It’s a little bit past mid-year but better late than never: I wanted to give you a little update on how I have been doing with my 2022 goals. It is wild to me that we are already 7 months into 2022. I’ve hit some of my goals and completely forgotten about others, but overall am feeling pretty good about how 2022 is going. If you feel comfortable sharing, I’d love to hear how you are doing with your goals.
2022 GOALS Check-in.
At the beginning of the year, I had mentioned that my biggest goal was to slow down. To pause and savor life’s littler moments in my personal life and to be more intentional about everything I do professionally. To have less little things on my plate so that I can focus on the bigger picture. I am, overall feeling really good about both of those things. I have felt a lot more present in my personal life, and much more intentional with work. I’ve also stopped rushing so much.
Things I want to do this year:
Be able to run 3 miles in a breezy way.
I am sad to tell you that I am not here yet. I was basicaly there and then COVID kicked the living daylights out of me. And I just haven’t been running. I ran a little bit while I was in LA but my goal is to get back on track next week. I am not beating myself up over this. There are 5 months left in the year, and sometimes there are just things you can’t control, like getting really sick. It’s frustrating as I was so colse and then got totally knocked down. I couldn’t exercise for about two weeks and for the following two weeks just did baby workouts. I’m only just now getting back to my harder workouts with my trainer; running is next!
Be a little bit bored.
This goal might sound a little bit funny but it came from reading this book, Bored and Brilliant. The idea is to not fill every second with work/activities/etc. Reclaiming the idea of spacing out, which is often (at least for me) when the best ideas come. At the beginning of the year I was feeling like there was just too much on my plate. Stepping back from the podcast was not easy but is the best thing I have done for myself and sanity in a long time. I think there is a good lesson here: to be intentional and take stock of every single thing in your life.
There will always be elements of any job or life that are less fulfilling or you don’t enjoy (for me it’s all the accounting stuff, recording sponsored instagram stories, reviewing contracts) that you will always have to do in order to you know, survive and be an adult. But if it’s draining you and you don’t actually need to do it to live, why keep doing it? Even if it’s something you really loved at some point, it is okay to let it go. Move on, you will free up space for your next big idea or project, even if you’re not sure what it is.
Anyway, I was “bored” for about a month, right now I am not bored. The 5 hours a week I spent on the podcast has been invested back into the blog and newsletter, creating better video content (you will see the fruits of that in the next few weeks), improving my photography, and getting more involved with politics down here. But I don’t need to be bored, everything I’m working on right now feels really exciting.
Build out a better morning routine.
I did nothing here. And I still hate mornings. I do love starting my day with an audiobook though.
Learn to drive.
I still have 5 months. I did not expect to be a homeowner before a licensed driver but here we are. I’m going to do it, I would really like to be driving by the time I move in. This doesn’t bother me that much though. I still (even in the heat) walk pretty much everywhere and get a ride or uber everywhere else. I know my uber bill is wayyyy lower than a car payment and insurance could ever be. A weird justification, but it will happen.
A thing I want to stop doing this year:
Spending too much time on social media.
It’s gotten a little bit better. But not much. My screen time is down, but maybe an hour a day? Step by step. I have a post-it note that says “create more than you consume.” Some days I’m really focused and other days I just find myself doomscrolling.
On the work front:
A big, bold blog redesign.
I DID IT! I am so proud of how it looks. More about the redesign in this post.
Grow my email newsletter.
My email newsletter is a big focus right now. Transparently, it hasn’t grown much, but I haven’t put much effort into marketing it/growing it. Honestly, I was so focused on just getting the content to a place I liked (we switched providers which has been very helpful!) that I felt proud of. Now that the content is in the right place I am going to look into different ways to market it. Along those lines, you can sign up here if you’d like!
Pushing myself creatively.
YES! I feel really happy about this. My friend Laura and I have been shooting regularly and I absolutely love working with her. I find that we just work really well together. Same goes for reels, I hired a younger friend to help me out with filming and editing those. All of these things require more time and planning and I think having fewer things on my plate has allowed for that.
Shallow Stuff:
Dry brush regularly.
I am doing medium with this. I always feel so good when I do it (it’s great for your skin and also your body’s health) but sometimes I forget. Hey. It’s a silly goal anyway. You can read more about the benefits of dry brushing in this blog post!
Take better care of my hair.
I’m feeling good about this one too. I never thought I would cut my hair this short but it has made my life so much easier, and it looks cuter than I thought it would. I can blow it out with the Airwrap (I just use the round brush attachment) in 15 minutes or so which is wild to me. Charleston’s humidity is not great hair weather but it’s still long enough to tie back into a bun.
Grace, thanks for the check in! I’ve also been working on spending less time on social media. One of the commitments I made to myself was getting back into nonfiction. I used to read NF regularly but during 2020 and 2021 I needed to use my reading time for escapism. 🙂 this year, I committed to reading one NF book each month. Some months have been better than others — but I’ll get twelve in by the end of the year. It’s been so good for my personal development and mental health.
I’m cheering you on as you learn to drive! And hoping you have great walkability at your new home.
I have been feeling the same exact way on non-fiction. I enjoy it so much but oftentimes reach for escapist books because well, the world is on fire. Twelve is a great goal.
I love this update, it’s so great to reflect midyear. I have launched two businesses this year, which was my dream! Everything else had to take a backseat but I hope to get back to my daily wellness habits such as breathwork, meditation, and two walks a day (gotta get that vitamin D!)
That is amazing, CONGRATULATIONS!
I made several goals in January (hike at least once a month, donate to charity once a month, read 75 books, either facilitate or actually do a home project big or small each month, do one yoga session a week, etc…) and the biggest reason why I am making a lot of progress towards 90% of them is because I made a chart for each month that I track my progress on. It’s posted on the wall on a clipboard and I see it every time I enter and leave my home office, so it’s a constant reminder! I really tried to follow the SMART goal strategy as well- specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific. Sorry to ramble, but I love this kind of stuff!
LOVE the chart idea, so smart!!!
Ok but those pink roller skates! How cute!
Very on trend for Barbi-core
haha thank you. A black friday purchase from maybe 5 years ago, they are fun!
I love my Dyson Air Wrap, but I can’t master using the round brush attachment for some reason. It shouldn’t be that hard! For the past few years, I have been using Gretchen Rubin’s idea of making a list so for this year’s “22 for 22” I have accomplished or made progress on 13 of my list items. So I’m feeling pretty good about that- maybe I should put master the round brush attachment on my list!
I love that idea! Maybe I will do 23 in 23!
I have a couple tutorials for the Airwrap in my reels. They are very awkward but might be helpful as the round brush is the attachment I like best!
I love a mid-year check in and thanks for being honest with us. My only two goals this year were to lift weights regularly and to have more post-pandemic fun. I was doing great with both until the summer began. Between the unbearable heat, increased workload and the depressing Roe news, I have been struggling to make either of these things happen. I am giving myself time to have a little break and just survive. I’m back to saying NO to most social events and I’m spending my time reading in an air-conditioned room and taking walks–while miserable in the humidity are better than nothing. To everything there is a season. Can we do a 3/4 year goal check in too?
I think a little break to just survive is more than okay!!! Good for you. You are totally right about the heat. It’s really rough. A girlfriend who’s lived here much much longer than me said that southerners get what’s almost, a “reverse SAD” as we don’t go outside in this heat. That felt really spot on to me.
Yes!! I live in New Orleans and I imagine this is what people who live up North experience in the winter.
It is exactly that!!!
I love that you are continuing the goals check in even after the podcast! My issue with goals is that I normally write them on a random piece of paper and lose it 🙂 maybe I should try to save it in a better place.
I do want to say your hair looks amazing! I love that cut on you!
Yes, write them down! And thank you so much, I appreciate that!
So I kind of threw my initial goals in the proverbial trash? After a big career change (left education) and getting a fully remote job I decided to… explore moving abroad! Heading to Barcelona for three months for a trial run of sorts!
Honestly, that’s amazing, good for you! Barcelona sounds incredible!
I just signed up for your newsletter! Is the content different than the blog or is it mainly a summary of each week’s posts?
Also, one suggestion for the new layout – is it possible to get an “archive” view for reading? I started reading right around your 40th birthday and would love to go back and read some of your older posts without having to scroll back to “older” endlessly. I love your “chat” posts especially!
Thanks so much for sharing your goals update! Really enjoy this space and I’m glad I found it 🙂
Hi Sarah, maybe take a visit to the desktop version. On the home page you can click right on “chats” and see them all!
Hi Grace! I am using the desktop – I think I’m not making myself clear. I’m thinking an “archive” where you can literally just click on “July 2018” for example and see posts in chronological order. So the equivalent of just reading through posts and selecting “older” over and over again 🙂 Maybe that’s an insane request and totally unnecessary, just thought I’d ask 🙂
Oh I’m sorry, no that is not something I can do but you can always toggle between category pages and so much comes up. Or, visit Thestripe.com/blog and you can scroll very quickly.
Oh I needed this! I’m 3 weeks postpartum and it is, rightfully so, consuming my life with feeding, diaper changes, and praying for sleep, so I was actually a little surprised to remember that I did other stuff this year! Like get a job with 2x the salary and 3x the maternity leave! I’ve also been doing great on my reading goal thanks to late night feeds and being nap trapped.
Besides obvious baby stuff, my big goal this year is to get back to running. I was 3 weeks away from a marathon when I found out I was pregnant, and I want to get a really good base before training again next summer.
I love that!!!! I am in the same boat, though I’d be really happy with just 3-5 miles
Goals, what goals? I’ve made so little progress toward anything this year. I’m trying to give myself grace and not be upset about it. Between C*vid snaking itself through my family and catching the flu myself, I don’t really know how I could have focused on my goals.
My new goal for the rest of the year… stay healthy!
AMEN TO THAT!
Love goal check ins! My reading goal was 40 books and I’ll definitely surpass that (thanks to a brief employment gap). During said gap, I aimed to ensure everyday I did something to feel productive, something creative/purely for fun, and something for physical movement. I have them pop up on my phone monthly just so they’re very in front of me.
That is amazing!!!! Simple but such a good one.
I didn’t specifically write a list down but my 2 main ones were changing jobs (Starting hopefully in 2 months) and doing something “new” every month which I am glad to say I’ve been doing: go out with a new acquaintance, Attend an art workshop, bought my first big art piece, attended a pro-choice manifestation, so far been to 3 museums and currently eyeing new workshops. My goals have been more of an escapism but they have made me so happy and proud of myself.
Just want to say I loooove your shorter hair and every time I see your photo in my Instagram feed or here on the blog I think, “gosh, Grace looks SO good with that hair!” It’s the perfect length!
I have always found goals to be so intimidating. Especially setting ones for a whole year. 365 days is a lot of time for the procrastinator in me. But! I’ve been struggling with chronic pain and setting weekly goals- to do my workouts, or tick at least one thing off the to-do list, and that has been working! I would bet that I’ve accomplished more this way, than if I had set out with these accomplishments as long term goals. One step at a time friends!
Hi Grace! You should try the C25K (couch to 5k) app. It’s designed for 8 weeks with 3 runs per week and in run/walk intervals. Eventually you run the whole time.
I know, I’ve done it before!
Just want to say I LOVE the website redesign. It’s gorgeous and have really been enjoying the new look!! You did an awesome job with it. Thanks for bringing the goals discussion here – I always enjoyed the goals BOP episodes so it’s fun that you’re doing a check in on the blog!
grace, i have been running for 20+ years and i still don’t feel like my 3 mile is ‘breezy’ lol. just wanted to share 😉