2020 New Year’s Goals - What I Accomplished

So, I sat down today to start recapping my 2020 goals, and after rereading the intro and goals + my word for the year in my original 2020 New Year’s Goals post, all I can do is laugh.  And cry. 

Y’all.

I chose the word CONNECT as my word for 2020.  And because of a worldwide pandemic, we were literally told repeatedly all last year to DISCONNECT. 

Stop sending the kids to school.

Stop seeing any family outside of your home.

Stop seeing friends.

Stop going to baseball and ballet.

Stop going to girls’ dinners and bible studies. 

Stop going to church.

I have never felt so disconnected from everyone in my entire life.  If that’s not ironic then I don’t know what is.

It’s quite laughable, really. 

After being thrown for this crazy loop last year, I honestly struggled with coming up for a word for 2021.  But that’s a post for another day.  Today we’re here to recap my 2020 goals.  As you can probably imagine, I failed miserably…

Let’s see how I did.  As always, I’m using a Y for YES and N for NO to indicate whether or not I accomplished my goals.

I mentioned in last year’s post that I wanted to connect with…

Y    Connect with God and make my bond with Him stronger than ever. – one thing is for sure, I most definitely spent a lot of time with God this year.  I experienced a roller coaster of emotions this past year, and I would say that The Man Upstairs and I are pretty tight.

Y    Connect with myself and live my healthiest life… I will get to know my anxiety, its triggers, and its manifestations so I can manage it to the best of my ability. – because we all had so much time at home, this was one of the few things with which I was able to be successful.  For my own sanity, I spent more time in meditation than ever and I got to know my anxiety very well.  I’m happy to say that I have it under control most of the time, and when it does rear its ugly head, I’m getting much better at stopping it before it gets out of control. 

N    Connect with Brian on a deeper level… a lot of our time together is spent on autopilot during this particular season of life and I don’t want us to lose each other in the busyness like so many other couples do. – Nope.  Failed miserably at this.  While this year probably would have been a good opportunity to work on this, most of my time was spent pouring myself into the kids, keeping myself sane, and trying to keep the blog afloat.  The kids were also with us 24/7 this year so we weren’t even able to escape on our monthly date nights like we usually do, so this just did not happen.

Y    Connect with Jacob and Olivia and really soak up their littleness and all of their little idiosyncrasies before it’s too late… they change every single day and they’re going to be grown up so soon. – Because we were stuck at home all year, I had no choice but to spend every waking moment with them.  Haha.  I was afforded the rare opportunity to facilitate their distance learning, so I even got a little peek into a part of their lives I never see.  There were plenty of times that I had to shut myself in my office to get away, and I even started running to get away sometimes (haha), but the majority of the time I really and truly enjoyed every minute with them.

Y    Connect with Maui and start spending more time with her outdoors… more walks around the neighborhood! – Ha!  If only I knew when I typed this just how many walks we would go on in 2020!  If there’s one living being I connected with this year, it was Maui.  Haha.  We spent nearly every waking second together as she’s my little sidekick and follows me everywhere.  And she probably took more walks this year than she has in her entire life combined!

N    Connect with my parents and try to spend more quality time with them in different ways other than our typical church and dinners together. – Well, I was hardly able to even see them for 10 months, so this just wasn’t possible.  And it’s the exact same situation for all of the others below…

N    Connect with my brothers and check in with them more than I already do.

N    Connect with my grandmother and treasure my time with her since she’s officially my last living grandparent. 

N    Connect with extended family members on Brian’s and my sides of the family. 

N    Connect with my girlfriends even more and foster those relationships because they’re so important. 

N    Connect with my old coworkers and try to keep in touch with them even more than I already do.

N    Connect with parents and faculty at the kids’ school and our church because there are so many lovely people there who I would love to get to know better.

N    Connect with parents of Jacob’s and Olivia’s baseball and ballet friends and form new relationships.

N    Connect with my blogger friends and be even more supportive and encouraging of them and their businesses… we’re all in this together, ladies! – Nope, since I had the kids home the majority of the year, and spent a couple of months facilitating virtual learning, there was just no time for this.  After they went back to school in August, I spent the next few months playing catch-up from being so behind.  Same goes for the rest of these below…

N    Connect with you, my readers, and chat with y’all more on Instagram stories. 

N    Connect with brands and try to start some new partnerships.

N    Connect with strangers on the street and fill someone’s bucket everyday just because…

Relationships/Connect

N    Put myself out there to connect with others.  Join a bible study, join a book club, volunteer more, chat up random strangers. – Well, I joined a bible study and a book club and had plans to volunteer more, and then everything shut down and I wasn’t able to do any of those things anymore.

Y    Be kind. – I’m honestly not even sure how to rate myself on this one because things were so different this year and I didn’t see many people in person.  I will say this, though – people were just plain nasty on social media this year, some directly to me in my DMs for my beliefs about the Black Lives Matter movement and other human rights/political issues/Covid-related things happening in the world, and even though there were many times I wanted to be super nasty right back, I always took the high road.  I will admit that there were a couple of times that I was a little snippy, but overall, I chose my words very carefully. 

Y    Donate blood. – I donated not once, but twice!  I would have probably donated more than that, but for the first few months of Covid, I didn’t feel comfortable going anywhere.  I finally donated for the first time in July, and then I went again in November, once I was clear to donate again.  I have type O- blood, which is universal, so mine is very desirable.  I plan to continue this.

N    Put the phone down. – Again, I’m not sure how to answer this one.  I originally stated that I’m pretty good at putting the phone down at home, but I wanted to put it down more in public and connect with others around me.  Well, I wasn’t able to be in public this year very much, so I didn’t have the opportunity to try.  But because of this crazy, messed up year we just had, I feel like I was on my phone more than in previous years because I was constantly trying to stay abreast of Covid, social injustice, and election updates.  I definitely do not deserve a yes for this one.

Personal/Health/Wellness/Fitness/Beauty

N    Worry less, be positive, complain less. – Oh gosh, y’all.  How was it possible to worry less, be positive, and not complain with all that was going on in 2020?  Big fat no for this one. 

N    Live in the present. – Again, so much going on in the world kept my mind wandering constantly this year, and I did find it very difficult to stay present some of the time.

Y    Meditate every day. – Okay, if there is one thing that I get an A+ for in 2020, it’s meditation!!  I literally meditated every single day in 2020 with the exception of six days, three of which were when we were on our beach trip.  Meditation definitely helped me get through this insane year.

Y    Quiet time with God every day. – Yep, I did this every time that I meditated, so there were six days where I didn’t do it.  Another thing that kept me sane and hopeful during this very tumultuous year.

Y    Continue seeing a therapist.  – Yep, I saw her once a month this entire year, and she has been a Godsend this year.  I obviously had to stop meeting with her in person, but we Zoom instead.  It’s not the same, but it’s getting me through until we can start visiting in person again.

N    Get out of my routine more while the kids are at school. – Hahahaha.  Well, we definitely got out of our routine this year, but not in the way I had intended.  And the kids were rarely at school, so this was obviously disrupted along with everything else this year.  I wasn’t able to go anywhere and hang out with anyone, so this was a no.

Y    Stop rushing and slow the eff down. – Well I’d say that most of us get a 100 A+ on this for 2020 because we were all literally forced to stop rushing and slow down as we weren’t able to leave the house for much of the year.  It was a blessing at first, but as time dragged on, I realized that I missed some of the busyness (not all, though), and that going forward, we need to find a better balance.  2020 was too slow.  All the other years are too busy.  We just need to find that middle ground.

Y    Stop caring so much about what other people think. – This year, I spoke out on social media and the blog about the social injustices in the world, my thoughts on our current administration and the election, and my thoughts on Covid-19 and how important it is for us all to work together to protect one another.  I’ve always avoided those kinds of topics in the past because I don’t like stirring up controversy, but this year, I realized that speaking out about those things (especially social injustice) is SO important no matter how uncomfortable it makes me feel because otherwise, things will never change.  I spoke out about these things loudly and proudly and I have no regrets, nor do I care that there are people who stopped following me because of my beliefs.  I don’t think I’ve ever felt as confident and empowered as I have this year.  Big fat yes for this one. 

N    Choose joy every single day. – Y’all, I tried.  I tried so hard on this one.  It was so easy in January, February, and March, and I felt like I was doing SO well with this.  And then it got really hard in April and May, but I made it happen most days.  Around June or July, I hit a rough patch, and it was downhill from there for several months after that.  By the end of the year, things started looking up, mostly because of the Christmas season, but there was also a lot of heartbreak in knowing that we wouldn’t be able to spend it with loved ones as we wanted.  I most definitely did not choose joy every day, but I really tried.

Y    Drink 64 oz. of water every day. – I would say I did this about 80% of the year, so I’m giving myself a yes.  My Yeti that I started using this year has made it so easy!

Y    Work out at least twice per week. – Another big fat yes!!  Due to the circumstances this year, I worked out more times than I ever have in my life in one year… another thing I did for my own sanity.  Pretty much all summer long I worked out seven days a week.  SEVEN, Y’ALL!  And since the kids went back to school, I’ve been working out at least four days a week most weeks.  I rocked the workout this year.  I have quarantine and my new Apple Watch to thank.  That Apple Watch is a huge motivator!

N    Eat less sugar and more veggies. – Nope.  I think because of the uncertainty in the world, I started turning to comfort foods more than ever this year.  I also think that because I was working out so much, I gave myself permission to eat more junk than I normally do.  I started eating dark chocolate M&Ms after lunch every single day instead of my usual Larabar to curb my sweet tooth, and I also started buying ice cream instead of frozen yogurt for my evening treat more often than I used to.  We did eat out a lot less, though, so that was probably a good thing.

Y    Complete Immunotherapy. – Yes!  I finished this earlier this year (seems like a lifetime ago!) and I’m all done with my allergy shots!

Family

N    Do more fun/different stuff with/for Brian. – Hahahaha.  Nope.  We were quarantined all year so there wasn’t much to get out and do!  Hell, we weren’t even able to do the things we normally do like concerts and going out to eat!

Y    Do more special little things for the kids. – Because we quarantined much of the year, I did have to get creative to keep the kids entertained.  I did definitely spend more quality time with them all the months that they were home, and I went out of my way to let them know how much they’re loved and appreciated, so this was a yes.

Y    Waste more time with Brian and the kids. – If only I knew what was to come when I originally typed this.  Haha.  We most definitely did our fair share of “wasting time” this year… we did nothing but just hang out pretty much all year.  This is a resounding yes.

N    Cook healthier/more adventurous dishes for my people. – I suppose this would have been a great opportunity this year since we ate at home so much, but I have to be honest... by one month into quarantining, I was SO SICK of preparing food at home, that I wanted nothing to do with cooking or recipes or anything else.  We also had so many food shortages at our grocery stores in the beginning that I wasn’t ever sure what Brian would be able to come home with!  For a while there, they were rationing chicken!  I mean, what?!

N    Take a family trip to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Huntsville. – I’m sure you already know the answer to this one.  No.  I wasn’t even able to visit with my family who lives here in town… we surely weren’t about to travel to another city to see family.  Plus, we wouldn’t have been able to tour around much anyway.

N    GO TO DISNEY WORLD! – Uh… no.  It was canceled two weeks before we were scheduled to leave.

Y    Raise good, well-rounded human beings. – While we weren’t able to focus on a lot of the things I wanted to focus on this year, I do feel like I poured myself into the kids more than ever this year, mostly because they were with me 24/7 for most of the year.  I started reading a daily devotional for kids with them every morning, we finally set a daily tidying time (prior to this, there was no rhyme or reason to getting them to tidy up), they started doing their own laundry, we gave Jacob more independence at bedtime, and most importantly, we started having some very hard, but necessary, conversations about social injustice with them.  We worked harder than ever this year to make sure our kids are loving and accepting of everyone, and to teach them to stand up for what is right.

N    Teach Jacob to ride a bike without training wheels!! – Sigh.  We tried, y’all.  We removed the training wheels and got out there many times with him, but he just won’t do it.  He is terrified of falling and he gets really frustrated, too, which doesn’t help.  Then B thew his back out and had to have back surgery and he wasn’t able to hold him steady anymore.  And I can’t hold him up at all because my SI joints are so bad.  I feel like this may never happen.  Lol.

Home

Y    Clean out the whole house. – Yep, cleaned out the whole house at the beginning of the year, and it was painless since I did that big clean out back in 2018!  Gonna do this every year!

Y    Sell old stuff. – I did sell some stuff, although, not as much as I wanted to.  Still got a lot of it gone, though, so it’s a win!

Y    Be intentional with the things I buy. – I let this slip a little in 2020, and I think it was because we were at home so much that I’d find myself mindlessly loading up on sidewalk chalk or other fun things for the kids to do to keep them busy.  However, I bought way less overall, and I certainly bought fewer clothes than ever last year because I had nowhere to wear them.  So I’m giving myself a yes for this.

Y    Buy a new car for myself. – Didn’t think this would end up happening in 2020 once the pandemic hit, but we made it work, and I got to take my brand new Kia Telluride home in September!  It’s GORGEOUS and wonderful and perfect and everything I had dreamed of, so I am one happy camper. 

Y    Cut down my Master To-Do List by 10%. – I started the year out with 236 tasks on my master to-do list, and I crossed off 45 tasks, whittling it down to 191 tasks.  That is a decrease of 19%, so I blew my 10% goal out of the water! 

Y    Make shorter, more manageable Daily To-Do Lists. – They definitely got shorter and more manageable because there was so little required of us for most of the year.  As a matter of fact, most days, my list just consisted of keeping the kids entertained, keeping our family fed, and don’t go crazy.

Y    Maintain. – Yep, we were home so much this year that it was pretty easy to maintain all of the systems I had put in place around our house in 2019.  The clutter was a little harder to maintain since the kids were home so much this year, but I’d say that we were successful overall.

Blog

Y    Only blog 3-4 days per week… emphasis on 3. – Most of the year, I only published three blog posts, mostly because the kids were home 24/7 for more than half of the year and I didn’t have any time.  This was an easy goal to accomplish.  Lol.

Y    Continue preparing posts for Monday prior to the weekend and posting weekly recaps on Tuesday or Wednesday. – Yep, I did this all year long.  However, my goal for doing this was so I wouldn’t have to work much on the weekends, but I ended up working every weekend as I had to “get in where I fit in” this year since the kids were home so much.  It didn’t end up being a big deal, though, because I just used their video game time to do my work, so I didn’t miss out on quality time with them.

Y    Discontinue What’s Up Wednesday posts. – Yep, and I don’t miss writing them at all!  I always love reading other people’s WUW posts, but mine felt redundant since I do my weekly recaps, so it’s nice to not have those taking up space anymore.

Y    Discontinue bucket lists. – Yep, I just started including those in my monthly goals posts, and I like it so much better this way!  Again, it was redundant having tasks in a bucket list and a monthly goals post, so this solved the problem!

N    Combine the two birthday posts I do for each child every year into one post. – I originally wanted to combine the interview and birthday letter into one post, but I ultimately decided not to since the letters I write to them are pretty lengthy and should probably stand alone.

Y    Prepare posts at least 2-3 days ahead of their post date. – For the most part, I did a great job at blogging ahead this year.  There were some times when I was flying by the seat of my pants since the kids were home so much, but overall, I did great with this, and will continue to do so in 2021.  It’s so much less stressful, and it’s nice to not have to work on the blog every single day.

Y    Post more rich, evergreen content that y’all like to see. – I actually had plans to post so much more than I did, but 2020 ended up being insane and I bumped a lot of the content because I didn’t have time to dedicate to it.  I did, however, post more recipes and charcuterie boards than ever this year, along with a few organizing posts, so overall, I did end up posting more than usual. 

N    Focus on SEO and Pinterest to increase pageviews. – Again, 2020 ended up being a year of survival mode and there was no time whatsoever to even attempt to research this.  I could barely keep up with content!

N    Hit at least 500,000 pageviews for the year. – Nope.  My overall pageviews actually decreased from last year since everything plummeted after the world shut down.  This is the first year ever that I haven’t increased my overall pageviews.  Stupid Covid!!

N    Start researching a move to Wordpress/blog revamp. – Again, survival mode this year, so there was zero time to even think about researching this.

Y    Instagram – increase following to 10k. – Yes!  I finally hit this magical number this year and I finally have the swipe-up feature.  So dang convenient! 

N    Instagram – talk to you guys more and share more behind-the-scenes of my organizing. – Uh no.  But I did share a lot of quarantine scenes and funny memes.  Haha.

Y    Pinterest – increase following to 6.5k. – I’m typing this on December 16, and I’m sitting at 6,551 followers right now.  Ha!  I actually met this goal!  Barely, but it’s still a win!

Y    Facebook – increase following to 400. – Well, I didn’t post very much on there as I had originally planned to, but I did increase my following to 404 to meet my goal!

N    Tik Tok – start dabbling in it and see if I want to pursue it as a possible avenue for the blog. – Well, I created a profile… does that count?  Lol.  Nope.  Other than creating a profile months ago, I never log on to the thing.

N    Find one or two people who would like to pursue the essential oils business with me. – Nope.  I barely had time to focus on the business side of oils this year because, again, survival mode!

Summary

33 items accomplished

32 items not accomplished

Yearly Stats

Books Read: 22

    When Less Becomes More – Emily Ley

    City of Girls – Elizabeth Gilbert

    Open Book – Jessica Simpson

    Class Mom – Laurie Gelman

    Where Do I Begin? – Elvis Duran

    10% Happier – Dan Harris

    Evvie Drake Starts Over – Linda Holmes

    The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren

    The Thousandth Floor – Katharine McGee

    The Lies That Bind – Emily Giffin

    The Dazzling Heights – Katharine McGee

    The Towering Sky – Katharine McGee

    American Royals – Katharine McGee

    Come Back to Me – Mila Gray

    Since We Last Spoke – Brenda Rufener

    In Five Years – Rebecca Serle

    Feels Like Falling – Kristy Woodson Harvey

    28 Summers – Elin Hilderbrand

    White Fragility – Robin DiAngelo

    Majesty – Katharine McGee

    Get Out of Your Head: Stopping the Spiral of Toxic Thoughts – Jennie Allen

    Christmas Shopaholic – Sophie Kinsella

Meditation Days: 360

Workouts Completed: 269

    Core Training: 1

    Dance: 24

    Mixed Cardio: 60

    Outdoor Run: 18

    Outdoor Walk: 87 

    Stair Stepper: 27

    Strength Training: 21

    Yoga: 31

Time Spent Working Out: 159:52:50 (hours:minutes:seconds)

Calories Burned During Workouts: 37,577

Donated Blood: 2 times

Total Blog Pageviews: 383,237

Goals by Month

January 2020 Goals

February 2020 Goals

March 2020 Goals

April 2020 Goals
May 2020 Goals
June Goals
July Goals

August Goals

September Goals

October Goals

November Goals

December Goals

2021 goals + my word of the year will be posted soon so be able to check back!  And if you want to see previous yearly accomplishments, you can see the summaries below.

2016 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished

2017 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished

2018 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished

2019 New Year’s Goals – What I Accomplished

 Happy Wednesday, y’all!