New Year, New Goals!

It’s 2021.

Isn’t that incredible!?

Growing up, my grandma would tell me stories about fleeing Hitler and the concentration camps. She was 14-years-old with a newborn baby brother. She learned what it was to truly be hungry. She knew what real fear feels like. She learned what it meant to literally have nothing but the clothes on her back.

As I got older, I often thought of this generation and the sacrifices so many of them had to make. I also reflected on how easy my life has been in comparison. Few of us have known what a true challenge looks like.

And then 2020 happened.

An invisible illness bore down on us. The wildest election in our history consumed us. Fear of the unknown was a real thing.

And while the world isn’t going to just right itself because we flipped the calendar to a new year, I am heading into the new year with a little more hope. I’m grateful that I still don’t know what true suffering is (at least in comparison to the stories I’ve heard from my grandma’s experiences), and I appreciate the lessons I’ve learned from the last 9 months.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next year. I have my highest hopes, and I have my deepest fears – only time will tell how it all pans out. What I know for sure is that I’m lucky to have my husband and kids…

…and BOOKS! Truly the greatest escape!

Goals for 2021:

Bookish Goals:

• Reading Challenges participation – not only did this really help my blog growth last year, but it focused my reading and it was fun!
  • Goodreads Challenge: 125 books in 2021!
  • Participate in the Unread Shelf Challenge.
  • Participate in the 2021 Nonfiction Reading Challenge at the Nonfiction Know-It-All level (12 books).
  • Participate in Spine of the Month with @diversespines
  • Continue to focus on diverse authors and topics.
• #Bookstagram: I’d like to have a follower goal, but we saw how well that worked for me last year. Instead, I’m going to focus on the things I personally can control!
  • Authentic engagement – likes, comments, shares, and saving to help others engagement as well!
  • Daily posting – or, at the very least during the weekdays (and maybe take the weekends off 🤔)
  • Relax and enjoy! – I started this to have fun, to talk about books, and to share my love of reading with other like-minded people! So if the followers come, they come. If they don’t, they don’t! 🤷🏼‍♀️ I can so easily get swept up in the things that don’t matter on social and forget the things that do, so I’m going to try really hard to refocus that frustration this year and keep it positive!
• NetGalley: 80%
• Edelweiss: 0 books to review by the end of the year!

Personal:

• MOVE! – I had two things working against me last year: my love of reading and coronavirus. They both made me a little lazy and I definitely want to change that this year. Aiming for a minimum of 30 minutes of activity every day…nothing specific, just movement!
• EAT! – I’m in my 40s now and it’s beginning to show in my metabolism. It’s the year for me to start focusing on my health a little bit better. Specifically, I’d like to focus on the basics of the anti-inflammation diet: less sugar, less dairy, less carbs, and more veggies and whole foods!
• MORE WATER! I do pretty good with this one, but I can also do better! Aiming for a minimum of 75 oz per day!
• Just an overall focus on simplicity this year! I don’t need much except my husband, kids, and books. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake!

My Word of the Year:

2020 felt like it was full of fear mongering, so in 2021, I want to focus on TRUST.

• Trust in God, His plan, and His faithfulness…always and above all else, especially against the words of any man.
• Trust in myself and what I need. When in doubt, I will be still and listen…and then trust.

I am always interested in other people’s words of the year…if you have one, would you please share it with me?!?