My 2023 GOALS

Happy New Year!  It's time for me to share with you my goals for the year ahead. Setting goals for the year ahead is something I've shared on this blog near enough every year. This year I'm setting goals for myself for different areas of my life you can find out more below.

MAKING S.M.A.R.T GOALS FOR 2022

Happy New Year! I always start a new year off with setting goals. When setting my goals for the New Year I make sure my goals are S.M.A.R.T. 

S.M.A.R.T stands for Specific, Measurable, Achieveable, Relivant and Timebased. 

Specific - Being specific will mean breaking down what you want to achieve. Ask yourself questions such as what, where, why, when and who. 

Measurable - How will you know you have completed your goal? How do you plan to track how you are doing?

Achieveable - Is your goal actually attainable? Do you have the time ? 

Relivant - Is your goal worthwhile? Does it fit in with what is happening in your life currently?

Timebased - When will this goal begin and end? Set milestones along the way, what do you want to have achieved quater of away and half  the way through?

 

Focusing on Relationships in 2020

When busy with day to day life it can be easy for our relationships to be put on the back burner. Having a child with additional needs makes it harder for us as well especially for Stuart and I to spend time together just the two of us.

 In 2020 I want to improve my relationships not just with Stuart and Blake but also with my other family members and friends here are my ways to do so:

- Disconnect or "Unplug" more
- Be more "Present"
- Call family more often 
- Reach out to family and friends I don't speak to often
- Meet new people
- Make time for dates with Stuart 
- Establish family nights 
- Have mum and son time
- Get to know our neighbours better
- Make new friends 
- Go out to groups and meet new people
- Arrange time with an old friend whenever I'm in the area
- More time with my mum and sister one to one when visiting

Sorting out my finances in 2020

The new year is a great time to look at your financial goals. As we bought our house in 2019 and had to buy alot of big things such as washing machine, fridge freezer, New TV and now a dishwasher as well as getting our garden done, in 2020  I want to focus alot more on saving.

I feel we could have done better then we did financially wise in 2019 but here are my goals for my finances in 2020.

- Create a budget
- Create an emergency fund
- Automate my savings with an app like plum for example 
- Start using cash more
- Save for a holiday
- Keep an eye on my credit score
- Review our home insurance coverage 
- Do a no spend challenge and stick to it
- Change bank 
- Cut down our expenses
- Use discounts and coupons more
- Sell stuff we dont need
- Make a will
- Get life insurance 
- Cut back on spending 
- Start looking into putting away money for retirement 
- Buy second hand where we can
- Skim my bank account daily 
- Budget for food shopping 
- Try the envelope system and see if it works for us
- Save money on groceries 
- Save up change
- Save on train travel
- Prioritise my savings

Enjoying and having more life experiences in 2020

 Life is about the experiences you have whether they are good, bad or boring. From amazing adventures, traumatic events and even the mundane day to day life. This year I'm going to embrace doing the things I want to do as well as continuing to do the things I love.

 I want this year to be filled with experiences and here are the things I want to do in 2020:

- Tick off as many as I can from my 30 before 30 list.
- Read 65 books. You can read more about my reading goals here.
- Get a pet
- Go on holiday abroad
- Go on a staycation
- Get a new tattoo
- Do a Lifestyle challenge
- Try new foods
- Clean out junk at home
- Decorate at least one room in our home
- Attend more local events
- Do a course of some kind
- Do more creative hobbies
- Make new friends
- Go on more days out
- Do more crafts
- Make gifts
- Do something different with my hair
- Have more fun with my make up
- Have fun with photography

- Have a family photography session
- Listen to more pod casts
- Do something spontaneous
- Have a massage
- Put together a self care kit
- Go on a Spa Day
- Try a restaurant we've not been to before

Looking after my mind and mental health in 2020

In 2019 I didn't look after my mind and mental health very well either. I think relocating, Stuart's issues, home problems along with Blake's autism diagnosis and the constant meetings meant I've not focused on me enough. I've not really talked much about the mental health issues I had during 2019 fully and it's still something I'm not fully comfortable about. But the basics of it was I had my medication increased which in return had awful side effects where I was hallucinating.

So 2020 I'm making sure I focus on my mental health and get help when I need it. My goals also include ways to help improve my mental capacity as well. So here are ways I'm planning to improve my mental life: 

- Be more open about how I am feeling
- Learn how to manage stress
- Reduce stress and anxiety 
- Be more organised 
- Leave my comfort zone more
- Practise mindfulness 
- Meditate 
- Prevent burnout
- Focus on selfcare
- Create to do lists 
- Seek professional help when needed
- Keep a memory jar
- Keep diary writing
- Refer myself for counselling 
- avoid being around toxic people
- spend more time alone doing the things I love
- Find ways to help keep me motivated 
- Learn to say no
- Explore my creative side more

Looking after my physical health in 2020

Looking after my body and overall phyical health in 2020 is really important. It's an area that I have put on the weigh side in 2019 and because of that I'm now not great physically and have a lot of areas I need to improve on.  

After having some rather frustrating symptoms last year. I finally went to the Drs and got myself a blood test which revealed I have type 2 diabetes. When I had my nurse appointment I was shocked at how high my blood sugar levels are.  

With that said in regards to my physical health goals for 2020 it's not just about making healthy changes to my diet and exercising but so much more. 

Here are some ideas of what i will be doing this year to improve my physical health:

- Cut out sugar in my diet 
- Eat smaller meals
- Get my 5 a day
- Cut out fast food
- Watch how much carbs I'm having
- Drink more water 
- Drink less caffeine 
- Cut out alcohol completely 
- loose weight
- Move more 
- Set aside time to exercise for at least 10 mins a day
- Get a better sleep routine
- Take vitamins
- Have regular checkups at my Drs
- Make sure I take my medication 
-  Attend my diabities appointments
- Get my eyes tested
- Go to the dentist regularly 
- Look after my hair
- Look after my skin

My goals for 2020

Happy New Year! 2020 is here which means the start of a new decade. It also means that this year I'll be turning 30. I always start a new year off with setting goals. This year I'm setting goals for myself for different areas of my life and will be sharing more posts on ways I plan to achieve them and a bit more detail too.

Look after my body and my overall physical health.
There are many things I want to do in this area. Some examples include keeping up with healthy eating, exercising more, drinking more water and get more sleep.

Look after my mind and mental health 
Last year I struggled with my mental health and so in 2020 I want to focus on things such as learning to deal with stress and anxiety along with being more organised etc. 

Enjoy and have more life experiences 
Ideas include ticking off more from my 30 before 30 list, Read 65 books, go on at least one holiday, get a new tattoo and more. 

Sorting out finances 
Such as saving money, making more money, building an emergency fund. 

Spend more time focusing on my relationships
Such as being more present, spend more time with family and friends, make new friends, spend more time with Stuart when it's just us. 

So there you have it. These are the areas in my life I'll be focusing on in 2020. 

2019 Goals | How did I do?

I'm honestly glad that 2019 is coming to end. Don't get we wrong we've had some good moments this year but also quite a bit of bad luck which makes me feel that 9 is our unlucky number. I say this because 2009 was also an awful year for us so it's  got me thinking.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing my year in review so you will know more about what 2019 has been like for us. Today though is about the goals I set myself on the 1st January and if I've actually stuck at them.

1) Read 60 books 
This year I signed up to the goodreads challenge and set myself a goal of reading 60 books by December 31st. I am happy to say I completed this goal on 7th December and have managed to read a further 3 books. I'll definitely be setting a challenge again for 2020.



2) Indulge in more creative activities
I've been getting into Calligraphy, colouring and starting to fill up a sketchbook with some art work. I definitely want to continue in 2020 with these hobbies as I've really been enjoying them.


3) Make time for meditation
I've sort of done this however I could certainly need to be doing it alot more often than I have been to make it into a habit.

4. Visit new places
We've definitely visited quite a few places but it definitely is something in 2020 I want to do more of. 


If you set goals at the beginning of year have you managed to stick at them?