I’ve been meaning to make a “2020 goals” post since December 2019, which should tell you something about how this year has panned out. As summer begins, I’m still in spring-cleaning mode, uprooting disorganized lists of tasks and milestones that have been cluttering up my life—both digitally and physically—since last year.
I’ve been deep in Libra-indecision and tripping over anxiety as each day seems to bring new unsettling news with it. What can we do, though, but place our faith in the universe, muster up some optimism, and decide to be our best selves despite everything?
Even when life is tough and confusing, it deserves to be celebrated. And the best celebration of life is simply living well and going for your dreams. *cheese fest*
That said, I’ve given up on making a big, formal post with lots of categories explanations. It’s time to keep it simple in the spirit of hitting publish.
Here’s how 2020 has been going, based on goals I declared in my year-end review from last year…
How has 2020 added up so far?
In January, I recorded this video about 2019 and how I felt about my end-of-year video. Some of the things I noted as items that needed to change were more travel, more wellness (and less alcohol), cleaner spaces & less clutter, new experiences, and more artistry and creativity.
You can watch the video here:
I can honestly say I’ve been doing better in most of these areas since 2020 kicked off.
In terms of travel, I did book several trips throughout the year, most of which were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but I managed to sneak in a trip to Puerto Escondido in February and I’ll hopefully still keep my fall travel plans intact (I have a trip to Cuba booked for November).
Wellness has been an on-and-off the wagon experience where I found myself super motivated and on track, and then off track again. I bought an exercise bike, did a few exercise challenges, and have been practicing yoga more frequently than ever. But I can’t pretend my pandemic lockdown diet wasn’t 50% stress eating.
I decided to give up drinking from mid-June to mid-October in order to give myself the best chance of staying on track with fitness goals. If you’ve ever woken up from a night out with the girls and felt zero motivation to get on the yoga mat, you know what I mean. Drinking seems to disrupt everything, goals-wise, and I don’t even enjoy it as much as I used to.
Cleaner spaces have been a far more tricky goal, but I’ve done several massive clean-outs, rearrangements, and decluttering sessions since December. It’s not something that you do once and then kick back and never think about again. It’s a constant battle to suppress shopping impulses, keep things tidy daily, and phase out belongings that aren’t contributing positively to your life. We’re moving next month, so I feel optimistic that I’ll make more progress in this area.
New experiences, I feel okay about. I had my first branding photoshoot (I felt miserable about how I looked in the photos and won’t use them, but at least I did it), worked with my own small team of writers in my agency, applied for and secured a new apartment (at the most ambitious price I’ve attempted to qualify for on my own), and more.
Hand on heart, I’ve been trying to approach this year by pushing myself outside of my comfort zone as often as possible. Because it’s been a year of scary news and anxious days, that hasn’t always materialized.
Sometimes I knew the best thing for myself was to seek out comfort in order to prevent spiraling emotionally. But I’m not sleeping on this concept of chasing newness.
More artistry is something I am still working on. I’m a visual person with a serious penchant for all things romantic and artisanal. But I’m missing those elements from my life due to a conditioned bias toward convenience.
When it comes to buying home goods and clothes, as well as preparing meals and editing YouTube videos, I have not been making things quite as beautiful or as special as possible. I really want to focus more on this moving forward. As trivial as it may sound, it means so much to me.
I would consider aesthetic beauty an absolute, non-shallow priority in my life, and I think some of my ongoing unhappiness comes from a lack of creating and pursuing it. If you’re a Libra, you’ll likely understand. This might seem a bit bonkers to others, though—and that’s okay!
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While I haven’t been very organized in documenting it, 2020 has also been productive in other ways thus far. I tackled goals, big and small, that were on my overwhelming running list, including…
- Launching a freelance writing agency
- Updating michellechristinalarsen.com
- Getting my color aura photographed
- Getting second and third ear piercings
- Keeping up with monthly vlogging
- Relaunching the Hey Mishka brand (new logo, layout, newsletter)
- Strengthening my relationship (quarantine helped with this one, ha!)
- Getting back into painting, drawing, and artsy activities…
So, not a bad start to the year.
When it comes to goals for the rest of 2020? I want to be ambitious, but I don’t want to drive myself up the wall. Like most things in life, I tend to get overexcited and fill my plate right up to to the edge.
I studied manifestation and quantum energy a lot in 2019 and it made me feel like I could, quite literally, take over the world. It made me feel like virtually anything is possible. 2020, though? It’s a heavy, uncertain time to be living in. I’m just going to keep plugging away at the things I know I want to achieve and take it day by day.
I’m quite proud of myself thus far, even though (as always) I wish I was further along. This evening I’ll sit down with a cup of tea and just appreciate what I’ve accomplished this year so far.
Will you do the same?
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