Goals for 2022

SO IT’S ANOTHER NEW YEAR

And another post titled ‘Goals for…’. I won’t lie, I’m already behind on everything I wanted to start doing in 2022, but no pressure…

Last year I took the stress out of the dreaded New Year’s Resolutions by changing it to Goals for the Year, and it worked pretty well. I managed to stick to three out of the five goals I set myself, and the other two I did well at one point in the year. And the way we left 2020 I probably achieved a lot of other things that I wouldn’t have thought would happen, so it’s a bonus all round. So, I’m doing the same, and rather than setting myself resolutions, I’m setting myself goals for 2022.

I can’t believe how much I managed to squeeze out of 2021. I went on not one, but two holidays abroad, got engaged on one of them. Changed jobs, moved out from home. Now we’ve packed away the Christmas decorations and started prepping to head back to normal, non-Christmas life, it feels like a good time to sit and have a think about my goals for 2022.

0.1 Read at least 12 books. Reading was a big fail for me this year – I read about three books in total I think. This year I want to read so much more, so I’m challenging myself to read a book a month. Probably not a huge challenge for other people, but basing it on this year for me, that should be a challenge.

I’ve already got a few books lined up – there’s a distinct ‘Real Housewives’ theme going on amongst them currently. I’ve got three autobiographies in my ‘to-read’ list, so if anyone has any fiction recommendations please, PLEASE pass them my way.

0.2 Get back on the fitness. At the start of the year I did great with this, and pushed through with my weekly fitness plan I’d put together. When I went back to full time work after my furlough came to an end, I kind of dropped my routine, and didn’t do exercise at all. Now I’m back in a new and regular routine, my goal is to get the exercise back in. The next plan on this front is to get the dreaded gym membership, then to potentially rewrite the workout schedule with full time work in mind.

0.3 Get back on the blogging. Compared to last year, this was a bit of a fail. But then again, last year I didn’t have a job to go to, so blogging took up a lot of my time. I lost all blogging motivation at the tail end of this year, and didn’t put in any work to it. I’m planning a big sit down of planning with myself so I can get back on track. So far, not great – bearing in mind that the goals post for the year is already two weeks late. But we’ll get there!

0.4 Have a blogging reset. You may have noticed, but I have also slowly started making a few changes on the blog’s appearance. It’s long overdue, but it’s having a bit of a reset. It’s a long process, especially when you’re technology-challenged like me. But I’ve started experimenting with a few different looks, so keep an eye out and send over any thoughts.

0.5 Declutter my lifestyle. I’m a pretty naturally messy person, much to my partner’s patience. I’m really bad at just kind of unloading everything wherever it lands at the end of the day, and promising to sort it out tomorrow. Then tomorrow never comes.

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0.6 Sort out my savings. What with changing jobs and missing payday cut offs, I failed a bit at the end of the year with my savings. But with a couple of very expensive years coming up, it’s time to start panic saving. 2022 is a year of figuring out how to save I think, and figuring out what I need to do to save. Any advice appreciated here.

0.7 Generally look after myself a little more. This is one of my biggest goals for 2022. I feel like I’ve let me healthy eating go a lot, especially with the classic catching-up with the Christmas chocolates. I’ve also given up a lot of my skincare, so that needs to be picked back up again. Desperately.

0.8 Take time out. Switch off occasionally, and don’t do anything. It feels like it’s already been a bit of a mad rush with all the organising and arranging of things, but I’m starting to squeeze in more things like baths and reading nights. I’m talking no screen of any sort – phones off, laptops off.

0.9 Practice my photography. This is one that’s been on the list for a while. I’ve probably already mentioned at some point, but I studied photography at college and absolutely lived for it for 2 years. When I went to uni I kind of swapped photography for rowing (and clubbing, ahem), but my hope is to pick it back up again.

At the end of 2020 I started slowly experimenting with film photography – I took photos of Bob with an old SLR Praktica camera, and took it up Snowdon with me. But it didn’t go very well – I’d forgotten pretty much everything about setting up a good photo. They were all pretty much dark and blurry. At the end of 2021 I treated myself to a new film camera, one that helps with that all a little bit more. And one as well that’s more compact to carry around with me. I also dug out my DSLR, which I’d shamefully hidden away for well over a year.

0.10 Organise a wedding. And this one had to make the list of goals for 2022, of course. Last year I held off on starting the organising because I didn’t want to get too excited to soon. But I’m fast realising that it’s going to be one of those things that’s here before you know it. And I keep flicking through my wedding planner, and realising that there’s more to do than I ever thought.