Happy New Year, everyone! The first day of 2022 is officially here, and what better way to kick it off than with a resolution or two?
Last year I was so scared to make resolutions and goals. I was scared of what the future had for me as if I had no control. I don’t have any control over what happens in my life. I plan to control what I can by focusing on goals that I know are more realistic. I’m tired of letting fear stop me from being who I want to be.
Every time I plan out my goals or resolutions, it’s me trying to figure out how to change my life for the better.
Here are 22 of my goals for 2022 to give inspiration for your own
1 . WORK LESS
I don’t have a work-life balance. I’m always working. I realized how many things I missed and how many things I barely got to do by luck. I’m going to request the time off when I need to be with my friends and family. I’m going to be very intentional with planning time for my family.
2. READING MORE BOOKS
I want to read at least 12 books this year. I don’t seem to know how to read anymore. That sounds wrong. Let me rephrase this. I find myself buying many books but not reading a lot of books. And I’ve also come to see if I am reading; it is not reading critically. Reading used to be engaging. I used to annotate my books.
3. WORKING OUT MORE
I used to be in a place where I was comfortable being in a gym alone. I used to go to the gym without fail at least three times a week. I was happy with my fitness journey. I’m slowly getting back into it but doing the terrain run made me realize how out of shape I am now compared to before lockdown. I’m excited to be back to the level of fitness I was before.
4. SHOPPING BAN FOR 30 DAYS
I spend too much money. I have been trapped in a vicious cycle of work-spend-debt. I spend too much money, so then I’m in debt. Meaning I have to work to get myself out of debt. I’m a shopaholic. Most of my money is spent on coffee, makeup, clothing, and things for new hobbies that I eventually abandoned.
5. LEARN TO SEW
Technically it would be relearning how to sew. I used to sew and crochet. As I mentioned, one of my goals is to lose weight. A part of losing weight is buying a whole new wardrobe. But I just said I’m giving myself a shopping ban. See my dilemma. If I could give my current clothes alterations, I could keep my cute closet, have clothes that fit, and not buy new clothes.
6. SPEAK BETTER SPANISH
My three-year-old niece speaks better Spanish than I do. I want to communicate with my boyfriend’s family. I want to go to their house without feeling left out. I feel like knowing Spanish would make things a lot easier, even in my job.
7. AT LEAST 50 BLOG POSTS THIS YEAR
I have so many blog ideas for the following year. 50 is not a lot when you think about it. If I were only to write one blog a week, that would be 52 posts alone. So I want to push myself to post once a week (not including months when I plan to post every day)
8. SPEND LESS TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
I spend a lot of time on TikTok and Instagram. I’d rather focus my time on something more productive. How am I supposed to read all the books I want to read and make awesome blog content when I lay in bed for 2 hours just on my phone?
9. MASTER MAKING COFFEE AT HOME
The amount of money I spend at Starbucks is crazy. There’s a Starbucks at my job, and the employees there joke that I only go to work to afford my Starbucks. I got myself an iced coffee maker to make all the iced coffee I want without having to spend $15 daily.
10. LEARN TO USE MY CAMERAS
I’m genuinely bad at using cameras. I have a vlogging camera and a Fujifilm Instax camera, and I don’t use either. Mostly because I don’t know how to take pictures or videos. My boyfriend set up his camera, and all I had to do was hit the button, and the second I touched it, the whole thing became blurry.
11. DO SOMETHING NICE FOR MYSELF EVERYDAY
Doing something nice for myself doesn’t have to cost money or take up time. I want to appreciate myself and give myself the love I deserve. Wearing a panda hydrating face mask, taking some time to color, or dancing in my kitchen are all free and bring me joy.
12. KEEP A MINIMALIST WARDROBE
I want to lessen my closet. I have so many clothes I don’t wear. My job should be getting me a uniform soon, which should help me get rid of some clothes. I want to keep the basics and interchangeable items, so I don’t have to constantly buy new clothes.
13. FIX THE THINGS I’VE BEEN NEGLECTING
I wish I could update my entire house because it’s falling apart, but I don’t have the money to do that, nor do I want to when my roommates would just destroy the house again. My bedroom window is cracked, and my ceiling fan decided to kill itself in august. I don’t feel safe knowing my window is broken and could easily be used to break into my house. Yet I’ve left it alone for the past year.
14. COOK THROUGH AN ENTIRE COOKBOOK
This is all because I recently rewatched Julie & Julia. I remember saying I would love to cook through an entire cookbook, and my boyfriend said, well, why don’t you. At first, I tried to make excuses, but the more I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with any reasons for why I shouldn’t.
15. EXPLORE MY STATE MORE
After moving back to California, I realized how little I know about California and how little of it I’ve seen. I’ve never been to San Diego or Catalina Island. There are so many places to visit in California. I would love to go to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Joshua Tree, Big Sur, and hike the Hollywood sign.
16. CREATE A BETTER BUDGET
I used to think having a budget meant going on a spending diet. Keeping a tight budget and not going over a certain amount. And I will be doing that when I do my no-buy month, but a regular budget is needed because my boyfriend and I plan to merge our finances. We need to see when money is taken from our accounts, how much, and what adjustments we need to make to help us save more.
17. TRY TO BE MORE AWARE OF WHAT I SAY
I am a sincere person. I’m also very blunt. People who don’t know me just assume I’m mean or rude. I’m not rude or mean, I promise. I just grew up in a household where speaking your mind wasn’t a bad thing. I’m trying to unlearn that behavior and learn to think before I speak. I would love to not say hurtful things by accident. I’d probably have more friends if I knew what I was saying.
18. SAVE FOR A CAR
I need a car. A few things have deterred me from buying a car. There’s no parking where I live, and two, car insurance for people under 25 is crazy expensive for full coverage. But after spending $400 on uber, and ended up late to work more often than not due to few drivers. I’d rather spend that money on a car note and insurance. I have okay credit, but it’s still considered new credit, so no one offers me loans. If I save $5,000 for a down payment on a car, I can get a newer car.
19. VOLUNTEER
I found a place to volunteer at. I am going to make time in my life to actually help people. Even if I don’t physically do any work, I still try to give to a shelter. I know that some places need the money more than they need extra hands, and I can respect that.
20. RESTART MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
I want to give it one last try. I don’t want my youtube to just be me crying. I want it to be my recipes and adventures and show off my personal growth.
21. BE OKAY NOT BEING PERFECT
I felt that I had to be perfect Eryn at work, at home, and in my relationship for a while. And for a few years, I dealt with the guilt of not being perfect. When I quit school and when I moved in with my family. It made me try even harder to be perfect, and I recently realized that I wouldn’t always be perfect. I work 40+ hrs at work, and my family expects me to take care of the house and clean up after everyone. I’m learning to accept that, and I’m learning to stop letting my family feel like a less-than.
22. FOCUS ON MY BOOK
I don’t want to finish it this year. I want to pour all of the focus, the care, and love I have for this story into it. I don’t want it to be just another checklist that I failed to mark off. I want my emotions to be felt in it. All of my favorite books made me cry and laugh and feel something. I want to be able to do that within my own writing. I used to feel silly when I was growing up crying at books or feeling second-hand embarrassment for a character. Now, as an adult, that’s what I look forward to.
What are some of your New Year’s resolutions?
Let me know your goals for 2022 in the comments!