As I sit here at 5AM drinking my warm lemon water and reflecting on my life, I realize that 2021 was actually an incredible year.
On January 3rd, I took a pregnancy test and found out that my husband and I were expecting!
We went on a wonderful family ski trip just a few weeks later to Beech Mountain in North Carolina and it was the first time I had been with my entire family in almost 5 years. That ski trip was also where I announced to my family that I was pregnant!
One of my best friends from the Peace Corps came down in March to celebrate my husband’s birthday and our 1 year anniversary.
A few months later my husband and I went to NYC to visit that same friend.
My brother got married to the love of his life.
I gave birth to the most amazing little boy.
And Popilicious had its first 6-figure year! There is certainly a lot to be thankful for.
Reflecting on all the highlights of 2021 makes me excited for the new year. Last year, I didn’t start the year off with any goals, which is so unlike me. I can tell that it honestly led me to be a little stagnant and stuck in the day to day tasks of life. While I needed some of that downtime last year to get through my pregnancy, I’m ready to jump into 2022 full force!
2022 Goals
Goal setting is one of my favorite activities (hello Pitta!). I like to pick 12 areas of my life and dedicate an entire month to achieving the goals in that area.
January: Health
- Lose a few pounds. I gained A LOT of weight during my pregnancy. While I’m not upset about it (my body grew a human being for Christ’s sake!) I definitely feel heavier in my body and it’s leading my self-confidence to wane. I want to lose a few pounds to feel better in my body, be able to move more freely and have a bit more energy to play with my beautiful boy.
- Exercise 270 days of the year. That’s 5 days a week, give or take. I’m going to start a postpartum workout program in January to rebuild my core strength in a safe way before I jump into other forms of exercise. I also really want to master the Ashtanga Primary Series. It’s been one of my goals for 4 years now and I have yet to achieve it!
February: Home
- Create a cleaning schedule and stick to it. I am the absolute worst about making a plan and then NEVER following it. I want to change that this year and actually stick to my cleaning schedule.
- Do a full spring cleaning. I’ve never done a spring cleaning before and I really want to do one this year. Since having the baby, so much clutter has just accumulated in our house and I want to get rid of it next year.
- Build a garden. An herb garden to be specific. I have a few herbs planted in my backyard, but have yet to actually keep them alive. I would love to really focus on growing my herbs and caring for them in 2021.
March: Marriage
- Go on 52 dates. The dates don’t necessarily have to involve going anywhere, but I really want to have at least 52 dates with my husband throughout the year.
- Weekly meetings. Now that we have a baby, there is A LOT more going on in our lives. I want to start having weekly meetings so we can know each other’s schedules ahead of time and go into a new week without being caught off guard.
- Love more. Postpartum depression has sucked all the joy out of my love life and it’s turned me a bit bitter if I’m being honest. I love my husband so much, but I haven’t been showing it as much as I would like to. So 2022 is all about showing more love to my husband and making sure he knows I appreciate him.
April: Career
- Blog 3x/week. I’m notorious for saying I’ll blog 3x a week, but then never actually doing it. So this year I’m going to actually do the damn thing.
- Build Popilicious to 500k in sales. 2021 was Popilicious’ first ever 6 figure year. I really want to keep the momentum going and push us to 500k in sales in 2021!
- Get 5k followers on Instagram. I want to build a community of 5k followers on Instagram with my Ayurveda account.
May: Spirituality
- New and full moon rituals. I used to do full moon and new moon rituals while I was in the Peace Corps and I really loved how grounding it was. I want to get back into that again.
- Read the entire Bible. Another one that’s been on my list for a while. I want to actually accomplish this in 2022.
- Read the Yoga Sutras. The classical text of Ayurveda. I want to read this while I’m completing the Primary Series.
June: Fun
- Take a photo every day. Whether it’s of me, my family, my cats, my work, or my little man. I want to capture more memories in 2022.
- Go on a Summer Vacay. Right now we are wanting to go back to Cameroon, but TBA if Cameroon will open it’s borders by the summer time.
- Create a Youtube channel. I love making videos and I really want to start getting into Youtube this year.
July: Parenthood
- Start going to Mommy and Me classes. Once my baby is able to stay awake for longer periods, I would love to start going to some Mommy and Me classes with him!
- Facetime the kids in Cameroon once a week. I have been so bad about keeping in touch with our babies in Cameroon. A lot of it is due to connection issues and the fact that their mom does not want their kids talking to me. But I want to at least put more effort into contacting them this year.
- Have a phone free day on Saturday. I’m talking full on locking my phone in the drawer for an entire day so that I can really focus on having fun with my baby.
August: Friends
- Facetime Dates once a month. I tend to get upset with my friends for not keeping in touch with my, but then I realize that I don’t put any effort into keeping in touch either. I want to really focus on building my friendships this year.
- Visit at least 3 friends. I’m going to stay with one of my friends in January, so I just have 2 more trips to plan!
- Make 3 new friends. I would love if I could make mom friends, since I’m the only mom in my friend group. Hopefully I’ll meet some moms from daycare or the mommy and me classes!
September: Finances
- Stick to our budget. We always create a budget but we are the worst at sticking to it. I want to actually stay within our limits this year.
- Save $30,000. This is going to be really tough, and we will have to suffer a bit in other areas, but I really want to round out our emergency fund now that we have a child.
- Learn to invest. It’s about time I learn this.
October: Mental Health
- Start a gratitude log. Postpartum depression has sucked the joy out of my life and I want to start noticing how incredible my life is again.
- Journal every day.
- Meditate. I love meditating but I’ve never stuck with it long enough to actually see results.
November: Personal Development
- Read 12 books. That’s one book a month and totally doable.
- Dress to impress. I’ve recently been developing my own style and I want to dive deeper into that.
- Knit Christmas stockings. My great grandma did it for us as kids and I want to do it for me and my husband so that there’s something to be passed down.
December: Family
- Call siblings once a week. I rarely ever talk with my siblings unless they are physically in front of me.
- Visit each sibling. We’ll be visiting my sister in January. I really want to get up to Ohio for a game to see my brother in action, and make a trip up to Alabama.
- Send birthday gifts. We don’t usually send each other gifts, but I want to send something small to my siblings for their birthdays.
I’m so excited to tackle these goals in 2022. I’ll update you all at the end of the year to see if I actually accomplished them. What are some of your goals for 2022?
