This year I made resolutions with goals for this past year. This is how it went.
As stated in previous posts about my goals, I usually try to make them according to categories to my life: Physical, Professional, Spiritual, and Personal. This philosophy also works with my New Year Goals as well.
I have never made New Year Goals that I kept, until this year. This year I set smaller goals, and involved other people to help keep me accountable. I feel like this year has been very positive with the outcome of my goals, even if it they aren’t groundbreaking or world changing. By accomplishing these goals, I feel like I was able to finish things and have enough self control to keep working hard towards them.
Physical
Run a 5k
This year I wanted to really stretch myself. I have always had the easiest time talking my way out of physical activity. I have never run in my life, and hate sweating in general. However, I knew that since I would be entering my late 20s this year, getting physically fit is no longer much of an option for me. I have to start now in order to make better decisions for my health. I trained for 4 months (not a full 6, but that is part of goals, doing what you can!) and was able to run my first race! I still am not a fan of running, but now I know I can do it and am looking at other races to run this upcoming year. While I am still fairly inconsistent, I still call this one a win. I worked hard to finish the race and to train. I proved I can run, I can race, and I can have fun doing it. 🙂
Go Backpacking
I didn’t think this would be a big deal for me. I thought it would be more of a fun bucket list type item instead of a physical challenge. However, I had to train a little bit to prepare to carry a pack uphill. I am proud of myself for going, and not talking my way out of it. In fact, I HAD to go since I had out camping permit. I think that is the trick to many of my goals, have people count on you or a part of what you are doing. It makes it harder to quit!
Professional
Find projects for work to build skills and resume.
This past year has been a whirlwind, especially professionally. I started out the year as a receptionist with little to no projects or systems that I could call my own. I was doing my day to day work, but not much else. This year I wanted to take ownership of my career and work hard for a new position. This wasn’t easy, and didn’t happen the way I thought it would. Half of job changes are timing, the other half networking. I found this especially discouraging since I did work hard and wanted to move upward in my job, but was not given opportunities to do so. This led to a career change with a different line of work, but one that I am enjoying. I think taking on those projects and having multiple disappointments was very beneficial for me, as I learned to push forward and focus more on my own actions, and not those of others around me. I was always taught that if you work hard, then you will get what you deserve, but honestly, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. People work hard and don’t get jobs they deserve, and vice versa. However, that doesn’t mean I should stop being a good employee or work well. That has been a hard lesson this year, but I feel like it is one of the most “adult” lessons I have learned so far, and I am thankful.
Spiritual
Read the Bible in a year.
I have never read the Bible all the way through from start to finish. I have grown up “in the church” as they say, but never took the time to read the whole Bible. Since my theology has changed a bit in the past couple of years, I felt it was wise to read the Bible all the way through to get context of the verses. A group of friends and I did pretty well until August, where I fell off track, but I am hoping to pick it back up where I left off in January.
Get involved with our church.
We have been attending our church for 2 years and have been members for 1 full year. Now that we feel more settled, Zach and I knew we wanted to contribute more to our church with time and resources. This as been so fun for Zach and I as we host in our home weekly and participate in various ways on Sunday mornings. We love our church, and are so thankful that we are able to serve in these ways. This is definitely a goal that I have enjoyed for sure this year!
Personal
Find a hobby.
This is actually Zach’s goal for me, haha! I really didn’t have many things I would do for fun besides organizing our house! So Zach challenged me to find a hobby for me to try and something I enjoyed. I have always loved art and usually paint with acrylic paint, but the canvases are so hard to store that the supplies is so messy that it made for a difficult hobby without a art space. That’s originally why I chose watercolor. I had never done watercolor before, but loved the idea of being able to travel with my supplies on hikes or on trips so I could draw and paint on the go. One thing I wasn’t counting on was how bad I was at it! Haha! I thought my acrylic painting skills would transfer over, but watercolor is a whole new animal when it comes to painting. I spent 6 months just doing what I could and enjoying it as a chill activity with no real goal or set outcome, but then I took a summer class with a friend, and that really changed everything! I enjoy it so much more now that I have more techniques in my toolbox and supplies that I know is good quality. I really have enjoyed painting so much this year, and really hope to keep doing it for years to come. Want to follow my painting? Be sure to check it out here: @chelseawatercolors
Keep plants alive.
I love plants. They are so pretty in photos, clean the air in your home, and just soften the space so much. I have always killed plants, for as long as I could remember. I just wanted to keep the plants I had alive, so that was what I aimed to do this year. I read books, did research on seeds, watched YouTube videos of how/when to water, etc. It turns out, keeping plants alive is much easier than I anticipated. I had always just paid half-attention or over-nurtured my plants, but it turns out they come with instructions for a reason. Who knew? (I know, everyone knew…) Any time my plants started to look sad, I just looked them up online and did what it said, move locations, water more/less, fertilize them. I also set a day that is Water Wednesday. This helped me to remember to check all my plants in the house, even if they didn’t need water. This way I was able to be more mindful of my plants, and that simple act of paying attention has saved all of my plants this year. I even got a few new ones! If I can do it, so can you! 🙂
This year has been full of many ups and downs. I am very thankful for the time spent this year on growth and learning. I hope to continue this into 2020 as well by setting larger goals that are a bit scarier for me.
Thank you for following along, and I’ll see you next year! 🙂
Much love.
Chelsea
Adventures with the Yells 