Yes, this is a “reflection post” on the year that was. I know everyone does these and it’s for good reason. Writing goals in a journal is one thing, putting them on the internet for all the world to see and hold you accountable for is another. I wrote a post early this year for what I hoped to achieve in 2012, they were:
1) Read 50 books.
2) Start graduate school
3) Decorate my home
4) Use my camera more
5) Blog more
So how did I do? Overall I think I did pretty good but not as great as I’d hoped.
1) I read a total of 32 books, which is awesome! In 2011 I only read 29, so I made some headway. I could have made 50 if I hadn’t spent time with books I really wasn’t into. I have a hard time giving up on a book, which is silly, but once I start I’m in it for the long haul. One of the books I decided to read, 1Q84, was extremely slow and I never quite got into it… but I kept reading because I felt I had to like it since it was well reviewed. I eventually did stop reading this but not until I wasted a few weeks. This year I vow not to waste my time on things I don’t find interesting! This year my goal is to reach 50 and I WILL do it.
2) Start graduate school. Yeah definitely didn’t do that. I did take the GRE and applied to a graduate program, but I messed up on my application. I did have time to resolve the application issue but I didn’t care to, probably a sign I’m not ready to get back into school. I’m still working out what I really want to do with my life (the most daunting task for every human being) so I’m going to hold off on spending mucho dinero at school until I figure out what that is.
3) Decorate my home. I think Richard and I did a great job on our house this year. My reading nook is complete! I’ll be posting picture soon. We also gave the outside of our house a complete makeover with new siding and painted our guest room. Next up for our little Cape Code: A new front door is being installed in a couple weeks, finishing up our new movie room (my dream!), buying a new couch for our new furniture-less living room, and renovating our upstairs bathroom. Slowly but surely we’re giving our house much needed improvements and making it our own.
4) Use my camera more. Ehhhh, I don’t really feel like I accomplished this. Sure I used my camera when we went on vacation and at Christmas time, but I didn’t complete Project 52, I didn’t go on any photo walks and I haven’t been blown away by any of the pictures I’ve taken. I think I have this fear that I have no “eye” for photography so what’s the point? I’m so negative, it’s unreal. Maybe I don’t have an eye for it and I should be OK with that and just enjoy it anyways. Yes, that’s what I’ll do.
5) Blog more. FAIL! I feel like I rarely have time to blog, but that’s not really true I just don’t make time for it. This is definitely something I must continue to work on as I really enjoy writing and know I have a few loyal blog followers.
Did you accomplish everything you set out for in 2012?
I think you did great with your 2012 goals! I can’t believe how much you read. I wish I had that drive. I love to read, but I love to cook, blog and photograph more LOL. Stupid. Reading is so important for the mind! I am BLOWN AWAY by your and Richard’s work ethic on working on your house. We’re creeping up to the one year mark on our house and all we’ve done is: put in a fence, paint some rooms, bough some couches. ….That’s not really anything major. I hope to do more work this year: decorate more, start buying furniture for our rooms, making it look less like a place we just moved into, and more like a home.
If you ever want to go on photo walks, you know you can call me up! I’m all for it :) I enjoyed photographing the pair of you this year and hope I can use as my photo guinea pigs in the future!