I know there are still 85 days left in the year, but I’ve only just realized that I still haven’t done my life and financial goals check-in since I set them on January 1st.
It’s been a roller coaster of a year, and when I set my goals on New Year’s Day, I remember wanting to make a list of things that would both challenge and ground me.
It’s funny really. The last year and a half that my HB and I lived in Vancouver I was so anxious for change. I remember feeling like life had gone stagnant and there wasn’t anything new to look forward to anymore. It’s a bit crazy to recollect this considering at the time I had a lot of great things on the horizon (trip to Thailand and my wedding for instance).
But even though I had what would seem to most people as a perfect life (great friends and family, a stable job, a loving partner, and no debt), I wasn’t happy. My life had become too routine, and I knew I needed to shake things up a bit for me to get my happy back.
So, after my HB and I got married, off we set to Toronto to start a new adventure. And man, what an adventure it has been. I’ve been employed and unemployed more times than I’d like to share, I’ve had to start building new friendships from square one, I’ve had to survive the most brutal winter Toronto has experienced in 20 years, and I’ve had to cope with severe homesickness.
Of course, it hasn’t been all bad. Toronto really is an amazing city with amazing people in it. There’s so much life here and now that I’ve finally found the right job and finished my certificate program, I’m feeling more at home here every day.
That all being said, you can imagine why on January 1st I was craving a semblance of normalcy. With so much happening in such a short amount of time, I sometimes felt like I was floating without anything to hang onto.
I’m happy to say that in these past few months I finally feel like my feet are planted firmly on the ground again. I once again have a routine and I’m certainly not going to take it for granted this time.
As for my goals, below is my list and how I’ve done so far:
- Join a dance or yoga class (this year’s gonna be the year!) Not yet, but I think I’ll join a yoga class this fall
- Get my full driver’s license (ugh, I hate this goal but it needs to be done) Doubt this is gonna happen. Why can’t the government just give me a full license. I’ve had my N for like 10 years!
- Complete my certificate program Achieved
- Read 20 books I’ve read 5 so far, so this probably isn’t gonna happen
- Go to FinCon14 in New Orleans Achieved
- Complete a 5k or 10k run Achieved, did a 5k run for Run for the Cure
- Do at least one thing that scares me Achieved, did the CN Tower EdgeWalk
- Learn at least one new skill Achieved, learned a ton of new digital marketing skills.
- Try at least 3 foods I’ve always been too afraid to try (this will be easy since there are a lot of foods, I’ve been too chicken to try) Almost. I tried a variety of fish sushi last week, but nothing besides that yet…
- Sign up to be a volunteer somewhere Nope
- Search engines optimize all of my 400+ blog posts Still in the works.
- Come up with an editorial calendar (I am so over writing posts the night before!) Nope, still write them a few days before they’re scheduled to go out
- Read at least 2 personal finance books Achieved. Read Preet Banerjee’s Stop Over-Thinking Your Money! and Steven Zussino’s Travel Hacking for Canadians.
- Change my last name to my married name on all documents (I’ve still only changed it on my social network accounts and credit cards) Still in the works
- Save up enough for half a down payment on a place with my HB Achieved, but not because anything I did exactly. I’ll write about that in a future post
- Ramp up savings for my retirement and emergency funds Achieved. I’ve signed up for my work’s pension plan and have reorganized my investments so their working for me better
- Come up with an investment plan with my HB that we can both contribute to Achieved. We’ve been meeting with our financial advisor all year and have a great plan in place.
If my calculations are correct, that’s 9 goals achieved and 8 either still in the works or will have to roll over. Not bad, I think. Now the big question is, what other kinds of weird foods should I try before the year’s out?
How are you doing with your goals or New Year’s resolutions?
