I’m not one who typically sets goals for myself at the start of a new year. I’m not a fan of making resolutions. The overwhelming pessimist in me just sees a New Year’s resolution as a way to wind up disappointed by the end of February.

But I’ve been thinking about the kind of year I had in 2022. I’ll explore it all in a year in review post later this week. But the preview is: I think I had a pretty good year with a lot of really positive changes. So what’s wrong with keeping that narrative going? May as well set some goals for the next calendar year…

By the way, these are in no particular order…

Read More

Each year I do the thing on Goodreads where you set a goal for how many books you want to read in a year. I did pretty good to meet my goals in 2020 and 2021. This year? Not so much… I set a goal of 25 books for the year. Completely doable, right? That’s only, roughly, two books each month. How many did I get through? Two books in the entire year. I read I Hate You–Don’t Leave Me early in the year as a means of helping me deal with a client I was working with who had Borderline Personality Disorder. When I took my weeklong staycation over the summer, I read The Midnight Library, which I would highly recommend. It was a fascinating read. But for whatever reason, I just couldn’t find the motivation to read the plethora of books that are sitting on my TBR shelf. And I keep buying books… as if I have the room for them or the time to add them to the list. I really hope I find that reading motivation in the new year. There really are a lot of books that I want to experience.

Lose Weight

I know… How cliché is it to include losing weight as a goal for the new year? Thing is, I’ll never be a slender individual. It’s not how I’m built. The genetics just aren’t there. I’m short and stocky and I always will be. The only time in my life that I could have ever been described as skinny was that stint in my adolescence when I was anorexic. And that nearly killed me. But considering how far I’ve allowed myself to go concerning my weight and physical shape… I could definitely stand to lose something. I’m sure there are those who would insist that I’m 100 pounds overweight for my height and, therefore, need to lose that many pounds. Personally, I’d be happy if I could drop 20 pounds by the end of June. I imagine even that amount would make a huge difference in how I feel. Wish me luck… And God grant me the discipline it’ll take to get there.

Write a Book

This is one I’ve been saying I’ve been wanting to do since I was a child. Literally… I was in 5th grade when I first got it in me to write a novel. Here I am 33 years later and what do I have to show for it? Have I written anything resembling a novel? No… I’m not even talking about becoming a published author. I’m talking about writing a novel… start to finish. How could I have gone 33 years now without taking that one step… to start and finish a complete story in the form of a novel? I can tell a short story all day long if it’s roughly the length of a blog post. Chances are, if you’ve been keeping up with this blog over the years, you’ve seen a number of examples of those short stories. But those are piddly little flash fictions… Do I have it in me to spin a yarn in roughly 80,000 words? I’ll never know until I really try… and in 33 years, I’ve never really tried. I’m always afraid that it won’t be good enough… That I’ll send it off to an editor who will rip it to shreds, along with my fragile ego. I just need to turn that voice off and get typing…

Get a Pet

This is one I’ve been toying with since I first moved into my current apartment. I really began considering it once COVID hit and we were all stuck at home for six months. I thought it would be nice to have a little dog or cat to hang out with here at home. But I never pulled the trigger. I’ve always been concerned with the fact that I could barely take care of myself, much less some other living creature. Then there’s the concern that I’ve killed every houseplant I’ve ever gotten my hands on. But a lot of that has changed in the last year. As I’ve made those positive changes in my life, I’ve decided that now is the perfect time for me to adopt a pet. A dog? A cat? There are pros and cons to each… Apartment life doesn’t really make getting an energetic puppy the best of ideas. As much as I’ve always considered myself a dog person, I think the cat is the way to go. They’re independent, so I won’t feel guilty for leaving home for a good chunk of the day. Though, I will say this, my office is very pet friendly. I’m certain that, no matter what sort of animal I adopt, I will not only be encouraged to bring said animal to work, but very likely threatened with bodily harm if I do not bring said animal to work. So I need to make a decision… But I’m heavily leaning toward cat at this stage. Got to get a litter box so I can be ready to welcome the little critter home… Soon…

That’s four goals for the new year. I think that’s good for now. I can always add more later if the mood strikes. But I’d say I’ll have my hands full with these.

What about you? Do you have any goals or resolutions for 2023? With less than a week left in 2022, is there anything you will regret not doing this year? What will you do about it next year? Let me know in the comments!