even if I don’t accomplish all of them. That’s not the point, after all! It’s just to have something to strive for—whether it’s a fun goal (like growing my earring collection) or a challenging goal (like establishing a regular workout routine). Here’s how I did:
1) Buy a new sectional, coffee table, and area rug. 2/3 completed. I bought a new sectional in January and an area rug in September. I am still in need of a coffee table and it’s not a purchase I prioritized this year.
2) Work out three times a week. It’s really hard to know how successful I was with this goal since I didn’t track my workouts (other than what I can look at on Peloton). I would say I was 50% successful with this goal. I will say that my success rate increased dramatically once I implemented San’s advice of selecting three days a week to work out and stick to those days. No excuses!
3) Start the process of becoming vegetarian by cutting out red meat and pork and having one meatless day once a week. Nope. I don’t know if I still have a desire to be fully vegetarian, but I do know I should limit my meat consumption for both health and ethical reasons. It’s something that’s always on my mind, but it’s been a hard mindset shift for me.
4) Become a regular water drinker. Nope. I am putting this goal back on my list for 2022 because I am determined to be one of those people who drink gallons of water every day. (Or, like, 16 ounces. Baby steps.)
5) Experiment with an elimination diet. Nope. I wanted to do a month without dairy and a month without gluten to see how my body responded to taking those food groups out of my diet. I have a feeling I have some sort of sensitivity to gluten/dairy and wanted to test my theory, but I just never put the effort into making it happen. Womp, womp.
6) Set a budget and be diligent about it. Complete. This was a very vague goal so it’s not one I can fully track, but I adhered to my budget much better this year than in previous years, so I’m happy with my progress!
7) At the end of the year, have $3,500 saved in my emergency fund and $3,000 saved in my car down payment fund. Half complete. I was able to save more than $3,000 for my car down payment and bought a car in November! My emergency fund is not at $3,500 like I’d hoped, but it’s still at a healthy level that makes me comfortable should an emergency occur.
8) Complete the 2021 Unread Shelf Project. Complete! Here’s what I tackled this year:
- January (a book with high expectations): American Royals by Katherine McGee (★★★☆☆)
- February (a book you got for free): The Cactus by Sarah Haywood (DNF)
- March (a book you bought on a trip): Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (DNF)
- April (a book bought from a used bookstore): The Hypnotist’s Love Story by Liane Moriarty (★★★★☆)
- May (a book bought as a new release): The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah (★★★★☆)
- June (a book bought in a spending spree): Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy (DNF)
- July (a book bought for the cover): Untamed by Glennon Doyle (★★★★☆)
- August (a book bought from an independent bookstore): The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (★★★★★)
- September (a book you want to learn from): Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (★★★★★)
- October (a book you’re secretly afraid of): Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (★★★★★)
- November (a book published before 2000): The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (DNF)
- December (a book that reminds you of childhood): Paperback Crush: The Total Radical History of ’80s and ’90s Teen Fiction by Gabrielle Moss (★★★☆☆)
Some fun stats about this reading challenge:
- 8 completed books, 4 DNFs (any books you do not attempt/finish in a given month must be donated, that’s the rule!)
- Of the books I finished, 63% were fiction and 37% were nonfiction
- Of the books I finished, my star rating was 4.1!
- My favorite book in this set was The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. My least favorite (aside from all of my DNFs) was American Royals by Katherine McGee.
- Here’s where I sourced all of these books: Book of the Month (3), indie bookstores (2), Thriftbooks (2), Target (1), from my mom (1), a library book sale (1), a Little Free Library (1), and Amazon (1).
9) Read The Count of Monte Cristo. Complete! I finished it in August and it was a 5-star read for me.
10) Finish the year with 35% of my books being by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community. Complete! I ended the year with 39% of my books being by or about BIPOC or the LGBT community, which is up 10% from last year. Obviously, I could still do better and I will continue working towards a more diverse reading life. It takes effort to seek out titles by and about BIPOC, queer people, disabled people, etc., but it is so worth it.
11) Build an earring collection (15+ earrings). Complete! I have 16 pairs now. 🙂 I only started wearing earrings this summer, when I discovered that the holes I thought had closed up were not. Surprise! It’s been fun to add to my collection and discover what my earring style is.
12) Start dating again. Complete. Dating during the Covid era is weird for sure, but doable.
13) Work through one Bible study this year. Nope. This was something I thought I wanted to do in early 2021, but it turns out, I’m still not ready to dive back into Bible studies. Reading the Bible is still a bit triggering for me.
14) Get my third tattoo. Nope. It just didn’t happen this year. I’m still working through the design I want (it will be in honor of my grandma who died in October 2015) so I really need to sit down and solidify what I want before moving forward.
15) Stop drinking alcohol. Nope. I started writing about my decision to make this goal and how I’m approaching alcohol/drinking today and it turned into a novel. Which means I’m going to write a blog post about it! Stay tuned for that, but for now, we’ll say that I did not complete this goal in 2021 and I’m A-OK with that.
All in all, I accomplished just about half of the goals I set for myself this year. And I’m going to give myself a pat on the back for that! I’m never going to reach a 100% completion rate and, to me, that’s just fine.
Love reading about your goals and which ones you ended up prioritizing and which ones didn’t turn out to be what you needed! Looks like a wonderful, very successful year!
Wow! I think you did great on those goals! I’ve said it before and I think it bears repeating, I love how honest you are with us (and yourself) when you do these self-assessments. I think I would probably hedge (oh, I didn’t get a third tattoo, but I designed it and did research on artists kind of thing) to give myself partial credit, but you’re just so clear. It’s quite admirable.
I haven’t read many of the Unread Shelf project books, but I’m surprised you didn’t finish The Poisonwood Bible, to be honest. I thought it was an interesting look at colonization and the power women do (and do not) have. It really does go to show that different people like different things – I guess our reading and podcast habits are opposites!
Congrats on doing so well on your goals!
When I sent you those earrings I specifically had your earring goal in mind. LOL! What do you think your style is? You would not believe how many pairs I have, gah.
I wonder if fake meats would help you eat less meat, to start? But they are processed and you might want to avoid processed stuff 🙂
I am excited to see your new tattoo when you get it 🙂
Have you thought about taking one of those food sensitivity tests? I recommended that to a coworker who thinks she is sensitive to soy. I think it’s a simple saliva swab. My SIL did it and was happy with the results and has noticed a difference after removing things she was sensitive to.
A meatless Monday might be a good, specific way to lower your meat consumption? Kind of in the same vein as what San suggested for workouts?
As you know, I didn’t set goals for 2021 and won’t for 2022 either. I still want to achieve things but I am at that stage of life where I can’t push myself beyond what is already on my plate. I think I will feel differently about goals, maybe in a year? I’m just in too much of a state of overwhelm right now! But I love reading about others’ goals!
I think you did great on your goals (gotta leave some for the new year ;)) and I am glad my tip regarding workouts helped a little.
As I think I mentioned to you, I always want to play around with an elimination diet. I am actually going to see a GI doctor next month (just for a consultation at this point) and will discuss this with him.
First, I think you did an AWESOME job on your goals. Seriously. Life changes – things change – and for you to follow through on so many of these is impressive!
And, two thoughts… late, sorry.
RE: the meatless meals. Would it help to focus on non-meat focused meals to initiate this? I’m thinking of what *I* think of as relatively simple adjustments, like having pasta and non-meat tomato sauce, or cheese pizza without pepperoni, sausage, etc. I don’t know, obviously, if you eat pasta or pizza with meat typically, but those types of adjustments sound a little less daunting, maybe, than eating beans or lentils? 🙂
And re: the water. What do you drink with meals? If it’s not water, could you drink water instead? I guess maybe I’m thinking “low-hanging fruit” with both of these – not HUGE changes, but little tiny ones?
Just thoughts, as always!