If I’m going to write a post reflecting on 2024, it only makes sense to write one with my goals for 2025 so I can look back at it in a year (or not, to be honest I didn’t look at the one I wrote at the beginning of 2024 to compare).
My biggest goal is to not have too many goals. Hah. I know, I know but trust me, less is more when it comes to this stuff. In the past, I used to make charts, use white boards, color code my goals into categories, sub categories and lord knows what else and jot them all down in pages after pages of notebook paper/planner. And that was all fine — because of course it helps. If I hadn’t done that, maybe I would’ve accomplished a lot less.
But, now at almost 43, I know what is realistic for me in my current state of life and what is not and attempting to bite off more than I can chew is an unnecessary angle to play.
So, I wrote my goals down on my planner and I’m going to put it on here:
- Focus on Health. Frankly, that should be all that I put on here. Because this one goal has been solely unattainable for what feels like over a decade. But, I’ll be dammed if I have just one goal. lol. I am a Capricorn after all. But this entails physical health, mental health and emotional health.
- Restart Podcast. I have to make this happen, and one of the ways in which I will do this is my significantly decreasing my social media presence. More on this below.
- Decrease Social Media Presence. For the past few years, I’ve been posting some version of daily/weekly/monthly posts and stories and reels. And none of it to make money lol. It’s just all for my own self recording/journaling so to speak. And I’ve decided I’m not going to do that this year. I’m going to try a new approach – post only about travel, podcast, and the two new hobbies (see 4 & 5).
- Continue Sourdough Journey. I stumbled upon the sourdough journey only because my friend, Christian, did the hard work of starting a sourdough starter and then I asked him for a tablespoon. And voila! Suddenly, I am bread pastry chef in the making. I’ve always loved baking and shifting to make bread was not a difficult choice. I just started and before long, I was doing it regularly. There are so many benefits to making your own bread and I find it therapeutic. So, this year, I will continue enhancing my bread making skills. Maybe I’ll venture into a French Tradition Baguette – one of my absolute faves!
- Learn Oil Painting. I have been wanting to take art classes for a couple of years, and got really pushed by the idea when I went to dinner with my friend’s cousin and he was talking about his mom painting. Or maybe my friend mentioned it first and then we discussed it at dinner with him. Regardless, here was a woman, taking up a hobby and really running with it later in life and I thought to myself, “I should do it now.” So finally, in December, I gifted myself an art class for 6 weeks where I will be learning to use the medium of oil and I am excited to see where it takes me.
- Gym/Walk/Yoga. In late 2023, I started waking up at 4:30 AM every morning (or just staying awake if I never went to sleep in the first place), and heading to the gym with my friend at 5 AM every. single. morning! But, after months of being good, one thing led to another – travel, illness, life, surgery and I fell off the bandwagon COMPLETELY. So, enough is enough. I know that I can do a combination of those three things every single day for 1 – 1.5 hours. And quite frankly, if I can’t carve out 1.5 hours in my day, for myself, then I am doing life all wrong. So technically, this is priority number 1, even though I’ve got it listed at number 6 here.
- Read More. I didn’t hit my 52 books last year and I didn’t do so well the year before either. Both years I got to high 30s and that’s it. And I know the main reason for this is because I am working way too much. So, it has to change. I’ve decided 30 minutes a day will go back to just reading my physical books because that is the form of reading I miss the most. And, of late, I stopped listening to audiobooks on my walks, but I will resume that so I can get a two for one deal with those two activities intertwined.
- Write. I just need to write more. I am always putting thoughts away in the back of my head for a future podcast, but realistically, everything is not going to make it to a podcast episode no matter how quickly I get back on that horse. So, this is where this space comes into play. I will write, just so I can get the thoughts out of my head, onto “paper” and for now, that is good enough. I would love to handwrite but if I am being completely honest, I type incredibly fast and my writing would not come anywhere near that speed. And time is always of the essence.
- Grow Spirited Navigators. I put this last not because it is the least important, if anything, it belongs in the top 3, but because I like to keep my business separate from my personal life (at least for the purpose of “blogging”). So, those goals are professional and kept on a separate list, if you will.
And there it is. Under ten and notably absent from above is a laundry list of travel destinations. There is good reason for that — I have two very big and expensive trips coming up this year, and those are the only two I will be actively focusing on. Money doesn’t grow on trees (though they sort of do). So, any other travels that happen outside of that will be a miracle, blessing and hopefully not on my dime. 🙂
If you, yes you, actually read all of that, well — thanks for reading!
I hope you have a set of attainable goals for the new year. And hey, if we both miss a few, well — there’s nothing unusual about that, because, life happens to everyone.
Cheers!
What I Think I Say 