Now that 2020 has come to a close, it's time to reflect on my goals from this past year and give an update on how I did. I'm actually very proud of what I managed to accomplish in 2020 despite what a strange year it turned out to be. Some of my goals I had to adapt and some of them I utterly failed at. But hey...I can always blame it being a garbage fire year for that.
One. Watch 100 movies.
I definitely accomplished this one! I watched a lot of movies that came out in 2020 and also caught up on a lot of movies that I hadn't seen before from previous years. I'll do a proper Top Ten list at some point (as well as my personal film awards), but my three favorite new movies this year were Summerland, Promising Young Woman, and Wolfwalkers.
Two. Visit five new historic sites.
This is one that I didn't get to do because of the pandemic. I had great plans to see new historic sites in North Carolina, New York City, England, and Ireland but...alas. I did get to see one new site (the Burgwin-Wright House in Wilmington, NC) and I virtually toured the Jane Austen House Museum in Chawton.
Three. Read 12 books.
I'm ashamed to say that I only read nine books this year, though I do have three books that I'm about halfway through right now. I reread one of my favorites (Little Women) and read some new ones I loved (Rebecca and The Ballad of Songbird and Snakes). I read a lot of articles and reviews and did a lot of writing even if I didn't make it through that many books.
Four. Do a blog series based on my undergraduate thesis.
Another year, another failed intention to do this blog series. But I'm determined to make it happen in 2021! I did succeed in making more history content for this blog this year.
Five. Put money aside into my savings.
I'm happy that I got started on this early in the year before the world fell apart. I was lucky enough to have a job throughout the year and was able to put money in my savings that made me feel more secure and means I can do some traveling once we're able to again.
Six. See 30 shows.
Obviously, I didn't see thirty shows in person because of...the pandemic. I saw six shows before things shut down (my last one was the Les Mis tour), but then I decided to change this goal into seeing twenty-four more filmed productions of plays or musicals or live readings. I saw so many great ones from seeing a filmed production of my beloved The Grinning Man to watching all twelve StarKid musicals for the first time.
Seven. Work out at least twice a month.
I'm counting this one as a success because I worked out twice a month for eleven months of the year (and more than that most months). In November, I ended up getting a small surgery that meant that I was pretty sedentary and only got in one workout. In 2020, I rediscovered dance and had the best time doing lots of Broadway 567 and YouTube videos from James Tolbert.
Eight. Earn money from my writing.
I managed to achieve this in March! I now write for two paid outlets, which I'm very proud of. I wrote a Twitter thread of my favorite articles that I wrote this year if you'd like to check them out.
Nine. Cook three meals in my Instant Pot.
I only cooked three different meals, but I did one of them several times. I made an excellent beef stew, a great Mexican chicken soup, and a very nice chicken & rice.
Ten. Read War and Peace.
Here's another goal that was a complete failure. I'll achieve it one day.
Check back soon for my ten 2021 goals!