My goals for 2022

It’s that time of year when we set down our intentions for the new year. I don’t know if anyone made resolutions for 2021 considering how 2020 went but I wanted to set some goals for myself for 2022 and try to put this whole pandemic craziness behind me! 2020 and 2021 were such bizarre years. I don’t think anyone could have predicted what the past two years would’ve looked like. I’m hoping 2022 returns to some type of normalcy (we just bought concert tickets for summer 2022 so it seems that things might be on the right track).

Working from home since March 2020 really changed my daily habits. I used to wear makeup and jewellery daily and I’d spend time picking out my outfit the night before. I have always been a big believer that if you think you look good then you’ll feel good, and doing those things made me feel good. Since working from home I was basically in sweats or lounge wear everyday (and not that there’s anything wrong with that, but other things took a back seat too… my hair washing days started to get farther and father apart and because my daily habits/routines changed, and as a result I didn’t always feel great.) And being pregnant last year wasn’t helpful because I really only bought the bare necessities when it came to maternity clothes.

My goals for 2022 are all about making sure I feel like myself again and not getting lost in the state of things. I heard recently that the reason 2020 and 2021 almost blend together in our minds is because we’re not making memories. Things are the same everyday; a never ending Groundhog Day. Without markers in our minds, we don’t really have anything to attach events to and so there are no specific memories for us to look back on. I’m hoping to change this in 2022!

My 5 Goals for 2022

1. Navigate my way through parenting – I’m not going to go as far as to say I want to be successful at parenting (I think that’s just setting myself up for failure) but I do hope that my hubs and I figure out a parenting style that best suits our values. We have a handful of nieces and nephews ranging from age 3 to 19 (I’ve been around kids for literally half my life), so I always thought parenting would come easy to me because of all the experience I’ve had. I slowly started to realize, as my third trimester came to a close, that may not be the case. I know for the most part, parenting is something you just have to figure out as you go (and sometimes take a trial and error approach) so I don’t have any real fears that we won’t be able to figure out our style. It just might take a couple months or so.
2. Keep a part of my individual self – while I was pregnant I hated being referred to as “mama” from other adults. I felt that I was being reduced to nothing more than my reproductive ability (OK, maybe a little dramatic but it bothered me that much). Now that I am a mama to my sweet boy, I admit I do love being referred to as “mama”, but as I work through being a first time mom I’m hoping to still keep a part of myself that’s just me; just Kelly. I’m not exactly sure how to accomplish this, but it’s something I am going to work really hard at.
3. Get back into a regular fitness routine – I know, I know, I know!! This is one of those resolutions that everyone makes at the start of a new year but hear me out: I had such physical pain from pregnancy that I was barely able to walk around my house without limping, let alone do any type of exercise or functional movement. I’m very much looking forward to rebuilding my core strength. One of the other things I’m excited about is being able to go for walks again. I used to go for a 60 mins walk everyday until the nerve pain in my left leg started. Walking is how I clear my head, mull over decisions and really relax. It’s going to be good to do that again!
4. This is a bit of a fun one, but I want to actually cook from the many cookbooks I have – I love cookbooks and have assembled a pretty decent collection, but I don’t really cook from them. I’ve made one maybe two recipes from each book so I’m hoping to try a new recipe every week. I know that being on maternity leave is no vacation, but if I’m home a lot maybe I’ll be inspired to try new things in the kitchen… especially once we start baby on solids.
5. Actually create memories – going back to what I mentioned above, I’m hoping as a new family of three we can start having some family adventures and fun experiences – add in some markers into our minds and actually create memories. I know there’s a lot of things to do in our surrounding area and it will be great to get in some photos of baby while he’s still little and experience new things with him (also, I don’t know if anyone else felt this way, but certain things just seemed way too family/kid oriented – like pumpkin patches and Christmas tree farms – my hubs and I always felt awkward showing up just as two adults so now we have no excuse not to go!)

There’s one goal that very absent from my list this year and that’s to travel to someplace new. I loved and miss travelling so much but things seem so unstable right now (especially with a baby) so I’m not sure if we will be able to add in any plane rides this year but with goal #5 hopefully we can go explore more of our own area.

What are your goals for this year??

xoxo Kells