Hi dear friends, welcome back! In my latest post, I wrote about developing your goals list – or New Year’s Resolutions – and how to choose goals that are realistic, attainable and overall “right” for you.
However, while you might or might not listen to me and what I have to say, I have decided that I have to practice what I preach. So I have created my resolutions list and, for the first time ever, I am putting my goals out in the real world, for all of you to see: hopefully that’ll keep me accountable!
My New Year’s Resolutions/Goals List for 2021
Keep a bullet journal
I have been wanting to keep a bullet journal for years. Not kidding. I’ve had a Pinterest board for it since I was in college but never actually had the guts to dedicate myself to it. This year, I’m finally doing it! I’m taking advantage of the fact that I’m still working from home to work on making my journal efficient, fun and pretty! So far, I have found that keeping a bullet journal improves my mood in so many ways. I like setting up cute monthly and weekly spreads and love covering pages in stickers and washi tape. But there’s more: writing little monthly recaps and including photos and memes helps me “pin” those memories somewhere: in a time where every day feels the same, I think preserving memories is super important. In addition, using a monthly habits tracker has helped me stay on track with my goals and taught me things about myself that I wouldn’t have found out otherwise! I highly recommend tracking your habits.
Write one blog post per month
This is something that I used to do all the time when I first started this blog. Sometimes I’d write two, maybe even three posts per month. However, with time, I started devoting less and less time to my blog and spent most of my time on Instagram. That’s where the likes, comments and engagement were, so I “followed the people”. However, I lost the “why”. I started this blog because I wanted a platform where I could actually write. Real posts, with sections and paragraphs, not long captions under a picture. So, I do want to write more frequently, even if that means that every now and then, people will miss a post. I truly believe that as long as I post engaging content, the right people will show up!
Get to 6000 followers on Instagram
In 2020, we reached an outstanding 5000 followers on Instagram. I couldn’t believe it! Now we even have a couple hundreds more, and it just kind of blows my mind that there are 5200+ people out there who care about what I have to say. I have no desire to make it BIG on social media – I’m lowkey scared of the “outsiders” opinions and judgement! – but I would love to add around 800 friends to the friend group this year. The more, the merrier, right? So if we’re not Insta-friends yet, you can follow me here!
Turn the apartment into an even cozier and more welcoming home
My apartment resembles a storage room more than a home. It’s mainly because there have been so many people living here and then leaving, this past year: my brother, my mom, my dad, Livia, David… there are literally things laying around that belong to all of these people! And yet, I’m the only one who lives here now. The goal for this year is to declutter, organize and create a space that works for me and brings me joy. I know, I know, I’m going all Marie Kondo on this. But seriously, I want to look at my apartment and be happy about it! This is something that I started working on in 2020 during the madness, and I’m proud of the progress I made. It’s a process, and I know it will take a long time and lots of work, but I also know that I can do this!
Work on at least three paid collaborations
I really did not aim for the stars here. I worked on two paid partnerships last year, so I thought I’d add one more as an “improvement” from 2020. Why only one, you might ask? First of all, because I don’t know what the content creation business will look like this year. I can only hope that brands will want to work with influencers and bloggers, but there are just so many businesses struggling that I can’t expect partnership to come magically. Second, because I just don’t know what the year will look like and don’t want to appear tone-deaf. There was a long period of time last year, during the first months of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, when I did not accept or searched for collaborations. I am a firm believer in “reading the room”. Therefore, since the upcoming year is unpredictable, I don’t want to aim for ten collaborations and then only secure one. I’m being realistic.
Learn Portuguese at an intermediate level of fluency
Ah yes, Portuguese! I am determined to become fluent in what is set to become my fifth spoken language. So far, I have been practicing on Duolingo almost every day for the past few months. I also download free chapters of workbooks available online and work off of those. My next steps are watching TV shows in Portuguese and buying a nice and easy-ish young adult book to read. As you can see I’m the queen of self-taught language skills, but once I get to that intermediate level, I will enroll in a Portuguese course. Just trying to save my money while I can!
Go to a chiropractor
Pretty straightforward. Just a simple way to take care of myself. I have been postponing this for God knows how long, and I’m tired of it. This is the year we get our whole body cracked like a glowstick!
Get the Covid vaccine
You heard that right, shoot me up in the arm! I’ll get vaccinated as soon as my time comes. I want to do my part in restoring at least partial normalcy in the world this year. So, vaccine it is!
Cook at least ten new dishes
I always have a culinary goal on my list. Last year, I aimed high and decided I wanted to learn 20 new dishes. Let’s just say that “thanks” to the pandemic and having Livia here with me for a few months, I exceeded those expectations, by far! Now, I know that my efforts this year will not equate my culinary adventures with Livia, but I still do want to learn to make at least ten new dishes. I want to learn how to make risotto. There, I said it: I don’t know how to make risotto. What kind of Italian am I?!
That is all for this year! If you’re willing to share, I would love to hear about some of your 2021 goals! What’s on your list for this year?