SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday, January 8, 2021

Goals for 2021

 Hey there! So here we are at the end of the first full week of January, and a full week into the new year. You all know how much I love setting goals for myself and New Years Resolutions are my jam!

It's fun to look back at some of my old resolutions and see how setting goals for myself has changed my life. 

- In 2015 my resolution was to try something "outside the box" for me. At the time I hated running, and thought signing up for a half marathon fit the bill of "outside the box" for me. It turns out I actually LOVE running, I just had to get out there enough times and find my groove before I realized it. 

- I have always loved to read but in grad school I got away from reading for pleasure. I didn't have the time. In 2014 I set a goal for myself to read 12 books, one a month, and surprised myself by reading almost double that. Last year I read 40 books and am excited to see how many I can get in this year. 

So it's the start of a new year, and time to set some new goals. A couple years back I was listening to a podcast and they were talking about setting goals that were SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. I love to follow that acronym as I set my goals because it helps to make sure I actually achieve them. This year I have set one goal each for several different areas of my life: physical health, mental health, emotional health, a marriage goal, and a parenting goal. Let's have a look:

- Physical- Try to get some form of exercise in almost every day of the year. Now this doesn't mean a full hour gym session daily. This could mean choosing to walk to the grocery store (it's a mile from our house) rather than drive. It could mean walking around the neighborhood with Lily Grace while she rides her bike rather than tell her to stay on the driveway so I can sit in my chair and drink a LaCroix (spoken from experience here 😉). It could mean 10 minutes of crunches while the kids nap. The point being just try to do something physically active every day. Those endorphins are an immediate mood booster and I never regret getting a little physical activity in. decided to set a specific goal of 300/365 days this year. I know there will be days when I may be sick/too busy/not able to, so I figured giving myself roughly 2 days a month "off" is fine. 

- Mental- I love to keep my mind busy. I am a firm believer that we are never "done" learning, and I genuinely love trying new things and learning to new things. Each year I try to set out to read more than I did the previous year. Last year I read 40 books, and this year I am hoping to read at least 41. 

- Emotional- If 2020 has taught me anything, it has been how important it is to show the people in your life how much you love them. I am a very social person, and I love to talk to/spend time with my friends. As we have all gotten older and all gotten busier, my friends and I have gotten away from catching up with each other regularly. I am hoping this year to put more of an effort into seeing them/talking to them more often. My specific goal is to try to set up dinner/Zoom game night/playdate at the park/etc. with our group of friends every other week. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll come to fruition every time, but I'm hoping it'll be an improvement from last year.

- Marriage- Devin and I used to try to get away at least once a year for some good quality alone time. Obviously this past year made it a little difficult for us to get some time away together, but I'm hoping to bring it back in 2021. My specific goal is to have one weekend away together. If we are lucky enough for travel to open back up, we would love to take an international trip together. If not, maybe we just take a quick trip somewhere drivable. 

-Parenting- While 2020 has been difficult in many ways, one of the surprise blessings of this year was how much time I was able to spend with my kids. Usually we are so busy going from one activity to the next, but with everything being shut down we had to come up with our own activities. Instead of summer camp, we made our own summer camp by going on family hikes and kayaking. Instead of going to swim lessons, we practiced teaching LG to swim ourselves. While I am looking forward to a return to normal life and having the option to do all those things again, I am really hoping to keep some of the simplicity of 2020 and bring it into 2021. My specific goal is to allocate at least one week during the summer to be "Family Summer Camp", where we do things like go camping, make s'mores, go hiking, etc. We made some of the best memories this summer, and I hope they will lead to even more wonderful memories for many summers to come. 


So that's my 2021 in a nutshell (I hope!). What goals do you have for your year? Have you written a blog post about your goals? If so, please link it below. I would LOVE to read it!


Today I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. Have a great weekend friends!



9 comments :

  1. These are all great goals! I too “over read”, I don’t think I can read as many books as I actually do! I love your excessive goals. Just doing a small thing everyday is so good for you. You can check out my goals at thatslifeforyablog.com!

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  2. I posted my resolutions for 2021 (http://www.torontosam.ca/2021/01/resolutions.html)
    I felt like it was hard to set some tangible goals so I've chosen a more abstract goal to give myself (and others) grace.

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  3. Good luck with your goals! I used to have to run all the time in gym class when I was younger, and it just never got better. LOL I don't think running will be in my future, but I would like to find different ways to be more active. It's tough with COVID since I think I do best with groups and classes.

    -lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I know! That makes it so hard. I know a lot of gyms are doing the group classes online-- maybe yours is too?

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  4. Those are fabulous goals!! I just started thinking of doing a weekend away (in our tri-state area) with my husband rather than waiting to see if things open up or not. I missed our trip so much last year.

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    1. I know, I love our trips to reconnect!! I am hoping we are able to find a way to get some alone time in this year!

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  5. I love these goals! I haven't taken time to write any down this year - thanks for the reminder to do so!

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