Hello, how is your year going?

Mine has been … interesting!

Since the year is halfway through, I thought I would look back on my list of goals for the year and see how I’m doing. Without further ado:

Goals I have accomplished:

• Get to bed earlier. I do this most nights! How?
  • I get my husband to make dinner on nights I work late, so I eat as soon as I get home.
  • I turn off all screens and start getting ready for bed no later than 9:30.
  • I got a sound machine to drown out the noises of other things happening in the house. (Very useful when you have no bedroom door!)
• Stay involved in politics. I’ve been voting, calling, donating, feeling helpless. The usual.
• Start looking at properties to buy. We’re doing this! Looking at houses, organizing finances, being grownups, etcetera. One thing I’ve had to adjust in this process: my expectations. I am not going to find my dream home (or dream life) right off the bat, and that’s okay. We can get a great home for now, look for our dream home later.
• Adopt a cat or two. See my Instagram for proof.
• Maintain community of excellent humans. Been doing a pretty good job of this
• Eat more good foods. I’ve been doing a really good job of this, actually
• Drink less alcohol. This suddenly became quite easy
• Don’t pour energy into work in off time. My new job is SO low-stress. SO NEEDED.
• Pray with intention. I do this most nights
• Take better care of skin. On it.
• Be more philanthropic. I now support an organization that promotes literacy in children and adults. Because I really can’t imagine anything worse than not being able to read and write.
• Learn to use my Instapot. I know how to use my Instapot.
• Do things I’m afraid of. DONE. More on that later.
• Speak and act with more confidence. I feel like I do this.
• Be brave. Again, I feel like I’m doing this.

Goals I am so close to accomplishing!

• Rewrite the faulty parts of my second contemporary (Swim) and submit them to my mentor. I’m on the last scene! Which I’ve rewritten 90 times! So close!
• Finish rewriting my first manuscript. I actually did this, but am now finding NEW problems with it, so there’s some more stuff I want to change before the year is out.
• Switch to all-natural beauty. I’ve switched over almost everything!
• Stop calling myself a late bloomer. I’ve mostly stopped doing this and am fine with my life timeline for the first time in what feels like ever.

Goals I have sorta accomplished:

• Write 10 hours every week. I slacked a few times, but am only 20 hours behind where I should be for total hours this year. I hope to play catch up in the next few weeks and get back on track.
• Do yoga 3 times per week. Sometimes it happens! Sometimes it doesn’t.
• Do cardio twice a week. I consider once a success, now, especially with my more-walking commute. I get there some weeks.
• Don’t mindlessly scroll through phone. I’ve deleted Facebook off my phone (I HIGHLY recommend this) and at night, I switch my phone on airplane mode the moment I get to my bedroom. Internet, be gone! However, I can’t say I’ve completely eliminated mindless scrolling. But I’ve reduced it. Progress!
• Write book reviews. I’ve been doing a good job of getting them up on Goodreads and Litsy. Amazon, not so much. Must work on this.
• Be less wasteful. We use cloth napkins every night and I carry silverware to work with me sometimes, but not always. I could do better.
• Evolve personal style. I’ve done a decent amount of purging and only buying stuff I love. Still progress to be made.
• Get administrative tasks done. I set a goal of 6 per week, which I’m meeting most weeks. But not all.

Goals I am still working on:

• Blog more. I’ve been preoccupied by recent life developments which make it hard to focus my mind on other things. I’m tackling this with renewed vigor in 2K18 Part II.
• Read 52 books. I am woefully behind on my reading goal. Stuff on my mind + the ever-present problem, not enough time
• Draft something new. I started something. I don’t know if it has legs yet. I hope so. It’s pretty cool. Once I’m done with Swim, I hope to tackle it.
• Stop worrying. I am who I am.
• Watch my posture. Working on it!
• Drink water. Ditto!
• Get things framed. Must find time.
• Get new desk chair. I CAN’T FIND ONE SHORT ENOUGH FOR ME {end rant}
• Print photos. Must find time.
• Seek out new music. I’m addicted to the Hamilton soundtrack, does that count?
• Whiten teeth. Ugh I hate that bleach stuff.
• Eat more slowly. I suck at this.
• Journal more. My mind’s been a chaotic place lately. Maybe it would help to get more stuff written down.

Goals I have put off:

• Therapy. In an effort to save money, I haven’t been hardly at all. Soon!
• Do something new and local every month. No time! Time taken up by other things
• Go back to France. I’m not sure we’ll make it this year, due to aforementioned life changes.
• Go somewhere I’ve never been before. See above.
• Go to Seattle. See above.
• Visit niece in North Carolina. See above. Also, she’s coming to see me soon, yay.
• Compost. Stupid Jersey City makes you pay to compost. This is dumb. Once I have a my own yard I will look into this again.
• Pitch freelance work. No time! Maybe next year?
•  Host dinner parties. No time. Apartment in state of chaos. Maybe when we have a house.
• Plan more outdoor activities. Maybe when we have a house and an actual outdoors?

New goals

• Create a budget and stick to it. I did this a few months ago, and while it’s hard, I’m sticking to it. How? Shopping and eating out less. That’s what it really comes down to.
• Ready myself for major life changes. One step at a time.

So! I’m doing aight, if I do say so myself.

How about you? How are your goals going? Have they evolved, like mine? I’d love to hear!

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash