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Well, this has been an interesting year so far. I turned 30 in January, Kobe Bryant passed away, and we’re in the middle of a pandemic. Who knew??
As usual, I set myself some goals for 2020 having no idea that any of this craziness was in store. While many of my goals are severely hampered by coronavirus, thankfully all is not lost and some are going just fine.
Although this pandemic has me a bit stressed out, I’m still carrying on for the most part. I figure I have to keep moving, as one day the COVID-19 madness will surely end, and I want to be prepared for when it does. So with that, here is how my progress is going for the first quarter of 2020.
New Year’s Goals for 2020 – 1st Quarter Update
#1 – Visit a New State
I have traveled 3 times so far this year, and none of these trips have been to any new states. I do have a trip planned for Savannah, GA at the end of May, but COVID-19 could prevent that from happening. I still have hope that it’ll work out, and if nothing else, I can probably postpone it.
#2 – Visit a New Country
My husband and I are supposed to visit Ireland in October. I haven’t planned a single thing for it, other than our flights, as there’s still so much uncertainty. However, it’s far enough away that I still have hope it’ll happen. Since I’ve had to cancel other trips, we may even be able to extend it!
#3 – Write One Blog Post Per Week
I am doing my best to keep up with my one post per week schedule. This is challenging while having a full time job, and I’ve already missed a few weeks in 2020. However, I make sure to show up as often as I can, and will continue to aim for one new post every week.
#4 – Be Able to do Crow Pose
Yoga, let alone crow pose, has barely been in the cards for me this year. I’ve unfortunately let travel and craziness at work keep me away, and now COVID-19 has all the yoga studios closed :(.
That being said, I always come back to yoga at some point, and am trying to workout at home and stay somewhat fit. Maybe crow pose could still happen this year?
#5 – Learn French
I started out the year pretty strong with French, but stopped when I got busy at work so I could still have time to blog. I also had wanted to return to France later this year, but with so much travel uncertainty, I’ve lost some of my motivation. I’d still like to learn French, but it’s been put on the back burner for now.
#6 – Read 12 Books
I’ve surprisingly read quite a few books already this year, and am exceeding my usual pace. It helps that I joined a Facebook group that has me reading one book every month, and they’ve been interesting reads. Here is what I’ve been reading so far this year:
- Big Magic
- The War of Art
- Essentialism
- You Are a Badass (re-reading)
#7 – Save $40k
This is a long term financial goal, but my husband and I continue to be on track. If we stay disciplined, we should be able to meet this by December. With all this anxiety inducing COVID-19 stuff going on, I’m very happy we’ve prioritized saving money lately, as the world seems more unpredictable than ever. Also, with the virus shutting everything down and keeping us at home, saving money hasn’t been that hard.
#8 – Pay Off Car
I’ve made my monthly payment so far this year, and my balance should be less than $2,000 pretty soon. The plan is to pay it off by August, which will happen if I keep making my monthly payment as scheduled.
#9 – Have 100 Posts on My Blog
With this post, I am currently at 82 published blog posts. Just 18 more to go! If I post once a week as much as I can, I should be able to meet this goal.
I do want to make sure that the majority of these posts are long form, informative travel posts. While writing about my goals is fun, my travel posts are the reason why I started this blog.
#10 – Complete the Cleveland Brewery Passport
COVID-19 has severely hampered our goal of completing the Cleveland Brewery Passport. All bars and restaurants in Ohio are closed except for takeout. It’s possible that we could buy a growler of beer from these places, but I honestly cannot drink that much and it’s not really what I signed up for.
My hope is that the breweries reopen by summer, and we can still squeeze the rest in. We have about 12 more at this point, so it may still be possible. It would be nice if the deadline got extended past June…
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There you have it. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to stay motivated these days. Travel has been hit really hard, and my blog stats are wayyyy down. My hope is that by late summer, people will be booking trips again. I know I will be looking to visit any place that will have me! Stay positive my friends – this won’t last forever!
