2021 New Year's Goals - Update

 

We're officially at the halfway point of the year and I figure it's time to do an update of the ambitious number of goals for this year. If you read the original post, you might remember that I am trying to complete 6 goals in two different categories. In the first category, each goal averages doing that thing once a month. The second category are more projects that I want to get done. Each of the goals are individual goals that don't require anyone else to be a part of them, so there are to be no excuses if I fail. That being said, I got REALLY busy at work shortly after setting these goals. It killed some of my interest to do anything, but I'm still doing a decent job across the board.

1) Make 12 Pies
I'm ahead of the game when it comes to making pies. I've made at least one pie each of the first six months in 2021. All of them have been pretty good, but some haven't come out how I'd want them to. The nice thing is that I've been able to try out new techniques and flavors. From top left to bottom right: Chocolate Chess, Strawberry Rhubarb, Twix Cheesecake, Unbelievable Peanut Butter, Lemon Tart, Grasshopper, and Apple Crumb. With 7 pies done and the want to eat more, this one should be in the bag.

2) Read 12 Books
Of all of the goals, I'm slacking on this one the most. I want to read, but just didn't have the mental energy to do it for about a 4 month stretch. Now that I'm back into a more relaxed time at work, I'm going to try and incorporate more reading into my daily schedule. It just easier to watch TV or spending an unacceptable amount of time watching TikTok at night. I have read three books: Food52 Genius Recipes, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, and The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born. I'm current reading It Devours!, the second book in the Welcome To Night Vale series. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to grind my way before the end of the year.

3) Complete 12 Exercise Challenges
I've been crushing this goal since the beginning of the year and just completed my 8th challenge for the year. Incorporating the monthly Darebee 30 day challenges into my workouts has been really easy and something I was doing at the end of last year. Aside from that, I was able to complete the 50 Push-Ups In One Go Achievement and the 5k Running In One Go Achievement. I've got my eye on the 20 Pull-Ups In One Go and 5 Minute Elbow Plank achievements, but will still make my goal by just doing the 30 day challenges for the rest of the year.

4) Cook Through A Cookbook
If you follow the blog, this is the one goal that is being updated in real time as I blog about each of the recipes I make from Food52 Genius Recipes. As of today, I'm a little behind where I need to be, but could be caught up in just a couple weeks of new dishes. I've been saving some recipes for the summer because I want to use ingredients from my garden instead of buying them. There are a crap ton of salads and desserts in the book that I still need to make, but have done a good job making almost all of the main dishes. I've enjoyed making, eating, and blogging the recipes from this book so far. Not all of them have been winners, but overall it's a pretty decent collection of recipes that cover all sorts of cuisines. I'm already thinking about doing this again next year, but want to focus on one type of cuisine. I'm thinking a very specific regional cuisine from Italy might be the way to go.

5) Trade, Sell, or Donate Games
At the beginning of the year I was really motivated to get rid of bunch of games and did a decent job of selling some locally. I've still got 18 games on my For Trade list, but only a few of them are really wanted in the hobby game scene. There are 3 or 4 that I'm holding on to until I can make a really good trade because they have the most value. Trading them for something that's low on my wishlist doesn't make a lot of sense. At some point I'm probably just going to donate the rest of them. Somebody else can get enjoyment out the games instead of them sitting unplayed in a tote. I really should make hard cuts to get my collection much smaller, but that would just make this goal even harder. Who knows, maybe I'll surprise myself and actually do it.

6) Meditate Regularly
This goal. This goal continues to tease me. Didn't start the year off well, but did hit my stride in the middle of February. By the end of May I was up to averaging five days a week for the year because I was doing it every single day. Incorporating it as part of my daily exercise program made all the difference. I honestly think it was one of the things that got me through the awful work project and the headache that was kids' hybrid school schedule. June was a terrible month though, I only had three days for the whole month and I definitely felt it. Reflecting on how I acted last month, it's clear that meditation was helping. I snapped at the drop of the hat and lashed out when things weren't going my way. Trying to be patient with the kids has been basically nonexistent for the past few weeks and that's purely unacceptable. Before finishing this blog post, I stopped and did my meditation for today. It's been a struggle, but I'm committed to completing this goal.

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