Let’s talk about yearly goals!

I can’t believe 2021 is almost over. Where has this year gone? I mean, I say that at the end of every year, but it feels like 2021 may have been the fastest year of my life so far. Does anyone else feel this way, too?

Anyways, I didn’t make a “goals” post for 2021, so I don’t have anything official to look back on, but I can talk about my goals a little bit and how I feel like I did with them before we jump into the list of goals I have for 2022!

TW for mental health and slight physical health discussions in this section! (No talk of dieting is involved)
If you need to skip this section, you can scroll on down to the “2022 goals” section!

goals:

My goals for 2021 were pretty chill — 2020 hit me hard in a lot of ways, and I didn’t want to over-exert myself, lol. My only real goal for 2021 was to learn how to focus on self-care instead of self-soothing (we’ll get to that in a second) and bettering my physical, mental, and emotional health.

* self-care vs. self-soothing:
A lot of the things we tend to think of as “self-care” are actually “self-soothing”. Self-soothing is still incredibly important, but I think of it as the difference between a band-aid and stitches. Sometimes a band-aid is all you need to heal; other times, wounds are deeper and need stitches. Both are valid, but sometimes it benefits us to go the extra mile and pick the stitches, even if they’re more difficult, or maybe they even hurt a little at first.

progress:

I did a lot of work on my goals this year, and I’m incredibly proud of myself. If 2020 was the year that I learned how to dig deep and recognize my own needs, 2021 was the year that I began putting effort into pursuing those needs. I started focusing a LOT more on my physical health (I had some health issues in the first half of the year that expedited the need to do this), which in turn led to paying more attention to my mental and emotional needs, too:

1. I became better at recognizing when my RSD was flaring up (Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria — a struggle many neurodivergent people encounter that makes any sort of perceived rejection feel much stronger/worse)
2. I learned a lot more about how ADHD affects my everyday life and began utilizing methods to help counteract some of those struggles (such as re-organizing my entire refrigerator in a way that is the opposite of everything I was ever taught, which has led to WAY less food waste in our home)
3. I began the long journey of overcoming my fear of conflict in order to better communicate in friendships (I am absolutely petrified of conflict and tend to turn into a bit of a doormat, which has unfortunately attracted a LOT of crummy “friends”, but I learned how to stick up for myself and set down boundaries when needed, even when it’s scary)
4. I started paying more attention to my own hazard signs and learning that, when I sense a burnout or breakdown coming, it’s better to take a break from the situation and allow myself to recharge, as opposed to trying to push through and being forced to take a break by my own misery 😅

Physically, I’ve started paying more attention to my energy levels, taking my medications more consistently, staying hydrated more, and sticking to a better sleep schedule!

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I’m splitting this section into everyday well-being goals, reading goals, and content creation goals!

everyday life + well-being:

1. Time management: I currently spend way too much time on Twitch, Discord, and Twitter, and I’d like to start making a better use of my time on those platforms (multi-tasking, no doom scrolling, etc.)!
2. Daily routines: I’ve realized straying from a schedule wreaks havoc on my mental health and productivity, especially when it comes to work. I get to choose my own hours, which is amazing, but sometimes it means I don’t “clock in” until way too late in the day, and then I’m working until bedtime and get no relaxation time at all. 
3. Bullet journaling???: This one is a very tentative goal because I’ve tried bullet journaling in the past and it hasn’t worked for me, but I want to give it one more shot!

reading:

1. Less current reads: We all know I read way too many books at once… which leads to me literally forgetting I’m even reading something. I’ll look at my currently-reading shelf on Goodreads and see a book I haven’t touched in 3 months and go, “Wait, I’m still reading that?” My #1 reading goal for 2022 is to limit myself to no more than 3 current reads at any given time.
   
2. TBR jar picks: I made a “top TBR” jar a few weeks ago of books that I own and want to prioritize reading soon. I didn’t include my entire owned TBR because that would be too much; instead, I just focused on a few hundred titles that sounded the most interesting. I’m aiming to read at least 3 TBR jar choices per month!
3. Choose review copies carefully: I’ve been doing this for the past month or two and it’s been going well, but I definitely want to focus on it for the entirety of 2022. Any review copy I consider requesting, I put on a Goodreads “anticipated” shelf and make it stay on that shelf for at least 2-3 weeks before I make a decision (unless it’s a fave author, etc.). 9/10 of the books that have been put on that shelf, I ended up not requesting!
4. Read more current releases: I talked about this on Twitter a few weeks ago, but the GR Choice Awards were incredibly eye-opening for me this year when I realized I’d read literally almost none of the nominees! Obviously there’s nothing wrong with only reading backlist titles and indie authors, but I miss when I used to stay fairly on top of current trends with bestsellers, at least in a few genres (horror and fantasy, mostly), and I miss being part of the hype and being able to freak out with everyone over awesome new releases! I’m hoping that at least 50% of my reads in 2022 will be releases from 2020 or later, since 2020 is when I stopped reading new releases much.

content creation:

1.  A consistent blogging schedule: I miss keeping a schedule and writing posts ahead of time, instead of just “when I feel like it”, which always ends up translating to “when I remember to write something”, which ends up being… almost never.
2. More bookstagram content: I’m hoping to return to posting at least 3-5 bookstagram posts per week, but I also want to get back into regular IG story updates! Reading updates, hauls, general life stuff. I miss being active on there!
3. Video content: I want to return to making some sort of bookish video-based content, but I’m not sure yet if that’s going to be Tiktok, returning to Booktube, or… maybe both? If I can succeed at time management well enough to find the space for both platforms, I would really love to start posting 1-2 booktok videos per week and maybe 1-2 videos per month on Booktube!

And… I think that about covers it! It looks like a long list, but it doesn’t feel like a lot, and I think that’s because I’m so genuinely excited about these goals! I made certain this year that I didn’t write down anything that didn’t make me happy, and that feels like a big step all on its own. 🥰

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Do you have any goals for 2022, or progress you made in 2021 that you’d like to gush about? Please let me know in a comment, or drop a link below if you’ve written a similar post! I love hearing about my friends’ goals, and I’m wishing lots of luck to us all in the coming year!

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— destiny ♥

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