Looking Ahead to 2023

I wrote about checking off goals earlier this year:

🚀   Goals for 2022

• 💪   Hit a one plate bench
• 🍅   Harvest many tomatoes
• 💞   Train the cats to go for walks
• 👩‍🍳   Master one dish from each continent
• ✍️   Start a (non-tech) blog

Unfortunately, we found out the hard way that the Nacho cat hates the outdoors even more than the Taco cat, so they will remain indoors and unwalked. A better goal would probably have been to play more with them. Nacho still doesn’t know what a cat toy is and shows no interest in play, which is kind of sad if you think about it.

Here are the two little monsters.

As for bench - I switched my routine a couple of times this year between strength and hypertrophy, which I’ll maybe eventually dedicate an entire post to.

And with no preamble whatsoever, here are the

Goals I’ve set for myself for 2023

• 3 plate squat and deadlift???
• Be able to run at least 10k
• Harvest many tomatoes, peppers and potatoes
• Learn to crochet
• Meal prep at least once a month
• Add blog content at least once a month
• Add daily yoga, meditation and walking sessions

Some of these are numbers to work towards, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I’m not giving 110% and crushing it every single day in a single-minded mission to attain them. I think that’s unrealistic and a one-way express ticket to burning out, becoming discouraged and quitting permanently. Rather, those numbers are (mostly) reasonable goals and can actually be accomplished if I put in beyond the absolute bare minimum effort. Bringing us to the next part:

Rationale

The theme for 2023 is consistency.

I want to

• keep doing some of the things I’m already doing,
• do more of some things I do, but not as regularly as I would like, and
• try something new and hopefully develop a habit for them.

I have an unhealthy fixation with time: not having enough time, not spending my time correctly, not doing things at the right time, and then doing nothing but scrolling on my phone for hours because I reason that I don’t have enough quality time to really get into what I want to do. I’ve been living vicariously through other people’s Stories and Reels and TikToks, making excuses for myself like “oh that takes too long to learn” or “that costs so much money to try” and “what if I don’t like it”.

Well, the time will pass anyways, better an actor than always the passive observer. If I can plan my time better, or be less attached with the idea of doing things only at the perfect time, I will have something to show for it at the end of the year.

Some existing habits:

• Working out (weightlifting)

For the most part, I’ve been pretty consistent with this. I aim to do at least 3 quality workouts a week. This year, I found that when I switched from a 3-day plan to a 4-day plan (which I could have done instead as alternating days i.e. 3x-4x a week), my intention of MT-TF workout days would become M-W-TF or MT–FS, and I would have a lot of anxiety with completing my workouts for the week. If I got too off track early on, it would discourage me from doing the rest of the scheduled workouts for the week. Finding a better schedule and being more flexible with my routine would help a lot. If I didn’t have the time for an 1.5h workout, I can just do something quick and move my routine over a day, rather than becoming obsessive with having to do workout A on Monday, workout B on Tuesday etc and declaring it a failure if I don’t follow it to the letter.

Moving my body is a privilege, not a burden, and it should improve my life rather than adding its own set of anxiety. Progress might be slower than if I only stuck to a routine, but I’ll take progress over procrastination.

Some inconsistent habits:

• Meal prep
• Writing posts
• Mindfulness and yoga
• Walking
• Cleaning

I usually try to meal prep a few times a month, but sometimes I have a busy weekend of doing non-cooking related things and then I’m scrambling for food all week. This has meant airfrying freezer food, which is not the healthiest. Instead, I’m going to aim for Sundays and (no-meeting) Wednesdays as my prep days as needed, and Saturday as my grocery day.

Writing posts - I’m currently working on it! I have a content “plan” and many half-finished and just-started drafts, but have not set myself proper deadlines. I am going to aim for a post every month, since I want to limit my screen time and working an office job means 8+ hours of staring at a screen during the day and I… need a break. Maybe 10 minutes every morning to just freeform, and editing once a week? That should be reasonable.

Yoga and mindfulness are two things I want to do more of this year. I find myself lost after doing 30 days of guided, introductory sessions, and then stop. I also forced myself to do them even when I don’t want to during those 30 days, so I’m sure there’s some resentment and “going through the motions”. Acknowledging that is a first step, actually doing something is the next. If I “go through the motions” enough, eventually the consistency will win out. Sometimes the things you enjoy will feel like a chore, but you’ll be thankful for following through on them.

Walking is one of those things I enjoy doing, but don’t do as often as I should because who wants to put on a bra and outside clothes? Even walking on the treadmill requires that I put on socks or something, which feels like a waste because I need to do extra sock-based laundry for 30 minutes of walking. This can probably be tied into another unwritten goal I have, which is to dress more put-together, even for WFH. This way, I don’t have to justify putting on different clothes for an hour walk when I’m already dressed for the day… and I’m not above wearing sweats outside.

Cleaning is something I struggle with. I can’t focus or do anything unless my surroundings are clean, or at least cleared. Bake cookies? Gotta clear the kitchen first but it’s too much effort to clean and I don’t have enough time to clean and bake… so I end up not doing the baking part. Ditto for creative stuff I need desk space to do. Set aside time every week to clean, and do things that take less than 2 minutes immediately, rather than putting it off indefinitely. Immediately > indefinitely, catchy I know.

Some new habits and hobbies I want to develop:

• Crochet
• Running/ cardio based activities

I want to to make cute things and not die in the case of a zombie apocalypse, simple as that.

Some seasonal activities I want to be more present for:

• Running (outdoors)
• Gardening

Running outdoors combines two of my least favourite things - running, and the mortifying ordeal of being perceived. I’m hoping being outside of my comfort zone for this will translate into personality improvements elsewhere.

I bought cool new seeds that weren’t the 3 for a dollar ones from Dollarama, so now I’m invested in getting beautiful non-red tomatoes, spicy peppers and colourful potatoes. It seems like it would be so peaceful to spend mornings puttering around a garden, and would be a great mood-booster. At least that’s the hope. Maybe I should have set my goal as being able to wake up before 9am.

Vision Board

This section doubles as the image-alt:

Images in the vision board were copied straight from Google Image Search, with something from every part of the goals. A gym, a smiling girl who’s running, two cyclists on the Rouge Waterfront Trail, which I’ve only ever seen from the GO Train. Cute crochet things I want to eventually be able to make - cloud cardigans and little stuffed animals. A bountiful rainbow of tomatoes from a picture perfect garden. A beautifully staged room with soft lighting and two well behaved cats, a neat and aesthetic desk where everything has its place, and a cup of tea and a paperback (even though I mostly read on an ereader these days). Food at a night market in China, which I hope to visit again soon, and a week’s worth of food stored in neat glass containers. There’s Yoga with Adriene, which I followed religiously for a month this January before immediately dropping.

I did the same with the 30 days of meditation thing on Calm as well - as soon as the last day was over, I forgot the app existed, oops!

(End of image alt doubling part)

I want to spend 2023 being more intentional with my time, and where I direct my efforts.

Instead of spending downtime on my phone, I could read a book, or one of the articles I’ve Pocketed for myself weeks ago, or crochet the cats a little hat. I want to leave my house more often during the day, rather than cooping myself indoors 6/7 days of the week and only emerging to replenish groceries. Maybe I could have grown better tomatoes if I properly staked them and pruned them, rather than transplanting them outside and then disappearing for a month while I waited for fruit to appear. I would like to enjoy spending time in the garden. I would like to enjoy spending time with myself, being present for hobbies, my cats and my partner. I want to be strong and lift heavy things, but also not lose my breath (or my mind) running for an hour. I want to be able to keep up, and keep going.

I want to make 2022 me proud of what I can accomplish, and 2024 me thankful for the foundation I’ve built.

2023, let’s do this!