Hello friends, it’s the halfway mark of the year, how did we get here?! But it’s time for me to check in with my goals and see if I’m staying on track… maybe? And maybe put me on the right track, let’s get into it!

As is tradition I guess you could say for me, I don’t remember the goals I set about for myself in January… 😅 You’d think that after years of doing this, I’d learn, but nope. So let’s just get right into it, shall we?

Bookish Goals

Read 100 books this year. This has become a standard for me to set my goal for 100 because I think this is an achievable goal for me, yearly. This year has been no different. Currently, I’m at 67/100. I’m already over half-way there, so I don’t really feel like I won’t be hitting this and I can fully say I’m on track with this goal!

Read More Diverse Books. I started using Notion this year to help me track my reading and this is something I’ve been tracking.

I thought I’d make a chart to give it a quick glance… in which I’m still reading mostly white authors, but out of the 67 books, 25 have been diverse reads. Could this be better? Heck yeah, but that’s what this goal is for, to help me see my reading better. I also think this is better than where I was last year, so baby step progress!

Use Twitter More. This is more of a sounds good in theory ‘goal’ I want to use that term lightly here. Honestly, the only things I tweet these days is the link to a new blog post. I have these great ideas where I want to start talking about the books I’m reading… I just get so overwhelmed with Twitter that I always chicken out. Maybe I’ll be better the second half of the year?

Start a YouTube Channel. I have to be real frank you all, I honestly didn’t think I’d stick with it, but the fact that I’m at roughly 20 videos in for this year is a huge accomplishment for me. There have been days when I don’t want to film the next round of library books, but I’ve kept with it and I’m happy that I have.

Save quotes. I’m still not really doing this… a few weeks ago, I started a note in my phone for my favourite quotes. I also figured out how to properly use the scan text option on the iPhone so that has helped a lot. Now, I’m hoping this will encourage me to save more quotes that speak to me. Whether I figure out where to put them outside of the note in my phone, I haven’t thought of yet. Any suggestions?

Start Using Notion. Well, if you read my second ‘goal’ then you would know that, yes, I have started using Notion to track my reading and I LOVE it! It’s been super easy (once you figure out how to configure it out the way you want, that takes time, once you get it to your liking, it’s really easy) and I find it works better for me than tracking it on paper like I’d been doing the past couple years. For some reason with paper I would always forget, but with Notion I always remember. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I’m constantly on my phone, but it’s been a game changer for me.

Personal Goals

Ride My Bike. I feel like I’m at the point where I should really just not have this as a goal anymore because I honestly don’t think it’s going to happen. My bike has not left the shed; it’s been over a year since I’ve been on it. Maybe one day I will get back on it, but I don’t see it in the cards for me just yet. I mean, the second half of the year could surprise me, so who knows.

Drink More Water. Again, at this point, I think 4/5 glasses of water is my usual intake of water daily. I don’t see this changing any time soon, so I guess I’m on track with this one. The Brita filter has gotten me to stop using plastic water bottles and that makes me feel better, like it’s my little step in saving the planet.

Start Lifting Weights. I honestly don’t know why I put this on this list… I haven’t lifted a single weight since I wrote my goals and I don’t see myself doing so in the future… I honestly don’t think my brother has either now that I think about it. But yeah, again, the second half of the year could surprise me.

Continue to go for Walks & Stretch. This has been a success because it’s something that has been engrained into my daily routine for a few years now. I keep going strong. I’ve even gone to the extent to get more walking/steps in that while I’m on the phone at work (since I’m still at home) I walk around the room and it amazes me how many more steps I get in a day, plus it gets me off my chair.

Continue to be a Work in Progress. Ah yes, this year has been a challenging one in ways that are new to me, which isn’t to say it’s all bad, but it’s really had me look at myself and work at being a better version of myself. I couldn’t have predicted the things that would happen this year when I made my goals, obviously, but the fact that I can see actual growth is both interesting and nice to see. And as for working on patience… that is 100% still a work in progress!

Get back into Baking. The flop of baking I felt at the beginning of the year continued until about May. I tried a few times to make things and just nope. But in June I hit a stride of baking twice and they both came out 😱 Right now the baking bug has left, but I’m hoping it comes back soon.

Continue Knitting. This has been such an easy thing to keep up because I love doing it. I started a new blanket, that’s been on hold since May? because I ran out of yarn and I haven’t felt like getting more just yet… so I started a new smaller blanket project that I’m really liking!

Continue using Duolingo for French & Start Italian. So part one of this goal is a check, part two not so much. I haven’t touched Italian since November? It was a spur of the moment thing, that I don’t really see coming back. As for French, oh I’m totally killing it! I’m at a 954 day streak… I’m SO close to a 1000 day streak, which is my ultimate goal – only 46 more days to go!

And that’s a check in! I think for the most part I’m doing pretty good! A few things that I’ve abandoned (oops) a few things I could work on, and loads to continue going, I think that’s a good mix! How are your goals going for the year?