Listing goals to work on for the upcoming New Year has been part of my routine for the past few years on the blog. I will have to say that putting my goals on a public site and keeping you guys updated regularly on my successes and failures has really helped me. Looking back over the past few years, I am amazed that I accomplished almost 90% of my goals each year! So I am going to keep the ball rolling and hope that I can achieve the same percentage this year. Here are the things I am hoping to accomplish in 2022:
1.Walk 500 miles
This goal will always be on my list (walking is great for bum backs and knees….both of which I am lucky to have) I flirted with raising the number this year, but decided it was a good number to shoot for and if I do more miles, I do more miles.
2. Go on 12 hikes
During the early part of the pandemic, we discovered a love of hiking as a family, but this slowly fell to the wayside as the world opened back up. Trying to reclaim our momentum, we are hoping to get in at least 12 “new to us” hikes for 2022. **Thankfully, Alabama is blessed with many beautiful hiking trails and waterfalls to explore, so this should be an easy (and fun) goal to shoot for this year.
3. Teach the kids to cook
I have always wished I was one of those moms who let kids make messes and smiled the whole time. Well, now that they are older I feel its finally time to step outside of my comfort zone. This year, I hope to teach each of my kids to cook and promise to not step in halfway through because it is “easier”. We will see how that goes….
4. Read 100 books
Last year I had an informal goal of reading at least 52 books during the year. Well I smashed that one out of the park and read over 100 books in 2021. I have always loved reading but I am prone to rereading my favorite books again and again with a few new ones thrown in along the way. This year, something lit a spark in me and I began to branch out and discovered I loved more genres than I thought I did. The hardest part for me is finding worthwhile books to read because I am a super picky reader who is not afraid to quit books. But…..I am eager to see if I can repeat my success in 2022.
5. Visit 12 museums or artistic events
Everyone in my family loves to go to museums and we try to visit a new one (or two) each time we travel to new states or go on vacation. So I thought this could be a fun challenge for us to try to complete together in 2022. **I am including traditional museums, plays, zoos, aquariums, and symphonies in this challenge.
6. Attend adoration each week
I’ve been meaning to add this to my goal list each year, but was afraid that I would fail at it miserably. In the Catholic faith, we believe that the Eucharist is really Jesus’ body, so besides partaking in communion, this is the closest we get to being near Christ this side of heaven. During Adoration, the priest removes the Eucharist from the tabernacle and places it in a monstrance for people to sit in adoration with it. I hope to spend more time with Jesus this year.
7. Attend a daily mass each week
Again this is something I have been meaning to add for a long time. You can never have too many masses in the week.
8. Take my kids on an outing by themselves each month
This is a repeat of last year, but I love spending one on one time with my kids.
9. Buy more used things
I am going to try my hardest to up my “try to buy used first” game. The amount of satisfaction you get from buying something used (and cheaper!!) is amazing when you compare it to buying new (and more expensive) I hope to stock up on items to keep in my gift stash too. I already grab children’s books in great condition at the thrift store to give as gifts, but I hope to expand to games and clothing this year too.
10. Do more embroidery projects
I simply love embroidery. It is probably the best thing that I have found to tamper down my nerves in waiting rooms or while watching TV with my family. **I hope to start designing my own patterns as well this year because it could become an expensive hobby if I have to buy the kits new each time.
Do you have any goals for 2022 yet??
The Thrifty Educator 