When I started learning German in the second grade, the first sentence our teacher taught us was: “Entschuldigung for meine Verspätung” (sorry I’m late) that we all had to use in case we happened to be late for our class. And back in the 1990s when I used to commute between my home and school with an old yellow Ikarus bus from Soviet era, this excuse got practiced a lot. The phrase has stuck with me until today, and I still use it on various occasions (even if people give me very confusing looks). So, what better opening could I pick for my first post after six months hiatus than “Entschuldigung für mein verspätetes Post” (sorry about my delayed post)?
Some of my friends have recently asked if I am still blogging and why haven’t I posted for such a long time. I am happy to announce that the blog is still live and has not been closed, but clearly it has been a longer pause than I had wanted. Last time I posted was in April… embarrassing, I know. But, I can’t change the fact. ☺
So, what have I been up to ever since (work, work, work, work.. pfft..) and am I still working on my goals at all?
In times when unemployment rates are peaking, I don’t want to complain about my workload, so let me just say: it has been very intense. Coronavirus has forced us to come out of our comfort zones and establish new routines not only at home, but also at work. Since face-to-face meetings and traveling has been pretty much crossed out for the unforeseeable future, we all have had to rethink work approaches and master new (digital) skills and. In addition, my workload has nearly doubled since June. I would LOVE to go into details here and speak about my close-to-burnout experience last month, but let’s leave it for the future, and check out the 2020 goal lists instead.
It is December (where does the time go???) and only one month left until end of the year. If you follow me, you know that I tend to set the goals in January for a year ahead, so the time pressure is definitely on! Today, when I opened my goal list 2020 for the first time after eternity, I was ready to feel like a failure, because as you can imagine, it is quite tricky to follow through with any kind of plans this year.
But to my surprise, the status of my goals didn’t look as disastrous as I had expected.
Of course, I haven’t done as much as I ideally would like, but I know that I have been doing as much as I can. If I have learned one thing in the past 18 months, it is that the more I plan, the more unexpected things happen and that things seem to never work out as I initially planned for. This doesn’t mean that one should give up though. I have mentioned this earlier: we need to be ready to adjust our goals and our deadlines, most importantly is not drift away from our vision. Also, if a specific goal is no longer relevant to you, feel free to dismiss it and move on to something else. Here is a short summary of my 2020 goals so far:
What I am happy with?
- Even though I have to admit that sometimes dragging myself to the gym is less pleasant than going to the dentist, I have been able to stay on track with my workouts more or less (mostly doing yoga at home, thank God for YouTube!)
- I’ve been able to travel and hike a bit.
- I’ve been continuing with my piano lessons (even though the outcome is not something I could brag about)
- Still reading and listening to the books. Not sure if I meet my 25-book goal this year, but I’m doing my best.
- After years of consideration, I finally made a small investment.
- Even though I haven’t done much socializing in-person this year, I have been in close touch with my friends and family digitally. Dating life is also still ongoing.
- And last, but not least – I have started taking some online courses to develop my skills further.
What I could do better?
- My diet. On a positive side: I am eating significantly less meat than last year, however, I haven’t completed my vegan month yet. Actually, I am in the middle of it right now, but somehow it is more challenging than last year (maybe because I am strictly working from my home office and the fridge is 5 steps from me?). Also, giving up sugar for a month seems like a mission impossible right now. I am trying hard, but the most I have been able to go without refined sugar is three days! Alcohol free month is not really completed either, but in November I had total 4 glasses of wine. Does this count?
- Volunteering (feeling soo guilty about it and it’s the worst feeling). Last year I started volunteering at an animal shelter where I was walking the dogs. I’ve been dying to have a pet myself, and this is the closest I can get to them right now. But Coronavirus has not made it easy this year. For months, the shelter was closed and now there is a strict schedule, which makes it hard to go and walk with the pups.
- I haven’t been able to attend cultural events (besides going to a couple of museums): I simply blame Coronavirus here.
Well, I think I got most of the stuff covered now. Are you still working on 2020 resolutions or bucket list?
Light & love,
Liis
Thank you for the insightful update! The bus certainly took me back… 😁 I was wondering if you have experienced any challenges on your mental health these past 6 months and if so, how have you addressed those?
I am glad you liked the bus, it was definitely grabbed some attention! 🙂 Great question on mental health! I think this topic is a bit too complex to be able to answer just with one or two sentences, so maybe this would be an idea for another blog post :D. Overall I’ve been very happy and busy this year, but I definitely faced some bumps on my way a few months ago. Nothing too dramatic, but I think it could have been avoided with the right self-care. Ever since I am trying to implement self-care practices like meditation and yoga to my everyday routine.
Welcome back 😛 My 2020 bucket list has basically kicked the bucket 😀
Oh no! 🙂 I hope you will find your motivation again and continue working on your bucket list in 2021! Big changes start with small steps 🙂