2022 Intentions Reflections

Hello, loves! I don’t think anyone is surprised that, as we near the final weeks of 2022, I am here to reflect. It’s one of my favorite things to do, despite being cheesy. (And second only to getting to make new goals.) So, welcome to my reflections on my 2022 intentions!

Before we even dive in, I can say confidentially that 2022 was a shit year. For the world in many ways, but for me, in a ton of ways, too. From catching COVID for the first time (and my partner catching it a week before Christmas), to various health issues, a toxic job that continues to stay toxic and mental health struggles…

To be honest? 2022, I’m really, truly, not going to miss you at all. *shrugs*

Intentions Recap

So, way back in January, I wrote about my original intentions. I broke them up into three main categories: fostering growth through a routine, organization and prioritization and growing creatively. Each of these goals also had some specific goalposts, which I’ll actually dive more specifically into below.

But, I thought I quick recap might help us all in general (gods knows I needed it).

2022 Intentions

Y’all, I even did a 4th quarter check-in and then promptly forgot about all of my intentions for the last three months of the year. 💀

Fostering Growth through a Routine

• Find movement I enjoy and regularly partake in
• Create a morning and evening routine
• Correct my sleep schedule
• Write, read and be creative regularly

Organize and Prioritize

• Spend the year doing a deep clean and organization of our home
• Realign (as much as I can) my life with my values and priorities
• Pay off debt that has grown over the past few years

Grow Creatively

• Reach 1,000 followers on my blog
• Work with multiple clients and focus on building a community
• Create routines for writing and reading, making them staples of my daily life
• Start building the foundations of support through areas of Patreon and my newsletter

2022 Reflections

Alright, so now that we’ve had a refresher on what I wanted to accomplish in the Cursed Year 2022, let’s check-in and see how I actually did.

Fostering Growth through a Routine

Find movement I enjoy and regularly partake in 🗴🗸

I’m giving myself half a point for this. While I didn’t do anything “special,” I did make it a priority to walk my dog as much as I could (last few weeks or so notwithstanding). And that’s still movement and, in the vein of trying to be kinder to myself, we’re going to count it.

Create a morning and evening routine 🗴🗸

This one is also getting half marks. I have identified areas I want to improve in, so in theory, I do have ideas of what my ideal morning and evening routines are. It’s the implementation process I’ve been struggling a bit with.

Correct my sleep schedule 🗴

Hahahaha. No.

Write, read and be creative regularly 🗴🗸

Initially, I didn’t want to give any partial credit here, because I’m nowhere close to where I want to be, reading and writing wise. Yet, I did read a little over 30 books this year. I did start (and restart and restart again) a new WIP. So, it’s unfair to label it a complete wash.

Score: 1.5 / 4

Organize and Prioritize

Spend the year doing a deep clean and organization of our home 🗴🗸

We are nowhere near as close as I want to be on this goal. The deep clean part? Yeah, non-existent, didn’t happen. However, my partner and I did reorganize our kitchen. And I completed our front closet and upstairs bathroom. However, our kitchen needs a refresh already and other areas are just a disaster.

Realign (as much as I can) my life with my values and priorities 🗴

Honestly, I struggle to remember what I even meant by this. 💀

Pay off debt that has grown over the past few years 🗴🗸

Between medical debt and vet debt (and fucking interest), my card card is unhealthy levels of charged. I did pay off some, but it climbed again after my ER trip for my disability and various other things. This has gotta be a priority in 2023, because it stresses me the fuck out.

Score: 1 / 3

Grow Creatively

Reach 1,000 followers on my blog 🗴🗸

At the time of writing this, I’m at 949, which obviously isn’t 1,000. But, I started with 921 this year, so my blog did grow. And I’m proud of that.

Work with multiple clients and focus on building a community 🗴🗸

Due to all the health stuff, I didn’t market my services nearly as much as I should have. And, with that lack of marketing, also comes a lessened number of clients. Not nearly as much as I wanted to work with. But, I did work on 13 projects across eight unique clients, so honestly, I should be excited about that! And, I started promoting more on Instagram, which is great, since Twitter is currently dying. (RIP. 💀)

Create routines for writing and reading, making them staples of my daily life 🗴🗸

You can tell this is a focus I really wanted when I have the same goal twice, just written in different ways. (See “write, read and be creative regularly” from the first section). Hahaha, oops. I got more specific with this second iteration of creating routines, but again, the implementation was where I lacked. The bloody implementation.

Start building the foundations of support through areas of Patreon and my newsletter 🗴🗸

It took almost all year, but as of November, I have clear goals and plans for both my Patreon and newsletter, Inkpot Droplets. I’m currently at 4 patrons and 25 subscribers and am very excited for what the future holds for these avenues!

Score: 2 / 4

Summation

Honestly, even with being kind with myself and recognizing that some areas made strides–even if I didn’t nail them completely–if we rate my year for one total point for each goal and total it up, I scored 4.5 out of 11. A nice, crisp 40%, which is a solid fail, in academic terms. 😂

Yet, looking at my 2022 intentions and then comparing the reality of what 2022 was? Well, it paints a very different story.

Not one of failure, even if the goals I wanted to complete are not where I wanted them to be, in December 2022. However, it’s one of survival. A picture of perseverance. A lesson of kindness, learning to be more understanding of myself, the world, my body and its limitations. This was a year plagued by various health hits, disability difficulties and medical misfortunes.

Is it such a surprise that my lofty goals couldn’t last when I spent a quarter of my year unhealthy?

Even with that in mind, I’m not writing this year off as a wash. It was an important year, that reminded me of my boundaries, encouraged me to speak up for myself and listen to my body and helped me to appreciate more greatly when I’m healthy. And I survived it, which, at the end of the day, is something to celebrate, regardless.

What about you? Does this time of year make you reflect? Are you writing out any reflective time posts like this? Link them up in the comments, as I’d love to read them! And, if you’re in the same boat as me, where you didn’t do everything you wanted, take heart. You’re here and you’re trying–and can try again.

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