Goals I Accomplished This Year.

I’m a very goal-oriented person. It’s incredibly motivating to me to set a goal and be able to see specific progress being made towards that specific goal. 

I didn’t set very many goals over the last 365 days. I was very tired. My heart hurt a lot. 26 was a year full of some of the very best days, but it was also full of the hardest days. And when you’re walking through a season of hard days, goal setting (and goal achieving) fall to the wayside. Whether that’s right or wrong, I don’t know, but it was true for me. 

Around my birthday I always get a bit introspective. To be honest, I always am a bit introspective, but especially around a new year of life starting. 

So anyway, I’m all introspective last week, thinking about a new year of life and all the things I’m going to accomplish. And as I was thinking back on the last year, reaching for any sort of goal I had accomplished, I got super down on myself. It would seem I barely met a single goal. It would seem like I spent so much time trying to survive, that I didn’t accomplish much of anything. 

It would seem that way. 

But because I’m on a new year, new freakin’ mood kick, I didn’t stop there. I forced myself to look at the last 365 days and find something I had accomplished that I was proud of. And what do you know, there was plenty. Like. . .

I kept a human child alive for 365 days. I taught him things like numbers and how to say please and thank you.

I wrote lots of words. Not as much as I would have liked, and not a book like I was hoping, but I wrote poems and blog posts and letters. 

I saw several amazing concerts. I danced my heart heart to live music and sang along with my favorite songs. 

I read a lot of good books. 

I watched sunrises and sunsets. 

I survived heartbreak. Not romantic heartbreak, but the guttural, devastating feelings of a broken heart. 

I learned the art (and necessity) of self care. 

I cultivated a routine of thankfulness.

I learned immensely valuable lessons. 

I made my circle smaller. 

I let genuine people in. 

I went on a cross-country road trip with my brother. 

I got a tattoo that means a lot to me. 

I had lots of beach days with my family. 

…I could go on for a while, actually. 

These may not have been on a pretty bucket list at the beginning of the year. They may not all be extravagant or adventurous. But you know what? That’s a pretty dang full list. And I’m proud of it. 

What have you accomplished in the last 365 days? Force yourself to look and find something. Force yourself to find lots of things. At the very, very least – you survived. That’s an accomplishment worth a lifetime of standing ovations. But I’m confident that’s not all you did. I’m sure there’s much, much more. And you should be so proud. 

So tell me…what did you accomplish this year?