At this time last year, I posted the 19 things I wanted to accomplish in 2019. I was inspired by an episode of the Happier Podcast with Gretchen Rubin. You can read my entire list HERE.
There was no expectation I would get everything done on the list, which is good because I didn’t. In fact, when I tried to list which goals I fully accomplished, it was pretty dismal:
- Watch ALL the Avengers movies in chronological order before seeing Avengers: Endgame.
- Visit Valley Forge with the kids.
- Organize our address book.
There were a bunch of things I partially accomplished:
- Run in 6 local 5ks (I ran in two.)
- Finish reading every book club book (1 each month) (I read most, but not all)
- Fix our printer (I ordered ink, but never put it in).
- Keep a calendar of time spent with friends so I can make sure I’m not neglecting any friendships. (This lasted until summer when I just stopped doing it.)
- Do three service projects with the kids. (We did two. Actually, one of them they did twice, so I technically could count it as three, but based on my success rate it seems silly to bend the rules at this point.)
Then there were the things I didn’t do at all (and my excuses, lol):
- Spend one entire day playing Zelda on the wii (I just didn’t set aside a day.)
- Organize our important paperwork (You’d die if you saw how I still store paperwork).
- Get our passports renewed (Nope, just didn’t.)
- Learn to play my dulcimer (I got it out a few times.)
- Lose 15 pounds (Nope.)
- Visit every covered bridge in Columbia County, PA. (It turns out that no one else in my family thought this was a fun idea, and I didn’t want to do it myself.)
- Update our wall photography. (To be fair, we are planning to paint some rooms in 2020, so it’s better I didn’t.)
- Write at least one blog post per week. (Again, no.)
- Get my hair colored. (Actually, I purposefully decided not to do this one. I am 41 years old and still don’t have gray hair. I decided to ride that train as long as possible.)
- Get a professional family photo taken. (Nope.)
- Get grass to grow in the muddy spots of our yard. (Why did I think I could do this? I’m not a landscape professional.)
I am not disappointed that I didn’t accomplish most of my list. I hadn’t expected to do so. A year is a long time. Things that seem important in January may seem silly by December.
It’s tempting to put together a 20 for 2020, but I already know the upcoming year is going to be challenging for our family. I will come up with a practice of some kind to get me through the year, but I won’t saddle myself with 20 expectations.
Have a Happy New Year!
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