To be frank, 2020 was not the year for planning and achieving goals. I think we can all agree that this year was a bit of a roller-coaster…that went off the rails. I am choosing to give myself some grace for not making much progress on my list of goals for 2020 since April. That being said, I do think it’s important to reflect on personal goals at the end of each year, so here we are.

Improve skincare: B-

I made some progress on this goal in the first quartile of 2020, which set me up for good habits later on in the year. I invested in several skincare products that seem to work for my (very sensitive) skin, and I use collagen on a daily basis. What kept me from achieving an “A” grade on this goal is my failure to find a new dermatologist or get my annual skin check this year. In light of COVID restrictions, I let this one slide, but it really is critical that I do this in 2021 given my family history of skin maladies (including cancer).

Drink more water: A

This was one of those goals that just took a minor tweak in self-monitoring to achieve. I bought an inexpensive water bottle with time markings on the side, and *poof* I was drinking 64-96 ounces per day on the reg. Unfortunately, said bottle is not holding up to constant use (it’s plastic), so I’m considering upgrading to a stainless steel version in the same 32 oz capacity. Having to fill it up just 2 or 3 times per day makes a difference for me.

Cultivate photography as a hobby: F

I barely picked up my camera this year. Often, it was because I didn’t feel particularly motivated to capture the dumpster fire of a world around me, as sad as that sounds. I also think that providing lots of structure around a creative outlet kind of defeats the point, and may have ultimately led me to feel uninspired. I’ll try again sometime, but I’m planning on shelving the idea of a photography hobby for now.

Balance running and strength training: C+

I never did run 30 miles in 30 days as I had planned, but I did manage to run about twice per week for most of the year and managed to stay mostly injury-free (minus a week or two of piriformis flare-ups). That may be attributed to my major ramp-up of strength training during the early phases of the pandemic in the spring. I found some fitness channels on YouTube that I liked and was pretty consistent about using them to balance my cardio and strength activities. This habit proved to be challenging for me to maintain in the final few months of 2020.

Get creative with cooking: C

Although I did not document it for the blog, I was able to develop a pretty good rhythm with cooking this year. I pick out 4-5 meals each week and have groceries on hand to prepare them on any given day during the week. This seems to be the perfect amount of structure and flexibility for our family. The meals aren’t always wildly creative, but they’re usually nutritious and well received by my crew. And that seems like a pretty good outcome to me!

Generally, I think my priorities shifted throughout the year, and that’s to be expected. I’ll be back in a few days with some of my intentions for 2021!