It’s that time of year again, time to sit back and reflect on the accomplishments and improvements you made in the last year and look into the future of the new year to see what changes and improvements we can make now.
And honestly, let’s be real – 2020 was a dumpster fire of a year. This pandemic is still going – in fact, its increasing where I live here in Southern California, we’ve had an election that, well, went the way I wanted it to but has caused nothing but drama because of a sore loser. Its just been a rough year. I haven’t done as well with the things I wanted to do but honestly, I’m giving myself a lot of credit for just getting through the year itself without going absolutely insane. I deal with anxiety and depression on a daily basis in a normal world – I’m proud of myself for handling this relatively well, considering that this is most definitely NOT a normal world.
Even still though, I feel like there are things I’m proud of this year – I bought a new car, I republished The Awakened Duology and finally published Benched, I bought a new bed and mattress which has had a profound impact on my sleep and mental capabilities, I ran my first 10K, I got 3 tattoos, gave up soda and so much more. There’s also small things to be happy for – I’m still working full time at my job, my employment is secure, I’ve been healthy throughout all of this. Then, just a couple days before the end of the year, BAM! I got engaged?! WHAT. So yeah. There’s a lot to be grateful for in 2020, despite the world being a disaster.
That being said, I do want to set goals for 2021! I like having goals, even if I don’t always reach them and even if the world is crashing around me. Goals give me purpose and give me reason and keep me focused. I like having goals. I also know people roll their eyes are resolutions but I try to just think of them as attainable goals. I also try really hard to focus on improvements or small accomplishments and less on…taking things away or stopping things. Those sound so NEGATIVE! I try to make my goals positive and generally, it does seem to work!
So let’s do this, here are my goals for 2021 –
Run/Walk 365 Miles and Earn my Fans Run the World medal
I am part of an online running community called Random Tuesday Inc which includes Fandom Running Club, Potterhead Running Club, Whovian Running Club and Chilton Running Club (Gilmore Girls). I actually wrote a whole post, including an interview with one of the founders, that you can read here. I’ve gotten very involved with them in the past couple of years and was so excited when they announced their year long race! Its all done virtually and has a longer explanation if you guys are interested, but the idea is to do 365 miles and earn a super cool medal! I’ve always want to do a year long race but a lot of them are Run the Year 2020, so like, doing 2020 miles and that’s just not feasible for a turtle like me. I’m so excited to do this one because 365 is so much more doable! You can sign up here, or hit me up for more info or questions!
Run an IRL 10K (please covid…)
One of my goals for 2020 was to run my first 10K. I was already signed up for it too – the Seal Beach 10K in March and it was canceled about a week before. I was so brokenhearted but also so determined it would still happen. Of course, this was back in March, when the pandemic was only supposed to be, like, a few weeks. So obviously it didn’t happen…the way I imagined it did. I still ran my first 10K but I did it virtually. Basically I signed up for a 10K – the Wonder Woman 10K – and they sent me my bib and medal and then I went out on my own and earned it. And it was HARD but I did it. But I’d still really love to accomplish an IRL 10K and am hoping that we get to a point sometime this year of being able to do that. I don’t know – it all depends but I’m still hoping.
Focus on Adding Distance to Runs MORE than Adding Speed
I’m not a fast runner. I’m not and I don’t think I ever will be. And honestly I’m okay with that. But I do notice that I have been trying a lot more to focus on speeding up and less on trying to further my distances. My ultimate goal is to run a half marathon, which is 13.1 miles. That’s a lot of miles. I’ve only done a 10K, which is half that, 6.2 and I’ve only done it twice. When I speed up, I definitely run less mileage and I want to focus less on speed and more on running further. Who cares how fast a mile is if I’m doing 6+ miles, you know? So that’s a huge goal of mine this year. There’s no…way to gauge if I’m truly accomplished it but its definitely something that I can do differently in 2021 than in 2020.
Eat at Home More Often
This was a goal in 2020 and I honestly did so terribly with it. So terribly, awful with it. I am not mad, disappointed or upset. I know this year has been messed up haha and I’ve stayed at home a LOT so Postmates became my friend. But this year, I do want to focus more on making food at home. My dad gave me a recipe book for Christmas – his and my Nana’s recipes – and a lot of them seem more doable than I thought before so I want to try them! I spend waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much money on takeout and I eat terribly when I eat takeout which leads me to the next goal on my list…
Be More Consistent with Taking My Medications, Checking my Blood Sugar and Monitoring my Diabetes
Guys, when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2018, I got my SHIT TOGETHER. I got healthy, got it under control, was constantly monitoring my sugar levels, was exercising regularly, eating well and lost some weight. I kept that going pretty strongly in 2019.
That shit went right out the window in 2020. I’ve been terrible at all of it, except maybe the exercising. I can’t seem to remember to take my medication. I can’t remember to check my blood sugar. My health and managing my diabetes is so important to me and so its incredibly important to me to get back to that routine and regimen that I had before. I genuinely
Read 80 Books
This past year, 2020, I only read 80 books. Now, to some people, that’s a lot of books. And it is! But I used to read 100-200 books a year AND most of those used to be brand new books. Nearly half of the books that I read this year were rereads so I’m not entirely proud of my reading prowess this year.
This year I’m lowering my normal 100 books goal to 80. This is so I can focus more on writing Struck Out – see later – and focus more on my next goal on the list.
Focus More on Tackling my TBR list and less on rereads and new books
I have a lot of unread books both on my shelves and my kindle and honestly, it’s kind of felt hard to blog about books because I’m not reading anything new and I’m not caught up on a lot of current books and series. So this year, I want to focus primarily on my TBR list , especially the longer books that I’ve been avoiding. I often will avoid longer books because I’m focused on quantity of books, striving to reach 100. I can read 3-5 YA books in the time it takes me to read one adult fantasy novel, usually, so I’m like, meh I’ll read the 3-5 books. I want to stop doing that this year and actually work on finishing these long books. I have a shortlist of new releases that I’ll be reading this year but for the most part, sticking to the TBR list.
Finish, Edit and Publish Struck Out by September
I am nearly done with Struck Out and its my goal to finish it this month and then get it edited and prepared for September release. I’m really proud of what this book has become so far and its so close to the end that I honestly just need to SIT DOWN and finish it.
Begin Book 3 of the Benched Trilogy
I want to start writing Book 3, which does have a title and won’t be announced until the release of Struck Out. However, I do want to have some hints and crossover in Struck Out so my goal is get started with writing Book 3 by the end of the year; most likely during NaNoWriMo 2021!
Write in my Journal More
I really love writing in my journal and I don’t do it as often as I would like, which is sad considering how much it genuinely helps with my mental health. I got some fun markers for Christmas and I already have an awesome journal so I just want to do it more.
Write on What A Nerd Girl Says More
Guys, this blog is my baby. It’s been almost nine years since I started it and I know that I go through periods of struggling to write consistently but that doesn’t mean I’m ready to give it up. Even with all the work that goes into the self pub author life and being employed full time and trying to maintain a consistent workout schedule, I still want to get back to writing more. I’m hoping to get back to reviews and news and all the hip stuff. I’m old, guys, show me some patience ;) I’m also hoping to pick it up more on Instagram and maybe TikTok?
Finish Watching All the Disney Animated Movies
This was a huge goal for me to accomplish in 2020 and you’d think I would accomplish it, considering that I didn’t go much of anywhere during a pandemic but guys some of the animated Disney movies are HARD to get through. I’m doing all right, I’m in the late 70s so I just need to keep going and finish. My sister is doing the same thing and she says the late 90s and early 2000s with the many, many sequels is rough. But we got this.
Learn to Cook Some of My Dads Recipes
For Christmas this year, my dad gifted me and my siblings a book with a bunch of his and my Nana’s recipes. I helped him put the book together – yes, I knew my gift ahead of time, welcome to adulthood – and so many of these recipes that I’ve just never even asked about before seem so much easier than I ever thought they could be and I want to actually try it. It also goes hand-in-hand with trying to eat at home more so…wish me luck!
Special Bonus Goal – Plan My Wedding
When I originally wrote my list, I didn’t include this one because, well, I didn’t know I’d be engaged lol. I’d hoped! But I didn’t know for sure and now I am. My boyfriend – erm, fiance! – and I are aiming for April 2022 which is coming up so much sooner than you really even know so obviously this year is going to be a LOT of planning and I’m so insanely excited for it. We’ve already finalized our wedding party, at least, who we are going to ask, so we’re moving already!
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