2020

I was chatting with my sister Rachel on one of our random walks home together, and we were talking about our annual (third year running!) tradition of picking out a word to encompass the entire year at its onset. It always feels incredibly important to choose the right word, and this year, my word came to me so easily. 

Breathe. 

2019 was an awesome year. I did so many incredible things, and I’m so grateful for that. But towards the end of the year, I was starting to feel a touch overwhelmed by life being constantly in motion. Don’t get me wrong – I had so much fun making all these new memories! But I also realized that, in order to sustain that sort of energy properly throughout the new year (and the hopefully many more to come), I needed to take a step back. 

Breathe. 

I doubt I’ll ever be able to give up on constantly making to do lists and new plans, because that’s too ingrained in who I am as a person. (I really like planning things ahead, friends.) But I felt like it was important to choose a word that would remind me to pause. To simplify and strip things down when it all gets to be too much. To be truly present in any given moment. To take the time to properly reflect. To be still and rest. To just breathe and be. 

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It seems ironic to be including a list of my specific goals for the year right after explaining the word I chose. But I love making lists, and I like having an idea of what I’m hoping to accomplish by the end of the year – though I’ll certainly be taking time to fully embrace the essence of the word I chose. 

Complete a proper Bible study. I want to constantly strive to get closer to God and get to know Him better. And I feel like doing a deep dive into reading His Word will help with that! I want to make sure to carve out regular time to read and reflect this year. 

Make time for family and friends. You might be wondering why I included this, since I’m always hanging out with Macky, my sisters and my best friends already. I’d like to continue doing things with my favorite people, of course, but I’d also like to be more deliberate about also nurturing my other relationships with friend dates (if they’re in New York) or virtual dates (if they’re elsewhere in the world). 

Start a new daily journal. I used to be a regular diarist, but that’s fallen to the wayside in favor of simply recording all the stuff I experienced in my journals. I’d like to start writing about my daily life again, including any thoughts, feelings or realizations I have. It’d be nice to capture a snapshot of the era I’m currently in personally with my words, since it’s always fascinating to look back and see how much has changed. 

Acquire less stuff. This goal is a work in progress, but it felt important to include it here. I’ve gotten better at being mindful with my purchases, particularly in the latter half of the year. But I want to continue to make it a point to choose to exercise this mindset all the time, both to lessen unnecessary clutter and to keep my finances in check. 

Go for a walk (which will eventually turn into a run) at least once a week. This is the only one of my life goals that seems a bit left field, if you know me at all. But walking has always been an exercise I enjoy, and I really want to lean into that personal joy (and eventually build up to a regular running routine). 

Read fifty books for Flights of Fantasy. Spoiler alert: Rachel and I decided to bring back this reading challenge, and we invited Kristin to be our cohost! I did a real deep dive into fantasy last year, and my love for this genre continues to grow. I have a lot of fantasy books on my TBR, so I figured it was an excellent excuse to be overly ambitious with my numerical goal. (Flights of Fantasy is hosted by me, Hello Chelly and Super Space Chick.) 

Play Romanceopoly. I found out about this fun spin on a romance reading challenge midway through 2019, and immediately knew I was going to make plans to join this year. I used to be such a big romance reader! I want to do a deep dive back into the genre, because I feel like I’ve been neglecting it in favor of other things. There are so many great romances of all sorts out there just waiting for me to fall in love with them and I can’t wait to discover new stories to rave about! (Romanceopoly is hosted by Under the Covers Book Blog and Peace Love Books.) 

Participate in Classics Community. 2020 is going to be the year that I finally make a dent in my classics TBR! I have a rough idea of which book I want to tackle each month, and I think breaking down the longer classics into a reading schedule will help me feel less intimidated. I’ll be kicking off the year by rereading an old favorite and reading a new-to-me classic, and hopefully, the strong start will lead to a strong streak through the rest of this year! (Classics Community is hosted by Lucy the Reader.) 

Catch up on five manga series. I’m guilty of owning a lot of unread manga volumes. I fly through series whenever I do pick them up, so I don’t foresee this goal being too hard for me to complete. Plus, spoiler alert, OtakuAThon will be back this year, so that’ll be a great opportunity to do a series binge (or two)! (OtakuAThon is hosted by me and Super Space Chick.) 

Get my TBR down to 50 books or less. This is the most ambitious reading goal I have for the year! I’ve been doing well at reducing my TBR pile, whether it’s by reading books, culling books or acquiring less books. I feel confident I can keep it up this year, so I figured I’d shoot for the stars here and be optimistic that I can get this done. 

What are your goals for 2020?