It's time again for a massive goal post. A lot of things happened in 2024. I finished Grad School and have my Master's now. Awesome as that is as an achievement, it's also why I only managed about 60 books for 2024. I guess that's still an impressive reading feat all things considered, but it seems piddly next to my usual 100 or so per year.
Grad School was a good experience over all. I really felt like my brain woke up a bit and I appreciated the challenge of it all. However, a number of other goals got pushed aside. This year, I'd like to refocus on other parts of my life, namely health and family.
- 200 books - I probably won't make 200 books, but gosh darn it I'm getting over 60 in 2025. Honestly, I'll be happy with 120 which is 10 books a month, but I believe strongly that a good goal isn't necessarily a slam dunk. It needs to be a stretch and 200 is definitely a stretch. 17 books (on average) in a month isn't impossible, but it is a lot.
- 20 nonfiction - because 200 books in a year isn't enough of a challenge (clearly), I've decided to complicate things by saying that 20 of the 200 need to be non-fiction. Really, my goal is more that 10% of my reading will be nonfiction - it's more the proportion than the ultimate number. I like nonfiction, but it reads slower so I often deprioritize it during my breakneck reading goals. This year, I'm going to make it more of a priority to keep up with the proportion of it.
- Grandma's Recipe Boxes - (1 recipe per week) When my mother's mother passed, she left behind 10 very full recipe boxes. I claimed them, because of course I was always going to and I've looked through them from time to time but I haven't really done much with them because when I inherited them, I'm afraid I was a bit of a recipe snob. My grandmother was a bit of a recipe magpie. She exchanged recipe cards with friends, but she also clipped them from magazines, advertisements, and newspapers. I've also found folded up sections of airbase newsletters, church circulars, and other such things. She really gathered recipes from everywhere, yet I don't remember her being much of a cook. It's kind of an interesting contradiction for me. She certainly could cook, and cook well. I just don't remember really her focusing on it. I'd like to try one of her stored up recipes a week. Honestly, 52 recipes will barely scratch the surface of what's there, but it's a start and will allow me to start organizing it all.
- Hikes/Walks - This is really a 2 part goal. Ryan and I need to get moving more. When Covid hit we got super sedentary in a way that we didn't use to be. It has had an effect on our health and our waistlines. (Also we are getting older... that's a thing too.) It's time to turn it around, so this year I want to get in 8000 steps minimum every day. I'd also like to do an active activity or hike twice a month. I honestly think this is the goal that will be the hardest simply because it represents the largest habit shift.
- Board Games (at least 2 per week) - Thomas likes board games. Ryan and I like board games. We also spend too much time with screens on. Ideally many of these goals would reduce screen time, but this one I think could do so the most. It takes time spent in passive entertainment and makes it active family time. As an added bonus we can start looking at the massive back log of games and decide if we really need to keep them all. (hint - probably not)
- Crochet - I have a stupid number of partially completed crochet projects boxed and bagged up in the basement. I'd like to finish 6 of them this year which feels reasonable since none of them will be starting from scratch. Of course, once I finish them, I need to figure out what to do with them.
- Writing - I got out of the habit of writing which is understandable, but kind of sad. I've had a hard time getting back into the groove and trying to do so during grad school was pretty silly. However, this year I want to get back into the habit and I'm going to leverage routine to do so. I'm going to focus primarily one two types of writing tasks to build back in the time and stamina.
- The blog - there are a lot of goals here. Every Saturday, I'm going to post on my progress towards my goals. I'm not sure what it will look like but I'll use the space to keep running totals and talk about experiences. I will also post my reviews for all the books I've read and the recipes from my Grandma's boxes that we try. Ultimately, I will try to have four posts per week.
- A Journal - my secret pal got me a journal for the holidays. I want to write one page a day... on anything I like. Just 1 page. Every day.
This is a lot, but I think it's all doable (except maybe the 200 books - pretty sure I can get up over 100 though). At least in the broad strokes, it's all doable. I'm sure there will be times that it will be hard to get out and walk and times when we miss a board game, but in general it's not too much of an over commitment on time and meeting these goals will naturally reduce screen time for the family, which is a win too. As always, goals are for the striving. Achieving the goals would be awesome, but it's not really the point.
Happy New Year Everyone.
