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Our dreary pandemic winter is finally coming to an end (yay!), and the spring flowers in our neighborhood are blooming early this year. Talk about a mood lifter!
I don’t know about you, but I struggled in the cold months. I couldn’t find much motivation to do anything and was not feeling like myself at all.
Things are brighter lately though. Ohio had a gorgeous March, with weather that gave us a sneak peak of summer warmth. It was a dream!
I also just made the huge announcement of leaving my full time job to focus solely on this blog, which was a big secret goal I was working on. However, it’s time to give an update on my other somewhat neglected items on this list. The progress might not look like much right now, but I have a feeling that’ll be changing very soon.
My 9 New Year’s Goals for 2021
1. Learn How to Make Cream Puffs
I have yet to attempt cream puffs this year. Hopefully soon though!
2. Meditate More
Meditation has largely not been happening so far this year. That is, until recently. I’ve been getting back into it, and think it really helps me bring my mind back into the present.
3. Read 12 Books
I am very curious to see how I do with this goal, now that I am not doing two jobs every day (tax by day, blogging by night). Maybe this is the 12 book year. It blows my mind how some people can achieve reading 100 books in one year!
- Big Magic (I actually re-read this, it’s one of my favorites)
- All the Light We Cannot See (a novel that largely takes place in WWII France. I’ve been trying to read more fiction lately)
- Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown (autobiographical novel by Anne Glenconner, lady in waiting to Princess Margaret)
4. Continue Studying French
I got back into studying French in January and February, and even managed to get a pretty good Duolingo streak going. However, that ended when tax season began, and I haven’t touched it since.
I do plan to pick back up where I left off though. Maybe France opening up to Americans this summer will have me feeling more motivated!
5. Make another layer cake from scratch – Done
This is technically already complete because I made a chocolate layer cake for my birthday. I’d really love to make another one though.
6. Pick Blueberries
Blueberry season will be arriving in June here in Ohio. I cannot wait to pick as many as possible, so I can do all kinds of baking with them.
7. Stop looking at my phone during the first half hour of the day
Oh shoot, was this a goal? I’d definitely forgotten all about it until now, and am sort of failing in the screen time department. Maybe at least waiting five minutes when I wake up to look at my phone would be a better goal for me…
8. Post one blog post a week
This has been my worst winter for posting since the first year of this blog, when I posted nothing until spring. However, now that I’m fully committed to Fueled By Wanderlust, I expect my consistency to drastically improve.
That is why I made sure to post on my first Monday of full time blogging. I wanted to set my intentions, even though it was only a short (albeit significant) personal announcement.
9. Buy a new camera lens
I haven’t bought any new camera lenses yet, but I’ve been doing my research. Now I just need to decide how much money I’m willing to part with. Unfortunately, lenses don’t come cheap.
• • •
While the beginning of 2021 felt a lot like 2020, it seems like things get better and a tiny bit more “normal” each day. I definitely feel a hint of optimism in the air, which is much more conducive for goal chasing. I hope it helps me make more progress on all the above in the next few months.
