Okay, so I know I haven’t posted on my blog in AWHILE – I feel like I have been so busy recently between the move, planning my wedding, working two jobs, traveling, the holidays, and more craziness I have not been able to share. BUT now that I am all moved into my new home, I feel like things are settling down.
2021 was not a bad year, but I have done a lot of reflecting and figured out what I want 2022 to look like. This year may be one of the biggest years of my life because it is the year I will be getting married! With that there are a lot of other big aspirations I have for 2022. I will be sharing my general/personal goals in this posts and more specific blogging goals within the next week.
General Goals for 2022
Be more intentional with my time/Less multitasking
When I think back on this past year, I feel like I spent so much time trying to do 100 things at once and would constantly feel overwhelmed. My goal this year is to be more intentional with my time and try to focus on doing one thing at a time. I am so much more productive this way, and I feel like I will be able to enjoy what I am doing more. Here are some ways I plan on meeting this goal:
- Stick to a daily schedule
- Set timers for specific tasks (I’ll spend 15 minutes cleaning and then I’m moving on)
- Being intentional with my time on my phone (I’ll spend 15 minutes replying to comments on my Instagram photo and not opening my phone up to just randomly scroll on social media or online shop)
- Sticking to specific “blog hours” and scheduling them around social plans etc.
- Run all my weekly errands together. This past year I would make multiple trips to the grocery store and mall in one week and it was not a great use of my time. Especially with living in the city now, it takes longer to run errands because of the parking situation – I have to drive up 6-7 floors, take the elevator up to my floor, then walk around a couple hallways to get to my unit – which is completely fine but it will save me so much time to do all my errands in one trip.
stick to a schedule
This ties into my first goal of being intentional with my time. When I plan out my day, I am able to get so much more done because I have a plan. Also creating specific goals each day (or a to-do list) will help with this. My planner is my lifeline – I use the jumbo agenda from Lilly Pulitzer. I put appointments etc on the calendar view pages, and my daily schedules/to-do lists on the daily pages. Here are some things I plan on doing each day:
- Write out my daily schedule the night before
- Make bed
- Clean up messes right away
- Spend 15 minutes at the end of the day/beginning of the day cleaning, organizing etc.
- Get ready: hair, make up, outfit
- Getting more creative with daily outfits at home/not just wearing lounge wear everyday
- Workout: I really want to utilize the rooftop gym at my new apartment, since we are paying so much for rent. But really this could be going on a run outside, doing a YouTube yoga video or just going for a walk. I’m happier when I’m working out!
- Have a more consistent sleep schedule: try to be in bed by 11/12 which I know is late to most people but I work night shift… also try to be OOB by 8-9am.
- Consistent morning routine: working night shift it is hard to get up early on my days off. I think having a consistent morning routine will make it easier for me to get up in the mornings and also look forward to them more because I AM NOT a morning person (hence why I work night shift). I am thinking of something like this: wake up 8-9, make bed, brush teeth, make chai latte, clean up apartment then sit at my desk and respond to emails/plan day etc, eat breakfast, workout, shower, then get ready for the day. Have all this done by 11am.
keep my hair healthier
I started working on this goal before 2022 but I have noticed the ends of my hair are more damaged and they seem to get so much worse when I curl my hair. Here is what I plan to do to make my hair healthier:
- Get trims whenever my hair stylist recommends them
- Only use curling wand once per month max
- Buy Dyson Air Wrap – stop using Revlon Blow Dry Brush
- Figure out how to style my hair naturally straight and wear it like that most of the time
blog more/work at the hospital less
For those of you who don’t know, I work full time as a nurse in a hospital and work part time as a blogger/content creator. In 2021 my blogging income accounted for less than 10% of my total income, which was still double than it was in 2020! This year I am hoping to increase that to 20%. I’ll share more specifics on numbers in my next post, but basically my goal is to make more money/spend more time blogging and spend less time working at the hospital which means no more OT shifts (or at least not many). It can be so tempting not to turn down almost $2,000 for “just one more night. ” But that “one more night” adds so much more stress and exhaustion and does not help me with my end goal of blogging full time and nursing part time. I could complain forever about how nurses are abused by our healthcare system, how nothing makes sense, that I still had to go into work caring for sick people while I had covid and still was symptomatic. BUT we can get sent home if we wear nail polish because *patient safety.* How a patient hits you and you just have to accept it because “it’s part of the job.” Being a nurse is an important role, but it is also depressing and at this point I feel like it’s not rewarding. (And I know there are so many other nursing specialties I could be doing which I plan to look into after the wedding.) I am so much more happier working on my blog than I am working at the hospital. Blogging is actually how I want to be spending my time, and what I would be doing even if I was not getting paid. If you’re interested in seeing my 2022 blogging goals, I will be sharing them in a separate blog post within the next week.
- No more than one OT shift per month (ideally none but we will see)
- Stick to my specific blogging hours
- Follow daily schedule
- Keep up with 2022 Blogging Goals (which I will share in my next post)
Healthier nails
I recently got rid of my entire nail polish collection. I had the gel light, gel polish, regular polish, etc and it DESTROYED my nails. I have gotten my nails professionally done twice in the past three months and I already notice a huge difference. When I painted them at home sometimes I would mess up and it would take me several tries to get them fixed. I also would spend SO much time trying to perfect them myself and the polish would not stay very long and I would continuously pick at my nails. This year I am hoping to make more trips to the salon to keep my nails healthier! I found a salon downtown (Topcoat) that is AMAZING. It is the cleanest salon I have been to, the techs do a great job and they use organic and non toxic products. The only downside is that it is expensive, but honestly it is worth it just to relax in the message chair for an hour, lol.
- Do not pick at my nails
- Get mani/pedicures once every 1-2 months
- Stop painting my own nails
- Take my skin/nail/hair vitamins consistently
be more intentional with my money
- Spend no more than $10/month at Starbucks (which I will have to start next month bc I already bought a $20 re usable cup LOL)
- Only eating 1-2 meals out per week
- Only using my blog money for clothing, blogging expenses, etc. (I was good about this in 2021 and plan to continue)
be more social
With the pandemic and working a completely opposite schedule from most people, I feel like I have been less social the past two years. But I want to change this! here are some things I think will help:
- Plan at least 2-3 social events each week (right now I’ve been doing about 1-2)
- Living in the city gives me an advantage since a lot of my friends live downtown
gain 15-20 pounds
I know most people have the opposite goal, especially in the new year but this is something I really want to make happen in 2022 especially with my wedding coming up. I have been thin my whole life and have always struggled to gain weight. However, the most I have ever weighed was about 15 pounds more than what I am now (freshman 15… not a bad thing for me! I think it was because of all the strength training/running I was doing on the team and the buffet dining halls LOL) so I know it is possible! I have also found that when I’m consistent with tracking my weight/food intake I am able to gain weight. I also need to get better about eating breakfast, because that’s not something I always do (I’m not usually hungry when I first wake up, and if I’m not waking up until 11am then I don’t end up eating until closer to 1 which is pretty late. I also think going to the gym more/strength training will help with this.
- Track food everyday (the My Fitness Pal app is amazing)
- Cook 3 meals each week (this will also help save money)
- Consistent meal times
- Eat breakfast every day before 10am
- Weigh myself every day
get married/plan honeymoon
Okay so obviously getting married was already the goal this year, but I felt like I had to throw this one in! We actually have not started planning our honeymoon, which should have been a goal for 2021 but here we are… so that should be my January goal now. There are also a few things we still need to get figured out for the wedding like finding a hotel, the officiant, buying alcohol, and finalizing decisions for decor etc. I feel like I need to schedule specific “wedding planning hours” in my planner so I can get these things taken care of.
Anddd I know I’ll get questions about the honeymoon, so here is where we are right now with that: we originally were thinking Hawaii, but since we procrastinated on planning it, it is pretty expensive and we are not crazy about spending 8-10K (our estimate from multiple travel agents based off what we would want to do there) for the honeymoon (hence why I also wanted a destination wedding…) So basically we have no idea what we are doing, and don’t have a ton of time to figure it out with the wedding being in 4 months and we are looking to go on our honeymoon in early June.
buy a house
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE OUR NEW APARTMENT!!! And I know we just moved in, but if it were up to me I don’t think I would ever want to leave, lol. But rent is so expensive and we know living here is not a financially smart decision. This would be a goal for the end of the year, Which leads me to my next goal…
get pregnant
Okay this is another big one! And the main reason we want to buy a house. This is more of a goal for the second half of 2022. And obviously this is not completely in our hands, and we could change our minds depending on our financial situation etc. but for now this is a goal.
have more fun/worry less
Anyone who knows me in real life knows this is basically all I do, haha. I literally will create things in my mind to worry about, it’s bad and I feel like my anxiety has just gotten worse. I don’t have a plan for this one yet, so I will have to revisit, but at least I am putting it out there for now. Maybe more self care… can this justify the cost to get my nails done more? LOL
This has been the most personal post I have every shared, so thank you for reading! If you would like to subscribe to my weekly email list (which I have been slacking on… another goal for 2022!) fill out your first name and email in the sidebar on this page.
