Welcome to 2021, everyone! Praise the Lord that we've made it to another year. As I mentioned in my last post, I can't believe we've begun a new year. It feels as if 2020 were simultaneously too short and too long. But, enough about 2020 -- she doesn't even go here.
It's probably a contradiction, but I subscribe to both ideas that there is nothing special about January 1 and that a new year is an exciting new start. The new year has similar vibes as the start of a new school year or new semester. There's a sense of change, anticipation, maybe some apprehension. You don't have to wait for January 1 to set new goals or create a vision for your life, but it can help get your momentum going.
I personally enjoy coming up with some larger-scale goals that I can break down into smaller, actionable goals and habits over the next twelve months. The goals I set often evolve as the year goes on. Sometimes they turn out completely different than how I imagined!
A few clear goals for this year emerged out of 2020, such writing my second draft of my book and reading 22 books. However, I had a slight identity crisis while brainstorming the rest of my goals. There's just so many things I want to do, but I don't want to overestimate how much I can do in one day, a month, or a year. (Even as I wrote this post, I considered adjusting the organization.)
The crisis began as I journaled about the four categories in which I divide my goals: wellness, spiritual, creative, and personal. I wanted to have a clearer focus for each category. Wellness covers my overall wellbeing, such as my physical, mental, and emotional health. This ranges from diet and exercise to emotional intelligence and self-care. Spiritual encompasses my walk with God. It feels a bit forced to create goals meant to be measured by some metric when it comes to faith, but it's an important aspect of my life that needs to be cultivated just like everything else. Creative focuses on self-expression. For me, self-expression is learning, making, and creating in any form, from reading, writing, painting, coloring, or even baking. Last is personal, which I've treated as a miscellaneous or catch-all category. It could include things like self-development ideas to professional things, like building a portfolio.
Here's the dilemma: many goals I brainstormed could fit into multiple categories or they could be another category. For example, journaling weekly fits both in Wellness and Personal. Do I want to journal for mental and emotional benefits or for self-growth? I can do both, so which category do I put it in? Another example is that I want to create a budget so that I can pay off a decent chunk of my student loans. I could organize that under Personal, but it could also be its own category! I could go on, but I will spare you the rest.
It took some reshuffling and redefining to narrow my goals, but I am finally satisfied with how they turned out. Without further ado, here are four of my goals for 2021!
Wellness
Goal: Create functional morning and evening routines
I've attempted to create morning and evening routines before, but they were never as consistent or as "structured" as I would like them to be. I had an order of things but I was lackadaisical in what I counted as successfully completing the routine. One habit I really want to break is hitting snooze every morning. It cuts into my time for my morning devotion and getting ready for the day.
I will to set the tone for my day in the morning and unwind in the evening with these routines. Productivity YouTuber and blogger The Bliss Bean has a few worksheets on morning and evening routines that I will use.
Spiritual
Goal: Memorize a verse a week
I participated in Bible Quizzing for three years. For those that don't know, Bible Quizzing is a ministry of the UPCI that challenges children and youth to memorize hundreds of verses and compete in tournaments. It was hard but so much fun. Since I stopped quizzing, I haven't continued memorizing the Word as I should.
My goal means that I will memorize 52 verses. Some may think it's a lot, but I know that it is more than doable for me. I will pick out a predetermined list of verses and take at least 10 minutes a day to practice and meditate on Scripture.
Creative
Goal: write the second draft of my book
After completing NaNoWriMo, I knew I needed some time off from my draft. I spent the month of December planning my blog, writing posts, and writing a little The Rise of Skywalker fix-it fan-fic. I still don't feel completely ready to jump back into my draft, but I have thought about it often and I miss my characters. I've already know a few things I wanted to change, such as switching my female lead's father's occupation from merchant to professor.
My plan for the second draft is as follows: 1) reread my first draft (while resisting the urge to edit and preferably in one sitting); 2) take notes on plot holes/characterization issues/continuity problems/etc; 3) research everything I didn't before I began writing; 4) rewrite the draft.
I don't know how to actually rewrite the draft. I think I will create a new document and write with the first draft pulled up so I can review it as I go along. I may create a new outline first, but who knows? *shrugs shoulders* Certainly not me.
Another Creative goal of mine is to define my personal style and clean out my closet accordingly. My closet is stuffed to the brim and it's beyond time for me to do something about it. I plan to share this process outside of my quarter reviews, and I'm really excited!
Lastly, I mentioned earlier that my reading challenge is set at 22 books. While I won't be updating my progress every quarter anymore here on the blog, I will continue to share what I'm reading on my Goodreads and Instagram!
Personal
Goal: create a budget to pay off student loans
Unfortunately, my six-month grace period has ended and my loan servicers didn't forget about me during that time. I have two sets of student loans: federal and private. I'm going to be as transparent as possible with my financial details, not only to help myself stay accountable but also to hopefully help others in the same boat.
I owe $27,612.08 in federal loans. I have 8 loans with interest rates ranging from 3.7% to 4.53%. Due to the pandemic, my federal loans are in forbearance and interest accrual has frozen until February.
I owe $11,279.58 in private loans through Wells Fargo with an interest rate of 7.99% (yes, that hurts). This loan began repayment in December and my minimum monthly payment is $109.68.
All together, my debt totals $38,891.66. (I also have car loan from the Dad Bank for $1600 that I'm planning to pay off soon). Honestly, have student debt under 40 grand is not that bad... but it does feel a little overwhelming nonetheless. *cue jazz hands to hide impending doom*
I earn $692 every two weeks, bringing in a monthly income of $1,384. Last month's bills (Spotify, phone, Wells Fargo payment, gas, IF Campaign) totaled $188.14. That doesn't include tithes from each paycheck. I have lot of cash left over after paying bills.
My first goal for quarter one is to find a budget system that works for me. I've been tracking my spending by hand in my bullet journal for over a year, but that is getting tedious.
These aren't all of my goals for 2021, but these are the ones I will share my progress on a regular basis! I may share the others on the blog or my socials throughout the year as well.
Lastly, my word for this year is refocus. I was stuck on what to choose for my word until the close of my church's New Year's Eve service. The sermon the night before at Winter Youth Convention and that night were about distraction. I could clearly feel the Spirit impressing on me to refocus my mind and energy on what truly matters. A Scripture that came to me is Colossians 3:2: "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth."
I don't have the exact details on what refocusing all entails (spending less time on social media is definitely one of them), but I'm ready for the journey.
Cheers to 2021! Let me what your word of the year is in the comments below.
P.S. The blog is two years old today!
Kommentare