Well, here we are. The final check-in on my 2022 goals. How did I end up doing? Welllll… it’s not pretty. Let’s get into it:
Three Big Goals
1) Reduce my sugar intake. Not complete. I didn’t make this goal specific enough. I know better than that!
2) Save $4,000 for a down payment. Not complete. At the end of 2021, I was thinking about becoming a homeowner in the near future. Now, it’s just not something I’m all that interested in. A renter I shall be!
3) Reorganize my blogging categories/tags. Not complete. I made a huge spreadsheet of all the blog posts I’ve written from 2009-2021 and started recategorizing blog posts, but only made it to February 2011 before I put the project on pause.
20 Fun Goals
1) Buy a new mattress. Half-complete. I have most of the money saved, but wanted to add another $500ish to my savings account before I started mattress shopping for real. However, I recently realized that I could use my brother to get a mattress for dirt cheap! He works for a furniture store and has a decent employee discount and he got me some prices on mattresses for under $400! (With a box spring, that price would be a smidge higher but still wayyy lower than using one of those online mattress providers.) This will get done in 2023!
2) Complete the 2022 Unread Shelf Project. Complete! This year, I read:
- January (the book you’ve been putting off reading): The English Wife by Lauren Willig ★★★☆☆
- February (a title you couldn’t resist): Wordslut by Amanda Montell ★★★☆☆
- March (a memoir or biography): Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling ★★★★☆
- April (a book by an indie publisher or small press): When She Woke by Hillary Jordan ★★★★★
- May (the shortest unread book on your shelf): The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin ★★★★☆
- June (a book about a journey): Outlawed by Anna North ★★★☆☆
- July (a book set in a country/culture different than yours): A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (DNF)
- August (a book chosen by your friends or family): Pretty Little Things by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton (DNF)
- September (a book that represents the reader you want to be): The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare ★★★☆☆
- October (a book that makes you nervous): A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold ★★★★★
- November (a title that starts with the first letter of your name): The Smart One by Jennifer Close ★★☆☆☆
- December (a classic book): Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison (DNF)
3) Read all of the books added to my Goodreads TBR in 2017. Complete! I DNF-ed almost half of these books, but that’s okay. The goal was to finally give these books that have been languishing on my Goodreads TBR for so long a try, and that’s what I did.
Columbine by Dave Cullen★★★★★I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy NelsonDNFAll the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven★★★★★Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca SolnitDNFAccidental Saints: Finding God in All the Wrong People by Nadia Bolz-Weber★★★☆☆Rebecca by Daphne du MaurierDNFThe Purity Myth: How America’s Obsession with Virginity Is Killing Young Women by Jessica Valenti★★★★☆Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley★★★★☆Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne FadimanDNFThe Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane★★★★☆I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou★★★☆☆Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon KrakauerDNFA Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold★★★★★Small Great Things by Jodi PicoultDNFSing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn WardDNFHow to Be a Person in the World: Ask Polly’s Guide Through the Paradoxes of Modern Life by Heather HavrileskyDNFDoes Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America by Jeff Chu★★★☆☆Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon★★★★☆Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley★★★★☆The Nix by Nathan HillDNFThe Names They Gave Us by Emery LordDNF
4) Do 100 Peloton workouts. Not complete. I made it to 66 workouts. Womp, womp.
5) Restart my novel. Not complete. I started a podcast, though, so I did something creative this year.
6) Go back to therapy. Complete! I love therapy.
7) Watch 12 standup specials. Half-complete. I only watched 6 standup specials this year.
- Taylor Tomlinson, Quarter-Life Crisis ★★★★★ (I cried with laughter from this one. A must-watch!)
- Nate Bargatze, The Greatest Average American ★★★☆☆ (There were some chuckles, but overall, kinda blah.)
- Mike Birbiglia, Thank God for Jokes ★★★★☆ (A bit more heartfelt than funny, but still a good special.)
- Taylor Tomlinson, Look at You ★★★★★ (Is Taylor my favorite stand-up comedian? I think so.)
- Nicole Byer, BBW ★★★☆☆ (Very, very raunchy!)
- Iliza Schlesinger, Elder Millenial ★★★★☆ (Soooo funny and her thoughts about dating really spoke to me.)
8) Watch 6 TV series. Complete!
- Only Murders in the Building – I watched seasons 1 and 2 this year.
- Ted Lasso – I watched seasons 1 and 2 in May/June.
- Abbott Elementary – I watched season 1, and it was excellent.
- Good Girls – I watched season 1 and I’m halfway through season 2.
- Cheer – I watched almost the entirety of season 2 while I was holed up at home with Covid.
- Love is Blind – This show is so bad, it’s good. I watched seasons 2 and 3 this year.
9) Launch two seasons of our podcast. Complete!
10) Get my third tattoo. Not complete. My social anxiety is holding me back on this one. I just need to make the appointment!
11) Walk one 5k a month, in a different place each time. Not complete. I only managed 3 walks.
- January 17, 2022 – Seminole Park – 2.82 miles with my mom and the dogs in 1 hour, 12 minutes
- February 20, 2022 – Walsingham Park – 3.1 miles solo in 1 hour, 16 minutes
- May 14, 2022 – Crescent Lake Park – 3.1 miles solo in 1 hour, 14 minutes
12) Redo my bathroom. Complete!
13) Get microdermabrasion or laser treatment—whatever is the better option for dealing with my acne scars. Not complete. Money was a little tight near the mid-point to the end of the year, and I know this would be a significant cost.
14) Learn how to French braid. Not complete. A goal for 2023!
15) Go on one date a month. Not complete.
16) Put an extra $1,000 toward my car loan. Not complete.
17) Make 12 new recipes. Half-complete. I made 9 new recipes, but didn’t quite get to doing one new recipe every month.
- January: Air fryer chicken breasts from Skinnytaste (not a keeper)
- February: Baked mac and cheese from Mom on Timeout (delicious but time-consuming; I need to choose different cheeses + use less topping next time)
- March: Crockpot chicken and gravy from Plain Chicken (tasted great on the first night, but wasn’t appealing as leftovers)
- April: One-pot cheesburger pasta from Budget Bytes (tasted like homemade hamburger helper. Delicious!)
- May: Slow cooker pesto mozzarella chicken pasta from The Magical Slow Cooker. (Lauren posted about this recipe on her blog and I knew I had to give it a try. It was so, so good.)
- June: BBQ cheddar baked chicken from Budget Bytes (it was fine, but not outstanding enough to add to my regular routine)
- July: Fiesta Casserole via TikTok (super delicious, makes great leftovers!)
- August: n/a
- September: Air fryer grilled cheese sandwiches (messed up the batch on my first go, but the second try was better)
- October: Lemon pepper chicken from Budget Bytes
- November: n/a
- December: n/a
18) Make a recipe book. Not complete.
19) Cut gluten out of my diet for one month. Not complete.
20) Buy a coffee table and a floor lamp. Complete! I bought a cute coffee table in January and a floor lamp in March.
Well, that was depressing. I managed to fully complete 7 goals and halfway complete 3 goals. Out of 20. (We won’t even get into the three big goals I originally planned for.) There are many reasons I did so poorly this year: mental health struggles, financial woes. I also feel like I have a lot of aspirational goals on this list, but didn’t really break those goals down into more manageable chunks to make them more attainable. Ah, well. Live and learn, right? I’m not going to beat myself up over this poor performance. It is what it is! I also accomplished a lot of other things this year, things I didn’t add to my goals list, and I’m going to choose to be proud of those accomplishments.
Happy New Year, friends! I can’t believe this is my last blog post of 2022. See ya in 2023!
Aspirational goals are so tricky to quantify! But I think you still did really well, especially considering you had a tough year with your anxiety. Happy New Year!
Perspective is so funny, because I was reading and thinking how much progress you made toward so many goals! Lots of accomplishments! But then again I have a very generous attitude toward goal-setting, because I feel like goals often fail to take into account our evolving priorities. Now I am off to check out the slow cooker pesto chicken recipe because I am intrigued!
Oh, that’s so kind! I was hoping I would accomplish more things on this list, but I do really try to give myself the grace that it’s okay if I don’t accomplish all of my goals. This is just a fun practice for me!
You’ll have to let me know if you make the slow cooker pesto chicken recipe. It’s one of my new faves!
Goals are tricky. They can be super motivating and exciting, but I am too much of an enneagram 1/Upholder, and a recovering perfectionist. So I will be incredibly hard on myself if I don’t accomplish things even if there is a decent reason I didn’t. I have to be very very careful about what I ask of myself since I know that I am prone to not being kind to myself. I am setting some goals for 2023, though!!
I think you did great, though. You didn’t do everything but you did more than you would have if you hadn’t set these goals! I wish I could have that kind of mindset – then goals would be more beneficial and fun for me.
Happy New Year, friend!!
I think it’s good to know how goal-setting impacts you. For me, I can set goals and not really beat myself up if I don’t accomplish them. I’ll just try again next month (or next year, ha). But if you ARE someone who doesn’t set a goal unless you MUST accomplish it, then you have to be careful how you goal-set to make sure you’re not screwing future-you over. 🙂 I’m glad you’ve learned that about yourself!
You have made so much progress! I am a huge fan of labelling things as “partial” or “yes, in the spirit” or coming up with counter successes (for example, one year a goal was to complete a major home reno project and it didn’t get touched at all BUT we did install a very lovely front walkway, so I gave myself HUGE partial credit for doing…something related to the house).
So I think you did a great job. Also, no pressure here, but over time I’m learning that often if I don’t cross things off my list (especially if they are repeat goals) that item is a) no longer a priority in my life or b) I need to reimagine the goal in a different context. So I’m trying to “know myself better” when I set goals. I’m actually going to blog about this soon!
Ooh, I really like the idea of coming up with counter successes for goals I didn’t complete. That’s such a smart idea!
These were great goals, and also a lot! A year is a long time and our situations and priorities change, so it seems like you did pretty great to me. I love your unread book goals, and will use them as inspiration to finally get to those Goodreads TBRs from 2006 🙂
A year IS a long time! I am pro-shifting goals around if things are no longer a priority, because what’s the point of keeping a goal that you don’t want to achieve anymore on your goals list?!
Wow, you were an early adopter of Goodreads! 2006!
I am a strong believer that going into the new year and setting goals is setting you up for success. You are thinking about what is important for you and your life choices. When in the end not all get done than either priorities have shifted or you realized they were never real goals to beginn with.
The aspirational goals are tricky. I have been trapped there too. But I am not giving up and hoping 2023 will be the year I chip away at them.
Happy new year and may it be a wonderful one.
I, too, love the fresh start of a new year and new goals to accompany me! It’s just fun to imagine what I want the year to look like and set some goals for myself.
I didn’t even set goals for 2022, so honestly, you did better than I did! I’m trying to get back into my habit of monthly goals, instead of big, overarching, annual ones. Good luck to both of us this year!
Reflecting on your goal list and identifying what did – and didn’t – work is part of the process. And sometimes things are also out of our control. I think it’s fantastic that you completed some of these goals and started working on others… the rest will have to be tweaked and maybe readded to your 2023 list. 🙂
Well, even on the Happier podcast, Gretchen and Elisabeth recapped their “22 for 22” lists and I think they only did about half of them. Things change as the year goes on, and sometimes things that made sense in January no longer make sense in July. And, no harm in rolling over some goals for next year’s list! Just the fact that you’re setting these goals makes you accomplish more in the year than if you didn’t think about it at all.
Absolutely! And I am a big fan of the “rollover goal” category. 🙂 Sometimes, we just need a bit of time to get comfortable enough to complete a goal! (Or maybe “uncomfortable enough” is the better word choice.)
Super late to the party, but dude. You did a TON! You started a PODCAST! And, it might be helpful to compare what you did accomplish with what you were doing the previous year. For example – the Peloton workouts. Did you improve on 2021? If so, then that’s a win, to me! You made 9 new meals – and you also got back out into the world! You traveled and hung out with friends and did other important things. So I’m with those who see this as an amazing year for you – especially considering ALL you deal with, my friend. <3