What I am working towards in 2021

Hello my loyal readers!

Can you believe we are at the end of January already?

This month has certainly flown by for me and I am sure many of you can relate.

In my first post of the new year and month, I discussed what my biggest accomplishment was of 2020 and how I was going to premiere what I am working towards in 2021 at the end of the month.

I absolutely love New Years and everything it stands for.

“There is something so exciting and exhilarating in knowing you get to have a fresh start in life, and to have a sense of hope that anything is possible in the year ahead.”

At the end of each year I used to spend New Years Eve night writing out my reflection of the year and goals for the new year. Throughout the past few years though I have thought about my goals throughout the whole month of January, and document them in my personal journal at the end of the month.

I wanted to share with all of you what three of my personal goals are for the year ahead. Of course there are more than just three on my list of things I want to accomplish this year, but these are high priority for my focus in the year ahead.

Three Personal Goals of mine for 2021:

1) Plan my dream wedding that is also affordable

If you follow on the Instagram page then you know I got engaged in November of 2020.

HANDS DOWN THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

I am so excited to share our proposal story in a few weeks with all of you.

My fiancé and I have almost been together three years and have lived together for around a year and half, so we are certainly wanting to take that next step together.

Throughout last year I did some pre-wedding research with venues in the area of where we live just to get an idea of what was around. After we got engaged I started reaching out to a number of the places I had picked out and was blown away at what they were charging for a wedding to be held at their venue. Most started at $7000, and it was not even counting food or other major categories.

I have always dreamed of having a wedding since I was a little girl, and had heard how expensive weddings were throughout my 20’s as my friends got married, but I had no idea just truly how expensive they were.

This realization sent my anxiety soaring through the roof during the first few weeks of our engagement. Being 30 now, and having a pile of debt already to my name, the last thing I want is to go into is more debt for a one day long event. Thankfully my partner feels the same way, so the goal is to plan our dream wedding that is also an affordable wedding for us

We are also going to wait until 2022 to get married in hopes that COVID will truly be more under control, and it will give us more time to save up money for our big day.

2) Get Blogging

Last year I wrote more on my blog then I ever have, and I was proud of it. Even though my posts were sporadic at times it felt good to write again, and to have that feeling of accomplishment. At the end of last year though I was not happy with myself in this arena of my world.

During 2020 I got to watch firsthand and see how my fiancé YouTube Channel take off. He started the year 2020 at 300 followers and ended the year over 2,000, and is already over the 3,000 mark at the end of this month. I was and am so proud of him because I know the amount of time he puts into his videos. However, there has been a small part of me that is jealous of his success.

I have had my blog for four years this March, and feel like I have barely anything to show for it. However, I also know deep down that I have not put in the true work to really make any gains in this area of life.

I explained to my fiancé recently that it is to a point where I need to either truly dedicate myself to my blog, or I need to let it go completely and put my energy into something different.

So throughout the last two weeks of 2020 I spent a lot of time thinking up topics I want to write about, and actually writing them down on paper with a pen. I also started creating an organizational system using the bullet journal method to help with my consistency in posting and building up this community.
I hope all the pre-scheduling and brainstorming helps me stick with it even when life gets busy, which this year it certainly will. I truly do enjoy writing, and I like to think that what I write matters and will help somebody one day.

My custom Plum Paper planner and bullet journal spread for January.

3) Use my personal planner on a daily basis

In my professional work I am all about efficiency, and working smarter and not harder when I can. Automated emails, to-do lists, and scheduling work tasks keep my sanity in check when I am busy at work. However, I am not always like this in every area of my personal life.

Since I graduated from graduate school in 2015, I have purchased a planner every year for my personal life management. I like tracking bill payments, events, birthdays, and my weekly workouts and dinner menu.

I noticed throughout last year that I was using it more on a weekly basis of life and not always in an everyday capacity. By the time the weekend would roll around I would try and tackle a weeks worth of tasks, while also doing my usual weekly cleaning and errands, and spending quality time with my partner.
I would often waste time throughout the work week just chilling and scrolling through social media for an hour in the evening, or online window shopping for things I do not really need.

This year I want to challenge myself for using it more on a daily basis and less on a weekly basis, so that I can tackle things throughout the entire week and not just the weekend. By doing this I feel I will be able to take care of myself more mentally, and feel more in control of everything going on in life. Plus, I feel I will be more productive and likely to tackle my two other goals I have mentioned in this post.

What are some of your goals for this year and how are you going to make it happen?

Let me know in the comments!

Think about it, make a plan, and start.

Until next time,