New Year Resolutions 2021: Let’s get small

Let’s face it, I am bad at keeping my resolutions. Let’s assess my success with the ones I made for this year, and then move onto making shiny new ones for 2021.

Note that I did not anticipate 2020 being THE YEAR OF UNENDING HORRIBLENESS when I made these resolutions. I may have been a bit more modest in my goals if I’d known. Perhaps.

  • Drop to 150 pounds. Grade: D. I am currently tracking on being up for the year. Massive failure, though with some hope for doing better in the future.
  • Be creative. Grade: B. I didn’t really write fiction (I committed to NaNoWriMo then failed to produce a single word), but I did Inktober again, took lots of photos, kept up fairly well on blog posts (don’t count the number of cat pictures). I feel I could have done more if I had been disciplined, so I only give myself a B.
  • Exercise at least three times a week. Grade: C+. I actually did not too bad here, but the wheels came off when the days started getting shorter, and the year ended with me being saddled with Plantar Fasciitis.
  • Read at least 26 books. Grade: B. I will likely end the year with 20 books read and a few more close to completion. This is one where the pandemic completely disrupted a routine (reading on my daily commute) and I never found a good way to adapt. I actually ended up doing most of my reading this year in the bathtub, which turned out to be a surprisingly pleasant way to read. But I do not have baths ten times a week, so I did not hit 26.
  • Eat better. Grade: C+. Maybe I ate marginally better, but there is still work to do.
  • Start stretching. Grade: D. I just didn’t start. But now I have orders to, with my foot injury, so there may be hope for 2021.
  • Investigate other careers. Grade: C+. I started on this, then the pandemic happened and while I haven’t stopped entirely, my pace in terms of investigation has slowed down.
  • Just generally improve. Grade: B-. Considering how awful this year was, I’m happy with a B-.

A pretty middling year. Goodbye, 2020, and good riddance!

My resolutions for 2021 are perhaps the most modest I’ve ever had. We’ll see if I can meet them.

  • Drop to 160 pounds. Maybe by setting my sights lower I will achieve more!
  • Be creative. Keeping this one from 2020:
    • Do one of the following every day (more than one is even better):
      • Write a blog post (Note: Jogging/treadmill workouts do not count)
      • Write some fiction
      • Draw something (maybe Inktober52 would be a good start)
      • Take a photo
      • Write a song (new for 20201)
  • Read at least 20 books. Down from 26. With COVID-19 likely to be a big factor for most of 2021, I think this more modest number is achievable.
  • Exercise at least once a week. Down from three times. Again, setting my sights low to see if I can do more.
  • Stretch. Any stretching at all.
  • Be kinder to everyone, including myself

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