Some bloggers share their resolutions on January first, never to be referenced again. Rather than share this at the top of 2022, I thought I would work on a draft throughout the year and track how I do.
Though it was not a resolution, I did Dry January, Dry February, and made it halfway through Dry March and Dry July. Ceasing imbibing in alcohol was not that difficult, and that is coming from someone who had a drink or two nearly every evening in December. The indulgent and sometimes bloated nature of last holiday made it easier to temporarily quit this vice. 10/10 recommend.
This is small potatoes, but I resolved to floss at least five times a week. The Pamper Pirate and I have a very concrete daytime routine, which allows for a shower and some self care minutes for mommy. This is the time I started running Coco Floss between my teeth. When resolving to add a new “chore” to your routine, it helps to rebrand is as a luxury. In this case, self care with chic floss.
I wanted to hit running a sub-eleven minute mile for one hour this year. This was a goal I tracked weekly; internally I called it Sweaty Sunday. I started strong with the treadmill but gym closures threw me off track at the end of January. The climate of Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan does not lend itself to winter running. (On that note, I will never complain about cold weather every again, and will even probably even become a winter runner upon our return stateside.) Instead of running during the gym closure, I took up using the Pamper Pirate and Bala gear for strength training. I shuffled several sets of exercises five days a week and tracked them as I tracked my running, both on the blog and in a hard copy notebook.
I tried to stop shopping in 2022. The endeavor was unsuccessful but I became better cognizant of my spending habits. This is another thing I tracked weekly on the blog. Abiding by this weekly ritual was helpful in deterring from clicking Place Order.
On that note, I maxed out my 401k contributions. The rest of the money went to the nest egg for when we return from abroad. My husband and I had a concrete combined goal to reach, split between what was realistic for his account and my account. (We have separate accounts, though we can see the each other’s online.) I always kept a detailed Excel workbook of my finances and after getting married, I started tracking both of ours in side-by-side. Each month has a column for combined savings and the percentage to our goal. I love seeing the money add up and the percentage grow.
Here’s to another great year of personal growth!
