Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This isn’t a review of the actual year 2020. I don’t have the guts or gumption for that. I’m just here to document how I did with the goals I set for myself. This time last year, I was in a bit of limbo, and that led me to cushion most of my goals in self-compassion. I’m glad I did. Here’s how I did.
My Calling
I spent the first part of the year working through a 12-week course to help me find my life’s purpose. What I learned is that I really enjoy trying to figure out my life’s purpose. I like doing all sorts of personal development stuff. I want to get a little better at life each day.
I needed my “day job” to be the one source of stability in my upturned life. Long story short… no dice. The good news is that the circumstances of that, on top of the other betrayals I had already suffered, led me to a program and community that specifically help with healing from betrayal. I plan to get a coaching certification in the program so that I can help others somewhere down the road.
Connection
My plan for 2020 was to work on my primary relationship with myself. I guess with social-distancing and six months off work it should be safe to say I spent some time on this. I did. And I barely scratched the surface. In my January post, I said I planned to “rest and take care of myself” and starting in June I finally did that.
I also said I was going to spend lots of quality time with my kids and that we would see lots of movies, go to concerts, and take road trips. So… that didn’t happen. I do feel good about the kids. My oldest is all “adulty” now, but she still takes time for dear old mom. My baby is at home and we watch JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure together – definitely quality time.
I mentioned the pets in my 2020 plans, and with everyone being at home they have gotten a lot of treats and a lot of attention. Ash loved to make appearances on Zoom calls and Marco Polo videos. Torgo and Cap just knock things over for sound effects. I am grateful for Zoom for letting me see some of my friends this year.
Goal-Getter
Here are some other things I aspired to in January 2020 and how they turned out.
I had just started attending Pure Barre classes and had done 5 classes in 2019. My goal was to hit 125 total classes by the end of the year. On 12/30 I attended class 125! I did many classes virtually, and there were some challenges that held me back, but I got it done. I plan to do another 125 next year to hit the 250 club.
My Bright Line Eating journey continues, and my health issues caused some setbacks here too. I always did my best, and I had my longest string of bright days this year. I leaned into the community for support and to offer my experience and support to others. My efforts were recognized and I was selected to be a moderator in the public community. That’s a group with almost 37,000 members. And I get to partner with one of my real-life closest friends, for an added bonus. These are my people, and I am honored to serve in this capacity.
Another aspiration was to spend more time in my own backyard. I bought myself a fire pit, and I set things ablaze. I channeled my childhood self while sitting in my swing. I played with my dog and taught him some tricks.
Books! Like my fitness classes, this was an area that benefited from the fact that I started the year strong. There was a too-long period when I couldn’t read anything. Thankfully, I came out the other side of that and met my goal of 44 books. I actually made it to 52. I wanted to repeat my previous year’s accidental accomplishment of reading 50% books by women authors. I didn’t track it this year either, but when I calculated it turns out to be 54%. And that’s lumping all of the ghost stories by women together.
Summary
Lastly, I had said that 2020 would be my year of FREEDOM . I was looking forward to busting out, and instead I had to stay in. I always try to choose a word that can’t backfire. Then the word always makes me look at it from a new perspective. There were setbacks and challenges in every area of my life. I had to seek a different kind of freedom. I think I found the most freedom in gratitude and generosity. As hard as the year was for me, it was harder for others. As much as my savings dwindled and my expenses increased, I always found a way to give, sometimes by passing along the grace and generosity of others. Regardless of what weighed on my mind or bound my body, my heart was FREE.