Writing goals down makes them more tangible. I was never really one for writing lists of goals and aims for the year but I really enjoyed getting last year’s birthday list down. OK, it slipped my mind quite a lot and I forgot to keep checking back to it but the first time you do anything you come away with learnings, right?
How do I think of 35 things?
I’m not sure if I think that 35 is a huge number or not. But I know that I struggled with 34 last year. That could simply be because it was the first time I’d actually challenged myself to think about what I’d like to achieve in the year ahead. Actual, proper goals that I can tick off not just wishy-washy general new year’s resolutions that you feel like you have to make because it’s the norm.
It’s quite nice to have a starting point this year though. I don’t have to think of all 35 fresh. Even the aims that I ticked off have sparked further ideas for goals and I enjoy the way these things snowball.
This year’s list…
- Visit Bristol – This is a modification of last year’s list. I never managed a trip to Cambridge last year but Bristol has recently overtaken it in my wish list of UK trips to take.
- Lose two stone – I’m still unhappy with how I look. I’ve left this as lose two stone as an arbitrary marker as I would like to lose fat but get stronger. I know that with losing two stone of fat I could gain a good few pounds of muscle as I up my exercise so I need to find somewhere I’m happy with.
- Bake at least once a month – I’m going to try this one again. I really enjoy baking so am determined to make time for it.
- Get a new tattoo – I know I ticked this off last year’s list but I want another one.
- Go on the London Eye – Still determined to get on this behemoth of a ferris wheel.
- Go on a spa weekend/day – A weekend would obviously be my preference because think of the sleep I could have if I was that relaxed for two days!!
- Get some event experience – I really want to start shadowing wedding and event planners to up my own confidence and put all my theory learning into practice.
- No fast food for a month – It’s just four weeks. Why do I find this so difficult?
- Read 12 books – I’m going to try and change my bedtime habits to improve the quality of sleep I’m getting. (Spoiler alert – it’s awful at the moment.) This is going to include half an hour of reading before I settle down to sleep and no phone scrolling.
- Visit Hampton Court – I’m really keen to go to the maze. That’s the big draw for me.
- Visit Kew Gardens – I bet it’s amazing at Christmas, I think I’m going to try and see it in summer and at Christmas.
- Go to the cinema four times – I was convinced this was going to be an easy one to tick off last year. Here’s hoping I can do it this year.
- Take more photos – I know this is a bit wishy-washy and doesn’t have a certain point where I can say tick! Done. But I like it as a prompt.
- Go to the zoo – The zoo is my favourite. I will always have this on my list. I love the zoo.
- Eat at ten new to me places – I might not have ticked this off completely but it was one of my favourites. I’m looking forward to trying it again.
- Make a video – I’d still like to try and create some video content. I think it’ll be nice to look back on in future.
- Run 5k – I don’t do running but I’m going to leave this on here as a measure of my fitness and stamina. Both of which I’m keen to improve.
- Have a makeup lesson – Someone please teach me how to do my slap properly. I always look the same!
- Stop bedsharing – Not having a small person sleeping on my head would be nice.
- Bake something that isn’t cakes or biscuits – Variety is the spice of life or at least that’s what they say. I’m going to try and stretch my repertoire.
- Get downstairs finished – There are loads of little things that I want to get to finish off our house. Do you know what I mean? If I can finish off downstairs I’ll be happy.
- Play in more roller derby bouts – I think I suck at derby. I want to get better and play in more bouts.
- Go ice skating – It’s fun and I haven’t been for years. I always sucked at it so I’m hoping my skills on wheels will magically up my skills on the ice.
- Go to Disney – I’d love to take Cece to Disneyland Paris. I think she’s starting to get interested in Disney stuff and soon she’ll think it’s just magic.
- Pay off my credit card – All my Christmas presents this year have been popped on there to deal with in the New Year.
- Get new glasses – I have two pairs of glasses in my current prescription. One pair had the arm fall off one morning on my way to work. The other pair I managed to fire across a pub and stretch out as I fell off a table I was dancing on. Yeah, I really don’t know what I did or how they became way too big for my face either. All I do know is that they’re always trying to slide off my face.
- No fizzy pop for a month – I never used to drink much pop at all but recently I’ve been guzzling the stuff. I definitely need to lay off it a bit.
- Go to 12 gigs – I used to regularly be found at live music venues up and down the country and now I really go out. One a month is doable, surely?
- Give vegetarianism a go – I used to be veggie once upon a time and I think it’s time to give it a go again. I just want to think a bit more about what I’m eating so making a change forces me to do that.
- No drinking for a month – Apparently not drinking for one month a year gives the liver a chance to regenerate. I heard that on a podcast so don’t quote me, OK?
- Go vegan for a month – I was considering doing Veganuary but I feel like I need more time to prepare before I throw myself into a vegan lifestyle.
- Buy myself flowers at least once a month – I love having fresh flowers in the house so as a little treat to myself I’m going to buy myself more.
- Have 6 date day/nights with Tom – We hardly ever spend time on our own together anymore. It’s pretty hard to get a babysitter sometimes.
- No buying any clothes for a month – I’m an absolute fiend when it comes to internet shopping. I’m obsessed.
- Learn something new – I don’t know what yet but I’ll definitely be looking for something. Even if it’s as small as this year I learnt to solve a Rubix Cube.
There we have it. 35 things for me to try and tackle this coming year. I’m going to try and be more organised with it this year and write the list in my diary too. That way I can keep a tally of how I’m doing.
Wish me luck.
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