Farewell, 2020.
Part of me want’s to leave that there and just jump to 2021, but 2020 was a big year for my personal development – mostly in the last 3 months of the year, but it all counts.
Also, I wrote 51,822 new words of fiction, which is about 600 words more than last year.
Reflecting on 2020:
i. Read 12 books: – TICK! 12/12. I finished reading Crystal Magic last night, which brings my total to 12/12. While many people had a lot of free time this year, I was a keyworker and spent most evenings going to bed at 7pm for a solid 6 months. I also flitted back toward fiction near the end of the year, which was a good reminder of how much longer non-fiction (and especially non-fiction I’m then integrating lessons from / completing workbook exercises around) take me.
ii. Edit The Felled Gods: Ahahahahahahahahahahaha Hahahahahahahahaha. No. I did not complete this. I think I’ve read and at least skim-edited around.. 40% of the book (jumping to the bits I knew needed most work and ignoring the “eh” sections!) So, in summary, I did work on edits for this book in November & December, and even submitted it for a contest. So… not a ‘zero’ on this goal, despite 2020 being the year it was. But I had plans for full edits, new reads, and even tentative publication ideas so this feels very far from my January 2020 goal!
iii. Track my wordcount: – Yes? I say this with a tentative question mark at the end. I did track my writing this year, and in September began an attempt to also track my non-fiction writing for MilWordy.
iv. Wellbeing Comes First: – Yes? This is hard to measure. I did work on my wellbeing, and December this year my wellbeing is probably the best it’s been for a couple of years. So I am going to tick this off, although there were definitely some low points throughout this year (although.. I think we all kind of had that in parts… world-wide pandemic, ya know)
v. Weekly Connection: – Yes? This was hard for me to measure again, since we were locked down (and I’m currently in tier 4 lockdown as I type this), but I definitely had a lot more sociable time online. I made a point of Zoom-calls with friends, met a friend in person (socially distanced!) for the first time in 8 years, and played games online with friends around the country.
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This Year’s TA-DA List – I:
– Celebrated 13 years with O.H.
– Celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary.
– Survived the 2020 Pandemic.
– Left my job, got a new one, and rested in between(!)
– Was a guest on podcasts chatting about wellbeing, education, identity crises & self-developmenton 3 podcasts [linked below]
– Made a new opt-in quiz and roadmap, and began to prep membership community [get on my email list for first dibs and more details]
– Started my own Podcast
– Completed a L4 NVQ
– Did a Coursera course in the Science of Wellbeing from Yale University
– Re-arranged our mortgage #adulting
– Joined a scrapbooking community that gave me social contact, nerdy stationary chats & my voice back.
– Saw my 2-year-old niece twice during safe times.
– Continued to support our local cat cafe [twice during safe times].
– Completed NaNoWriMo for the 11th time. And won it. For the 11th time.
Publications This Year:
- I did not have any fiction published in 2020, but here’s my Medium link as I wrote 28 articles this year. This one even got featured on Medium’s Front Page.
- Follow Your Curiosity – Podcast Ep #31 [Feb 2020]
- The Freedom Network Live –Ep #170ish [5Feb2020]
- The Positive Mama – Episode #17 Self-Care Chat [30Dec2020]
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Welcome In, 2021
I have to laugh.
For the Jan 2019 post I said “So I survived 2018.”
In the Jan 2020 post I began with “*and exhale*”
And Jan 2021? Let’s not jinx anything, okay.
My word for 2021 is Wild. I have plans for how I want to feel at the end of 2021, and let’s just leave the journey to the gods, shall we?
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Intentions for 2021:
Time for this annual list again.
i. Read 12 books: – I have yet to do this 2 years in a row. So i’m sticking with 12, but with a quiet stretch goal of more (maybe 16? Doable but not too ambitious?). We shall see. 12 is my official one, since we don’t know how this year will go.
ii. Edit The Felled Gods: So I had a revelation about my identity as a writer in 2020, and thus: here we go. I’d like to edit and finish the next draft of this story, ready for exploring publication in 2022.
iii. Track my wordcount: Again, I have no specific wordcount aim this year, but I am tracking my wordcount through #MilWordy.
iv. Focus on Health: I have a few ‘sub-goals’ that focus on intuitive eating, regular movement, journalling & meditation. In short, my plan is to vaguely look at incorporating into my life including: read more, meditate, exercise weekly again, craft regularly, journal daily… But really, it’s a balance, and who knows what 2021 will actually look like.
v. Connect with my Community: This goal takes the form of monthly Medium posts, weekly podcast episodes, continuing my newsletter. Along with virtual social connections to refill my well each month.
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May 2021 be ever in our favour.