MY 2022 GOALS

Last year, when I sat down to write my goals for the year, we were in the throes of a very snowy winter. I was newly pregnant and quite ill. And I had recently signed a book deal with very tight deadlines. Vaccines weren’t widely available and I felt so…. I’m not even sure. I look back on that period of time and it’s very, very dark.  It’s no surprise that I set the goal of having no goals for the year. I think I genuinely couldn’t see past one day at a time. It no-goals goal was just what I needed though.

What are my goals for 2022?

– GET BACK INTO SHAPE: I know goals are supposed to be measurable, and all that. But I’m keeping this kind of open ended so I can adjust how I feel throughout the year. But I’d love to just get back into shape. Pregnancy took a toll on my body! I am already getting there (currently doing the Peloton and Every Mother workouts and hopefully can get back into the gym when it’s safe for barre classes). Right now, I aim to get three Peloton rides in a week, move daily in some way– even if it’s just a walk, and then work in other at-home workouts.

– TAKE TIME FOR ME: This is something that I know if I don’t carve out time for, it won’t happen. I want to take time for me every day in some capacity. My days feel a little crazy right now as I’m trying to be as present as possible when Jack is awake and he’s still so young, so my life is broken up into nap-nurse-wake cycles. I try to work while he’s sleeping and squeeze in household chores/errands when/where I can too. But the result is that I feel like I’m running around like I’m on Supermarket Sweep during his nap time. There is always work and tasks around the house to complete and if I don’t make the time for myself, it won’t happen. I want to have time to do the things I love outside of work and motherhood– sewing, needlepoint, reading, etc.

– FIND CHILDCARE. It’s been a surprise to me that I’ve been so anxious around finding childcare. I thought after a couple of months, I’d be excited for it… but that hasn’t been the case. Honestly, I’m working through it and trying to figure out what will work best for our family.

– SAY YES & NO MORE STRATEGICALLY. With less time, I want to be even more strategic about saying yes to things, especially for work. If I’m not excited about it, I can’t do it. Maybe I’ll have more bandwidth down the road, but right now I want to be a mom first and everything else can come after that. I’m grateful for a job where I have the flexibility and opportunities where I can do this.

– COAST. Is this a terrible goal? I have just been putting an insane amount of pressure on myself and the last couple of years have been wild personally and professionally. (It’s something I worked on in therapy because my life changed a lot between the start of the pandemic and now.) It feels like I’ve been going a mile a minute and I just need to….. coast. Not permanently, but I’m giving myself permission to not feel like I need to do a thousand things and propel my life forward in some massive way in 2022. It’s okay to have a slower year.