2020 has been an incredibly difficult year, so I am definitely looking forward to diving head first into 2021. I know there won't be immediate resolutions to the dumpster fire of this year, but it brings me new hope and a desire to at least try again. With that in mind, I'm once again setting myself a set of resolutions. They are summarized above, but I wanted to expand on them a little bit here to build in some accountability and maybe clarify where my thoughts are with it right now.
GOAL 1: READ MORE
This year I managed to read 44 books over the course of the year. I'd like to meet that again, if not go even further, so I'm setting my goal for 2021 to be 40 books. If I can hit more, that's wonderful!
GOAL 2: WRITE MORE
I've done a better job this year keeping up with a blog and social media than I have done for many, many years. I feel like I've finally found a rhythm and I'd like to stick with that. My goal is to create at least 1 new thing each week of the year, which could be a blog post, a prayer or poem, or an article.
However, as you can see in the graphic, I'd like to also write my very first book in 2021. I've already started writing (non-fiction) and want to see it through completion. There is no guarantee that it will ever be published, or even read by anyone else, but I'd like to at least follow through with writing all my thoughts into a book. *fingers crossed* If anyone has any pointers, I'd love to hear them.
GOAL 3: KEEP LEARNING
Scholarship is a very important part of my spiritual path. With that, I'd like to complete two separate study programs through 2021. I'm not 100% sure what that looks like right now. Those may be 2 separate ADF study programs, but I am also working through the OBOD Bardic Grade program and would like to finish that as well. Right now, my goal is to complete 2...I'll figure out which two at a later date.
GOAL 4: COMMUNITY BUILDING
I've spent the past year working really hard to build a community of like-minded people and am happy with the growth I've seen. For me, this isn't a number of "followers" but legitimately building a community of respect and appreciation with the people I am interacting with both on social media and in real life. I hope more of that is possible in real life this year, but right now it's all up in the air.
GOAL 5: MORE SELF CARE
Self care is something I'm really bad at. I feel guilty for taking the time to do something for myself when there are other "more important" tasks to be doing. This year, I'm going to try to give myself at least one hour a week to do this. It could mean the typical, bubble bath and candles routine, or it could be walks in nature or exercising in general. Essentially I want to give myself the opportunity to take better care of myself.
GOAL 6: MORE NATURE TIME
This year I felt like I spent far too much time indoors hiding from the world. I want to take the opportunity to get outside more and spend more time in nature. To help get that started, I'd like to grow at least 3 separate things. I hope those are vegetables, but if all else fails I'll plant some more herbs and flowers.
LOOKING FORWARD
While some of these may seem like lofty goals, I really do believe that I can do each and every one of these things in the coming year. They are work, but work that I find important. And if I fail, at least I can say I thought about it and I tried and keep moving forward. Happy 2021 everyone. Wishing you and your loved ones many, many blessings in this new year.