REVIEWING MY 2021 GOALS: How did I do?
Every year, I make a list of projects, goals, and resolutions that I want to accomplish in the new year. I love fresh start mentality and list making. It’s something I do all year round, and not just at New Years. If a piece of paper sits still long enough, chances are it will have a list written on it at some point. It’s just the way I am!
One thing I think I could get better at is celebrating the wins and achievements (both big and small) throughout the year. I rarely do retrospectives into my personal work and rarely celebrate the mini milestones. As soon as I finish something, I’m always just moving on to the next project. Why do I do that? I know it’s not good for me. My whole life, I have been very driven towards achievement and productivity. I can be the kind of person who feels guilty when I relax. It’s not a good habit, it’s not a kind way to treat myself, and it’s also not healthy or sustainable. It leads to a lot of self-pressure and burn out, and it’s definitely something I’ve worked on a lot in the past five years. So this is an attempt to slow down a bit and reflect on what I’ve done; an opportunity for me to take a moment and take stock instead of moving to the next thing on the list.
I’m still not knocking goals and lists. They help keep me focused and guide me in situations where endless possibilities can overwhelm me. They keep me from feeling aimless and without purpose. Creativity and the love of making is probably the biggest driving force behind my personality. The goals and lists will certainly continue, but hopefully with more stops to enjoy and celebrate how far I’ve come.
Here is my list from 2021. Let’s see how I did!
Post a YouTube video once per week: Complete and utter failure. And that’s okay! I just wasn’t feeling YouTube this year. And when you aren’t feeling something, that comes across to others. I never want to do something half-assed. One of my favorite quotes: “Anything that isn’t a hell yes…is a no.” I have too many projects, too many ideas, too many things I want to do to waste precious time on something that isn’t fulfilling to me. I do have hopes to return to YouTube with more consistency, but I don’t want to force it. It will happen if it happens.
Start a free blog: Yes! I did it. I finally hit publish. I miss blogs and am such a champion of #returnoftheblog. It’s not perfect and my writing needs work, but that’s okay. I took the steps.
Deep clean out: #1 closet, #2 bathroom, #3 nightstand, #4 craft supplies: Yes! mostly successful! I deep cleaned the 2, 3, and 4 and my clothing closet, but there is still one closet in our hallway that is the deep and dark pit of where things go to be forgotten. Lol This year!
Work on my handmade wardrobe: Yes definitely! With much gusto early in the year, and a lot of trail off after October, but that’s okay.
Go to France with Andrew (if it is safe): Yes! And we got engaged! <3 It was wonderful—the trip was everything we dreamed of. We ate so much good food, saw so much art, experienced three different regions (Normandy, Provence, and Paris), and fell deeper in love than we already were. It was a magical trip. Sometimes it’s hard for me to put into words how much I love Andrew and what we bring to each others’ lives. After years of searching for my person, I feel so incredibly lucky that we found each other. There is this magic of being with him—I love him more today than I did yesterday, and somehow, tomorrow I know I’ll love him more than I did today.
Continue improving my photography and taking great project photos for Instagram: Ehhhh. This one could have been better, but the goal also evolved over the year. I’m a designer so I love good aesthetics. In 2020, I really wanted to ramp up my photography skills and took lots of Skillshare classes to improve. It worked! Yay! …But then I rarely picked up my camera in 2021. Because my crossbody handbag is quite small, it isn’t suited for carrying my camera, so I need to have a think about how I can make the process feel comfortable and more automatic. I pretty much use my phone for everything, which is okay—iPhones take great photos!—but I would like to stop and do a bit more styling and…basically put more effort and thought into it.
On the other side of it, I’ve really stopped loving Instagram as a sharing platform. I know this makes me sound #OLD, but I miss old Instagram so much. I hate reels. I hate them with a fiery passion. I miss the days when Instagram felt more “instant” and of-the-moment. I keep feeling this (self-imposed) pressure like everything I post on my account has to be perfect and beautiful, so I created a separate instagram account (@jaclynisgardening) for my gardening and told myself I would be less precious. And guess what? I spend WAY more time on that account than I do my main one. I need to do some thinking about how I want to reconcile my love for taking beautiful photos and sharing beautiful content, but also taking off the pressure of everything needing to be perfect before posting.Quit biting my nails!!!: OMG YALL. I did it!!!….for like 3 months. And then bit them all off again. It’s so hard. SO HARD. I’ve definitely realized the trick for me is for them to be nicely manicured and painted in the grow out process. I’m less likely to want to bite them and mess them up if they look nice. But if I don’t keep up with it, then I start biting again. And to be honest, as much as I LOVE consuming beauty and fashion content, I don’t really spend a lot of time on my appearance.
Read everyday: I read SO much more this year and in 2020 than I was doing previously. I used to be an absolutely voracious reader, and throughout my life, reading has always been something that goes in phases. I try to embrace the phases, but the reading dry spell pre-2020 was getting out of hand. Reading is good for the mind, and I was spending so much time on Instagram, so I vowed to change it. Sometimes you have to work for things to become more habitual. I don’t ready everyday, but I do read more now than I was, and would like to continue that habit into 2022.
Move my body everyday: 2021 was a year that I took more control over my health from 2020 and I am much better off for it. I exercise mostly to manage my mental health, and I can definitely feel it (emotionally) when I get into slumps where I’ve not exercised. If you’ve followed me for awhile, you know I LOVE cycling. I have had a membership at various cycling studios for at least…6 years? So I did the thing and I bought the Peloton this year. Yes, it was a huge investment, but cycling is not an exercise phase for me. I love cycling, and felt lost in 2020 without that particular exercise outlet. It took me forever to pull the trigger on the purchase, but I consider it one of the best purchases I’ve ever made in my adult life, and my only regret is not buying it sooner. I would have saved SO MUCH MONEY on cycling studio memberships. But oh well. I have it now and I love it.
Work on flexibility (do the splits): this is on my list every year, and every year I seem to not prioritize it. It will still be on my list for 2022. Maybe this year is the year!!
Lots of garden cookouts: Yes to ALL the cookouts! In warmer months, I think we were doing cookouts at least once a week. It’s one of my favorite things to do. Andrew and I love cooking together and it’s even more enjoyable when we get to eat the fruits of our labor amongst the beautiful garden I have created.
Go meatless at least one day a week: We started off strong on this one, and then tapered off around mid-April. We still ate plenty of meatless meals throughout the year, but we went about it the wrong way at the start. We started out doing one meatless week per month instead of spreading it out to one meal per week, and an entire week felt too limiting. I think if we change it up to a meatless day per week rather than an entire week of the month at once, that would be more sustainable and we could build on it from there. (This goal is part of a larger effort to reduce our carbon footprint)
Hold my politicians accountable: I follow politics closely, and I vote in ALL federal and local elections. I am happy with many decisions from my local politicians, but am incredibly disappointed with how Joe Biden’s administration is doing so far. I had higher hopes for where we would be by now on many issues and I know things take time, but it’s a frustrating situation to be in. I have started to become very disenchanted with politics. I feel like our elected officials are voting based on who gives them money and not based on what their constituents voted them into office to do. The two party system screws us time and time again. Policy that would benefit the day-to-day lives of most American people (education, paid parental leave, student loan forgiveness, climate change) is shoved aside as “too expensive” while the defense budget, police budgets, etc rage out of control. There is no balance, and as an individual voter, sometimes I feel like I have no power to change anything. It’s depressing and I experience a lot of anxiety over climate change and social justice issues that I care deeply about.
Continue meal planning habits: Every week. Without fail. Meal planning is LIFE. It is transformative. The time and mental energy you get back by not having to decide what to make every day, and the money you save by shopping once a week and not feeling tempted to order in when you’re too tired to figure it out… it’s so worth doing.
Figure out the living room accessorizing: It took 13 paint samples…but we painted our living room green (Peale Green by Benjamin Moore) and we LOVE IT! We also designed and built a bookshelf this year so we finally have a place to put our books on organized display instead of stacks around the house. We gave away a lot of living room furniture that was no longer serving us. It’s hard when you love furniture pieces, but they don’t suit a move. We were holding on to a lot of things that we loved from previous homes, but didn’t work for our space. The living room is better for it. The room still needs accessorizing, but big steps were made!
Take better care of my skin: Prior to 2021, I would give my habits a 2/10, and I would say this year I upped it to about a 6.5/10. I made improvements, but there is definitely room to grow. I got better at washing my face every night, although I’m still nowhere near habitual with it yet. I think if I make the ritual feel more luxurious that I’ll feel more incentivized to do it.
This is a LOT of progress! I feel proud of this work and what I’ve accomplished toward these 2021 goals. Some will stay, some will go, and some will change. That’s okay, and that’s life! I hope to always be learning and growing as a person.