New year, new goals.

2022

After reflecting on the past year, I can see that I achieved a lot in 2022.

Some examples include:

• publishing my first book
• finishing my autism assessment process and receiving my diagnosis
• having several poems published in the Visual Verse anthologies
• attending my uncle’s wedding
• started volunteering at my local library
• another year sober (3.5 years total)
• no self-injury or suicide attempts
• starting the reduction of one of my medications (medically approved)
• losing almost 40lbs (for health reasons)
• started learning Japanese, Greek and Latin, and continued learning German
• read 63 books

I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me.

2023

I’m often reluctant to set goals for myself. There are a few reasons for this, but the two main ones are:

• my self-esteem is quite low and I doubt my ability to achieve goals.
• I put a lot of pressure on myself and can become very distressed/panicked about “failure”.

However, seeing how much I achieved last year has inspired me to step further outside of my comfort zone and set myself some goals for 2023.

I had told myself that I wasn’t going to set any New Year’s Resolutions, and honestly, I’m still not… technically.

I don’t think it matters about it being a certain date or time of year. This just feels like a good time to take stock of how far I’ve come and how I want to move forward, and it just happens to be a new calendar year.

So just to clarify, I don’t think we should be restricted by waiting until an arbitrary time to make plans or changes that we want to make. 🙂

The goals:

• finish my second book
• reach my goal weight (number withheld to avoid triggering)
• attend my cousin’s wedding
• read 60 books
• make a friend (IRL)
• continue volunteering at the library
• continue my medication reduction
• reach 20k XP in Japanese on Duolingo

I realise this is quite a list, but I think they are realistic and manageable. I’m also going to make a conscious effort to allow myself some grace and compassion.

Although I would love to achieve all of my goals, I’m well aware that sometimes Life Happens and things can go awry.

I guess that’s another goal: be kinder to myself!

Goals can be flexible, but I think it will be good for me to have these goals in mind to guide me through the next year.

Over to you…

Have you set any goals for 2023?

What achievements are you proud of from 2022?

Do you have any opinions on setting goals and the fear of failure?

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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