2015 Goals

Monday seems like the perfect day to post about goals, right?  I just love the start of a fresh year - the slate is wiped clean and you get to start all over.  Before I lay out my goals for 2015, I thought I'd check in on how I did with my 2014 goals!

1.  Get out of Charlotte.  Done!  Woo hoo!  Last year I said that if I accomplished no other goal besides this, I would be happy and that is totally the case.  Getting out of Charlotte was the best thing that happened to me last year because it led to SO MUCH happiness in other areas of my life.

2.  Pay down 2/3 of the balance of my grad school student loans.  Done!  I actually blew this goal out of the water as I paid off my grad school loans in full in July.  That meant using some money from savings but it was all worth it to have the satisfaction of having no student loan debt.  Plus I was able to replenish the money I took from savings by the end of the year, which felt great.

3.  Read 52 books.  Done!  I knew I'd accomplish this goal since I read so much.

4.  Return to running.  Done!  I started my return to running at the end of January with a lot of run/walk combos and slowly built up the amount of time I was able to run.  By March, I was back to running without walk breaks and I ran my first race that month.  Being a runner is a huge part of my identity so I am very thankful I was able to return to the sport in 2014 with no injuries or issues!  Take that, RA!!

So now for my 2015 goals.  I have to admit that I had a bit of a harder time developing goals for this year as there wasn't anything HUGE that I am looking to achieve, like passing the CFA or finding a new job.  Here is what I came up with!

1.  Work on resolving my sleep issues.  Sleep has not come easily for me this year.  I've never been good at it, but this year has been especially bad. I've been on Ambien for well over a year and I really need to get off of that, so my hope is to get off of Ambien, try to do a sleep study if insurance will cover it, and find some cognitive behavior therapy techniques to help me deal with my sleep issues.

2.  Tackle a list of purging/organizational projects.  I've purged quite a bit over the last 2 years between my two moves, but there is more that can be done.  I have a list of different areas of my home that I want to tackle, such as the recipe box area of my kitchen where I have piles of folded up printed out recipes (I crossed this project off the list on Saturday so have already gotten a start on the list).  Right now there are 6 projects on the list (and it seems to continue to grow!) and I am hoping to tackle them in the early part of the year when the weather is crappy outside as I know I won't want to be working on projects like that come summer and fall when it's gorgeous outside!

3.  Complete the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.  I usually set a goal for the number of books I will read each year, but this year I want to do something different, so I am going to work on the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.  I love this challenge because it is going to push me to read books that I would not have sought out otherwise, like poetry, short stories, and romance.  I like that it's a 24-book challenge because that means I will have time to read other books.  I'll be posting about my progress toward this goal quarterly so I can hold myself accountable to completing it!

4.  Read 12 books that I own.  I own a lot of books that I have not read.  A LOT.  Like several bookshelves.  I want to start to whittle down the number of unread books I own because it's obnoxious so my goal is to read a book per month that I already own.  Some of these books will count toward the Read Harder Challenge so I can work towards killing two goals with one read!

5.  Employ a "Buy One Give One Away" approach to all book, clothing, and kitchen gadget purchases.  This ties in with goal #2 as it will hopefully help control the clutter and amassing of possessions that I am trying to avoid.  I live in a small space and there is a limit to the number of books I can own, the amount of clothes that can fit in my closet and the number of kitchen gadgets that will fit in my cupboards!  The older I get, the less stuff I want piling up around me so hopefully this approach will help.

6.  Complete a sprint tri.  I've thought about doing a triathlon for several years now as I've watched others around me complete them, but I always had the excuse of not owning a bike.  This is no longer the case so 2015 is the year I'd like to try a tri!  I'm planning to do this women's triathlon in August with my friend Courtney!

I can't wait to get going on these shiny new goals!  The one that intimidates me the most is the first one plus it is going to be the hardest to objectively measure, but it's definitely one of the most essential goals for me to accomplish... 

Have you made any goals or resolutions for 2015?