Yearly Goals

I don't make New Year's resolutions. Instead I'll come up with a few 'goals for the year.' What's the difference? Probably semantics, but if I say "New Year's resolution" I tend to forget about it by the end of January, even if it's something that it's not possible to complete in that time. New Year's resolutions have such a bad rap that they just seem short-lived by their very nature.

But I can't not make any plans for the upcoming year, it just seems too fatalistic. So I call them 'yearly goals,' which gives them some weight, and lets me take them more seriously. And procrastinate doing them longer.

I accomplished almost none of my goals for last year. In my defense, it was a pretty difficult year, and a huge chunk of it was taken up with other, more important things that left no time or energy for anything else.

There's a new year on the horizon, though, and it's time to revisit the as-yet-incomplete goals, see what I want to keep, and what I want to do new or differently next year.

2008 Goals

Celtic Icon Sweater. I really do want to finish this project. It's almost 2 years old, and I really like it. Besides, I'm tired of having knitting languish around not getting done. I can't look forward to new projects when I can't finish the old ones. So finishing this and the log cabin blanket are high on my list of priorities. I think we'll just call this finish old knitting and not get into specifics.

Tolkien Quilt. This is another one. This project was initially started in 1995 or 1996. It got abandoned for many years, I sporadically worked on it a couple times, then early last year I got it out and made a bunch of progress on it, only to again abandon it. I want this done, partly because I really like the idea of a Tolkien quilt, partly because I'm sick of looking at it but have invested too much time in it to just abandon it, and partly for the same reason I want Celtic Icon done - there are other quilting projects I'd like to do, that I can't justify starting till I finish this one. So this stays on the list as well.

My CD. Last year I got the idea to make a solo CD, just me, playing any instrument I knew how to play and doing all the vocals. Originally I was going to do this in our home recording studio, where I had previously been able to create CD-quality recordings. But when I went back to work on this in the fall, it wasn't going well, and I realized I no longer had the patience to futz and tweak with everything to get the quality recording I wanted. In addition, I'd decided to not keep it entirely solo, adding special appearances by talented friends, and that required even more technical knowledge, which I didn't have. My brother has a friend who has a recording studio, I got in touch with him, and found out that he charges by the hour, and doesn't care how long it takes me to finish it - which means it's a 'pay as you go' plan, and I can do as little or as much as I want or can afford. Initially I was going to start work on this in January, but an unexpected event has caused an unavoidable delay. However, I am determined to do this, as soon as time and finances allow. I don't know if I can finish it by the end of the year, but as long as I'm working steadily towards it, that's good enough for me.

One Great Vacation. I definitely did that. The trip to North Carolina and renting the beach house was one of the best vacations I ever had. I sincerely hope to do that again this year, if my financial situation straightens out.

Reorganize the house. I didn't get as much done on this last year as I would have liked, but circumstances were such that I really didn't get to start on it till late fall, and once I did, I did make great progress. There's still much to do, and that will be an ongoing project for a long time. But since I really want to do it, now that I have more time and energy for such things, it's definitely staying on the list.

Quit Smoking. This hovered around in my head all year but I never did anything about it. I still really do want to do this, so it's staying on the list.

Most of my goals from last year didn't get accomplished, and are staying on the list for this year. I don't know whether to be pleased with that - my goals are consistent, I must really know what I want - or to be disturbed by the fact that it appears I'm in the same rut I was in a year ago. But it is what it is, and those are things I still want to get done.

Those aren't all the things I want to accomplish in life, but I don't usually list every single thing on my 'yearly goals.' It's an ongoing goal to find a better job that I like, move away from this town, figure out what I want to be when I grow up, work on my personal neurotic tendencies, find inner peace, and generally enjoy life. Those things don't go on any lists, they are just always there, like eating and sleeping and paying bills and taking care of Tyler.

I guess I won't change the list much, since those really are still the things that are most important to me ... finish my languishing creative endeavors so I can start new ones, because there will always be new ones - and that's a good thing; and reorganize, clean and fix up my house and yard, because having a pleasant haven in which to escape from the world is vitally important to me.

I think that's a good plan for a year.