2021 Reflections + 2022 outlook
Hello, JANUARY! 🎉🎉🎉
We’ve made it to a new year! And despite all the memes about how this year is pronounced “2020 too,” I’m still so thankful to see a new year on the horizon. How about you?
Additionally, I just reread my post from the end of 2019 and OMG. If only I had any sort of clue as to what was about to go down in 2020… Bless.
While I subscribe to the belief that change is possible at any point during the year, I will say that the freshness of the new year gives us an excellent opportunity to reflect on the year that’s past + look forward to the year ahead.
So. That’s what we’re going to do today. Sound good? This article is a personal reflection of what went down in 2021 + what I’m hopeful for in 2022.
2021 Reflections.
2021 was a beautiful, yet challenging year. We were coming off the insanity of 2020 so I feel like the year started pretty shaky, but we also made some fun family memories that I never want to forget.
The good stuff:
We traveled! While travel still seemed a little iffy in 2021, we made it work and didn’t stray too far from home. Cory and I made a quick trip to Phoenix in January where I was reminded yet again how much I appreciate sunshine and fresh air (especially when it’s an escape from Nebraska winters).
We were also lucky enough to make 2 trips to the Ozarks. 1 of those trips was an extended family vacation with the kiddos where we spent a couple extra days in KC. I think of our week-long family trip often. We made so many memories! Family travel is definitely something that Cory and I want to do more of in 2022.
The kiddos got to do more activities. While the extra time in the car and uptick in a busy schedule was a challenge, we honestly had so much fun attending the kiddos activities. They missed out on so much in 2020, so it was fun to watch the kiddos get to do things like t-ball and coach pitch softball this summer + volleyball and flag football this fall. Plus, I’ll never forget trying to potty train Brooks in the middle of softball season. Not my best idea.🥴🤣
I also had an article published with Her View from Home for the first time! It was both amazing and humbling to see my written work on another website.
Last, I conquered two things that I really wanted to do in 2021. I got my colors done (SO much fun!), and finally got brave enough to ask the hubs if he could help me out with some photos for my site. If you read my post from last year then you know this was a whole thing as I don’t enjoy having my photo taken!
The not so good stuff:
Was it just me or did 2021 feel a bit like an extension of 2020?🙋♀️
What honestly didn’t work the best for me in 2021 was living the entire year with open hands instead of setting any goals. Let me explain:
I started the year not setting any real hard goals because I was feeling like I needed to live with more open hands (lesson learned from 2020) and while that worked for a bit, I never changed my course of action.
Out of fear of disappointment or rescheduling, a lot of what I wanted to do in 2021 didn’t happen. Cory and I were planning to travel internationally, but decided to wait things out. I also had some smaller writing goals that I let fall by the wayside.
I lived most of 2021 out of fear. Fear of getting disappointed when things got cancelled and fear of getting my hopes up only to have them crushed again. (Clearly 2020 did a number on me mentally!)
I’ve come to realize that I’m just a goals girl.
I operate best, am at my happiest self, and feel most productive when I have something exciting to work toward. When I decided to not go after anything big in 2021, I ultimately played small, let fear thrive, and ended the year feeling like I didn’t get near as much accomplished as I could have. A mistake I don’t want to take with me into 2022.
Speaking of 2022…
Looking forward to 2022:
As mentioned, 2020 and 2021 felt scary when it came to goal setting. This next year, I’m giving myself room to breathe and dream again.
I jumped on the bandwagon of picking a word, phrase, or theme for the year a few years ago. This year’s theme is to live fearlessly. (Cheesy? YES. Absolutely. But I stand by my choice! 😉)
The first word, live, comes down to truly living this one wild and crazy life. I want to be more present at this time next year than I am right now, plus I want to say more “yes’s” and live for adventure. I get so excited when I think of throwing caution to the wind and doing something wild, crazy, and very unplanned. ❤️
The second word, fearless, stems from what I was talking about above with my past experience in 2021. I am incredibly aware of how much I don’t want fear to run my life this year. I don’t want to let fear hold me back from doing big, wild, and audacious things and I definitely don’t want fear to get the final say. Not this year! I don’t think fearful people are who God created us to be.
So, with that, I’m being totally transparent right now by sharing my specific goals and plans for next year!
My specific goals:
Some of these are smaller goals that can be easily attained. Others are larger, more time consuming goals. And even a couple are more of a way of life rather than a specific “goal.” I also break down my year ahead by looking at 5 areas: Family, personal, relationships, blog work, and financials.
Family:
- One family trip somewhere new.
- One family trip to the lake.
- A day (or more!) at the zoo.
- Family game night on Wednesdays.
- House building project! (In case you haven’t heard yet, we’re building! We purchased a lot in 2021 and are OVER THE MOON about this new family adventure. This is a looooong term project though as it will more than likely take all of 2022, if not some of 2023, to complete.)
Personal:
- Year of decluttering! (More to come on this, but with the impending house building project, we know we’ll be moving eventually. So 2022 seems like the perfect year to be extremely mindful about our stuff.)
- Finish projects in current home.
- Get my style done!😀
- Continue with a healthy lifestyle + feel comfortable and confident in whatever I wear. (I quit setting a weight goal or specific “health” goal a while ago. My plan these days is to just feel my best, take good care of myself, and to feel comfortable in whatever I put on.)
Relationships:
- 2 date nights per month with Cory. (I wanted to do this last year, but with littles, it turned out to be a lot harder than I thought! Here’s to round 2.)
- Girls nights at least once a quarter. (I need more of my friends in my life!)
- One monthly meet up with Amanda. (My bestie and I used to meet up every other week. Since both of our lives have gotten busier it’s stretched out to more like once every 6 weeks, which just feels like waaaaaay too long!)
Blog work:
- Create content daily, either through blog posts or Instagram posts or stories.
- Start a new project! (More info to come!)
- Reach 250 email subscribers.
- Then launch a course! (No clue on how to do this or what it would be about specifically, I just feel like I’ve learned so much over the years and I’d love to share my knowledge in a way that can truly help others.)
- Mostly, my plan is to make this thing an actual THING, and less of a hobby.
Financial:
(I’m a little vague on exact numbers here. I don’t mind being transparent, but something about telling you my family’s exact financial goals makes me feel like I’m having that awful nightmare where I’m giving a presentation in my underwear.😬)
- Consistently save a certain $ amount per month.
- Make a certain $ amount per month from writing/this website work.
Last, a note on managing expectations.
I couldn’t wrap this article up without a short yet important word on expectations.
I was listening to a podcast by Jess Connelly the other day as she and her husband were talking about new year’s goal setting and family planning. One thing they discussed was how to stop forcing our own expectations and instead expect God to show up and do great things, no matter the situation.
I loved this. Often times, I like to push through and force situations based on my own expectations. When really, I should just slow down and see what God’s up to before forcing my own agenda.
Instead of setting super high expectations for ourselves, what if this year we were expectant, knowing God would show up and do big things, even if it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to? What if we could still look for the good in the midst of our own goals not being met?
This is a thought I’m carrying with me into the new year.
Wrapping Up.
When I think about this next year coming up, I’m so hopeful. I’m literally smiling like a dork as I type this.
I know that not everything I planned for this year will happen. I know that my timeline and God’s timeline won’t always match up.
But I’ve decided to be super hopeful anyway. To look for the small and simple joys in everyday life. To find the fun and see what I can do with the year ahead. I hope you join me!
***OVER TO YOU: What are you hoping for this year? What’s one goal or plan you want to take action on this year? I’d love to hear about in the comments below!
