Happy last day of 2016, everyone (my Mom is here, so I can just say hi from the same room)! What a whirlwind of a year 2016 was. It feels like I was just writing my 2015 recap/2016 goals blog post a week ago. This year passed SO fast, but was so full of changes! I adopted the cutest dog ever, got a new job and moved, and gained a sister! Holy cow.
I will admit, I did not achieve many of my goals for 2016, but I did set some new goals along the way and achieved those. That's part of the fun of beginning of the year goals anyway--the striving to achieve them, and finding new things to work on along the way! I'm going to briefly recap this year, then dive into a few of my 2017 goals!
Let's start with a few of the goals I set for 2016, a few met, quite a few not:
1. Going on a mission trip. Unfortunately I didn't do this in 2016, but I'd still love to someday, especially a medical mission. The more I learn about the places in the world whose inhabitants know nothing about Jesus, the more I feel I need to go.
2. Leave the country. My plan was to head to Puerto Rico, but with the Zika virus in full force, I just did not think it was wise. Oh, and I spent a lot of money to move back to Kansas (worth it). I'll get out someday, but until then I'll enjoy exploring the 50 states.
3. One race per month. Totally crushed this one, and it was a lot of fun! I got to travel to Colorado, California, and around Texas and Kansas for lots of neat races.
4. 2 rounds of Whole30: check! It wasn't easy, but I truly felt better eating whole foods. I've changed my diet fairly significantly, and am a lot more conscious of what I put into my body. I'll still go hammer time on a good mac n cheese, though. ;)
5. Strength train at least twice per week. This one wasn't completely met, but I did a LOT more strength work in 2016 than I had in the past couple of years, which was great. I'm looking forward to even more strong woman training in 2017.
6. Blog once per week. This was going well until mid-2016, when I had writer's block, and my life just wasn't that exciting. Plus I moved and had to get into a new routine. I think for next year I'll just blog when I'm "feeling" it.
7. Learn to play the guitar. Laugh out loud. I picked up the guitar about 5 times in January. Then February came, and so did Ella. For the majority of the first six months having her, any time I was home I was chasing her around and making sure she didn't poop in the house, chew up the house, or kill either of us. Pretty much all hobbies went out the window. Now that she's older, maybe I'll try the five-string again.
For 2017, I've set eight personal goals for myself thus far. Most of them seem achievable, so maybe I will add some more difficult ones as the gear goes by.
1. Read one book per month. I used to be an avid reader and one book per week would be about average. But like I mentioned earlier, bringing Ella into my life consumed a LOT of time, so I stopped doing a lot of things, including reading. This year I'd like to amp up that habit again. I'll be reading some fun fiction, lifestyle books, books about Jesus, traveling books, and money books.
2. Complete the ESV Psalms & Wisdom Literature reading plan-- in this plan I will be going through the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon over the course of a year. No, that is not a lot of books, but with my other reading and studies, I think it's doable. I read the whole bible a couple of years ago and it wasn't as fruitful as I would have liked because I was just trying to keep up and didn't get to actually digest the material like I would have liked. If you're interested in finding a good reading plan for 2017, here's a link: Ligonier Reading Plans 2017
3. Stop doing challenges. I have done so many challenges over the past few years, and I want to complete them, so I just become a slave to them. This year, for example, I had to run a certain number of miles over the course of the year, so knowing I had to do that made me hate running and resent it, because I was forcing myself to do it. This year, I will not be participating in any challenges that last >30 days.
4. Save enough money to buy a car. My poor little car is on his last leg (which is ok, because it's almost 11 years old). This year I plan to save enough money to either pay cash for a car or pay a huge down payment toward a vehicle. This means saying no to shopping and some traveling, so this is going to be HARD. Pray for me (seriously).
5. Teach Ella to run. When I got a dog, I said I wanted a big enough dog to take running with me. Between her ADHD and my impatience, the furthest we've run is about a quarter mile. This year I'd love to run a mile or two with her at a time.
6. One race per month. I want running to continue to be PART of my life, I just don't want it to BE my life. A goal I have for my lifetime is to never not be able to complete a 5K. I'd like to run a 5K per month in 2017, just because I want to continue to have a tiny identity as a runner. Call me crazy.
7. Follow a budget each month. I've had a budget set on mint.com for a year or two, but just kind of used it jokingly to see where all my money went and if I went over budget here or there, didn't really care. This goal ties together well with goal #4. I plan to get serious and be a grown-up about finances, finally. Besides, math is kind of fun and so is saving to make fun purchases like cars! As my mom said, just think about how stylish your clothes and shoes will look getting out of a newer (and more reliable) vehicle.
8. Finally, I want strength training to play a bigger role in my health and fitness in 2017. The deadlift has always been my favorite lift, so my big lifting goal this year is to deadlift 200 pounds at least one time.
Thanks for reading my goals, everyone, you're real gems! And for those of you who chat with me on a regular basis, hold me accountable! :) Happy 2017 to all my friends, family, and readers! I sincerely hope your year is blessed, and that you achieve all of your goals, too!
PS What books should I add to my reading list?
PPS What are some of your goals for 2017?
Twitter: @jen_being_jen
IG: @jenbeingjen
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