And then it was December. The last month of 2015, and what a wild ride this year has been. I’m really looking forward to the holiday season. I have two (maybe three, if I’m willing to show up to a party alone) parties to attend, gifts to buy, cookies to frost, and carols to sing.
My apartment and cubicle at work are decorated, the only music I’m listening to is Christmas tunes, and I’m about 80% of the way finished with the gift-buying process. I took serious advantage of Cyber Monday, is what I’m saying.
Before we dive too deeply into the holiday season, though, I wanted to take the time to reflect on November. In November, I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time, celebrated Thanksgiving with my family (our first without Grandma, and oh, was there such an emptiness to the table), turned 28, and spent the majority of my month furiously writing to complete NaNoWriMo.
I set some goals for November, so let’s take a look back and see how they went, shall we?
Win NaNoWriMo 2015 | Indeed I did! I hit the 50,000-word mark on my birthday, in fact. What a sweet birthday present to give to myself! I’m hoping that completing this challenge will help me form a daily writing habit, which is something that was sorely missing from my life previously. My manuscript is around 62,000 words now and I figure it will end up being 90,000 words or so. Lots of writing left to do!
Exercise 4 times a week | Mostly complete? I attacked this goal like a boss towards the beginning/middle of the month and then fell apart during the last week. Oh well. Better than nothing!
Drink 32 ounces of water per day | Nope. Drinking water continues to be my biggest healthy living struggle. I just don’t like it.
Make some doctor’s appointments | Well, I made one. And it was an appointment I really needed to make, so there’s that. I still need to make a dentist appointment and get blood work done. Maybe in December?
Get a tattoo for my birthday | Nope! But I talked to a friend about it (we’ve talked about getting tattoos before), and she might put a plan in motion to make it happen. Another goal I might accomplish in December!
Even though I didn’t accomplish all of my goals, November was still an insane success because I won NaNoWriMo! I wrote 50,000 words in 28 days! I am so super proud of myself. 🙂
And now we’re in December, one of the craziest months of the year. I’m seeing so many people talking about having a simpler holiday season and I can understand that desire, but quite frankly, I love the craziness that December brings. I love the parties and the gift buying and the wrapping extravaganzas. I love a bloated DVR filled with my favorite Christmas movies. Call me crazy, but I love it all. And I’m excited about what this month will bring.
So, with all that said, here are the goals I’m hoping to accomplish this month:
Finish my novel | My goal is to write 1k words per day and, in doing so, my manuscript should be completed by the end of the year. That feels like insanity to me!
Get blood work done | I’ve had the paperwork in hand since, um, earlier this summer. I just keep putting off going for some reason. It’s not even that I’m afraid of needles or blood… it’s just this nagging task that I can never seem to get around to. (I have to fast beforehand, so it’s not something I can do while I’m out and about, either.)
Exercise 4 times per week | I’m keeping this on my monthly goals list until regular exercise becomes a habit.
Stick to one treat per day | Holidays = treats, right? And I want to eat those delicious, only-come-around-once-a-year treats! So I will. But in moderation. I’m not concerned with losing weight, just don’t want to feel gross when January 1st rolls around.
Be a full participant in The Holiday Council 2015 | Ah, one of my favorite December traditions. I slacked off last year, but this year I want to be intentional about listening to the calls, doing the homework, and being an active participant in the Facebook group.
Do you have any goals for December? What’s one thing you’re proud of doing or accomplishing in November?
Congrats on reaching your writing goal! That took some serious work so you should be very proud of yourself!
One thing I am proud of from November is hosting my family, Phil and his mom for dinner last Friday. I managed to pull the whole meal off by myself (with the exception of dessert as my mom brought leftover ones from Thanksgiving) and everyone liked the food. I managed to stay calm the entire time (I have a history of getting a little rattled when hosting a big group) and I managed to not do the dishes while everyone was there (another thing I struggle with as I had seeing a pile of dishes!). It was a really fun night and it’s great that my family & Phil’s mom got along so well!
I have no goals for December. I did get my yoga membership yesterday so I want to go at least 10-15 times to make it worth the money spent but besides that I want to try to soak up the magic of the holiday season! my shopping is done and some presents are even wrapped so I feel a little bit ahead of the game which is good!
Getting a tattoo is not that hard! You just go into a tattoo shop, tell them what you want, set up an appointment, and then show up to the appointment, The appointment takes like two hours max, unless you’re getting something huge (which I doubt someone like you would be). Seriously stop overthinking it and just do it if it’s something you really want. Won’t you be excited when you actually do it?
Well done on meeting your writing target! I worked really hard on mine for half a day but all I had to show for it was 625 words 🙁 it’s a lot harder than it seems so much kudos to you for doing it, and how exciting it must be to know that finishing it this year is within your grasp.
Congrats on the writing goal; that’s HUGE. 🙂
One thing I’m glad I did in November? Pre-ordered our Christmas cards so I could get a jump on them. I’m into the J’s now, so not quite halfway through but that’s a good start.
One thing for December: keep up my daily workouts and keep working towards 100 workouts in 100 days! I have not very exciting goals as you can tell 🙂
In terms of water drinking, have you considered a SodaStream? I drink so much water now — just plain water, carbonated, makes so much difference! Same with LaCroix! Just the bubbling water makes it easier to hydrate. And congrats on meeting your writing goal!
I thought about joining the Holiday Council but ultimately decided it was probably not my style. Still, I’m excited to hear how it goes! I’m thinking of getting a (small) tattoo this month, too. Happy December! 🙂
I’ve heard the advice of drinking flavored sparkling water, but I’ve never like the flavors, even if it is carbonated. But i am a HUGE fan of Crystal Light flavor packets. They do wonders to get me to drink water. And yes, flavored water counts! Haha. Actually all fluids count, it’s just that caffeine and alcohol dehydrate you at the same time.
Ugh – I have the SAME problem with drinking water! I don’t know what it is, I know people who drink it all day, everyday and I’ve just never been one of those people. Congrats on meeting your writing goals!
Congratulations on completing your writing challenge! And it’s awesome you’ve been able to maintain your November goals!
Proud of accomplishing in November? – Doing my best to keep positive and faithful in spite of my precarious circumstances.
Goal for December? – Apply to, hopefully land interviews for, and if I’m magically lucky, get offered a job that suits my skills and has a non-toxic work culture. I quit my new job today, after only 3 days of work, as it ended up being not at all what I expected. Negative coworkers, creepy employer, tasks over my head and skill level – there are better office environments out there!
Enjoy the holiday season :).
Do you like tea? In the winter, I replace 80% of my water drinking by drinking (herbal) teas instead. So much easier to hit that oz-goal at the end of the day.
I should really make my December (every month) goal be for one treat per day, I have been on such a sugar kick since RIley was born. It’s out of control, ha.
Good luck on your December goals, you got this!
Congratulations!!! I too struggle with the water one though. One thing I’ve found that makes it more bearable is to put lemon in it. Or cucumber if that’s more your thing. Or berries. Don’t buy the processed shit waters with that stuff though. It’s very easy to do it yourself. Especially the lemon, especially if you have a lemon squeezer.
I would say my goal for December is to get my list of things to do list done before I go away for holiday… which is going to be might hard. And a lot of stress. And a lot of days where I have to get off the Internet and do things I don’t want to do, haha. I’m failing at it right now, as I write this instead of grade papers… but I swear, after this comment, I’ll go right to it…. maybe. 😉