Helga without the H

It’s been a while since I’ve done formal NY resolutions. Last year I had some health/fitness-related goals, but nothing that formally started/ended with the new year. But this year I figured I’d give it another go, since I’m generally pretty motivated by formals challenges (even if the formality of is of my own making.) Rather than having one or two pas/fail goals, I’m going to have a longer list of goals, and then at the end of the year will give myself letter grades (if I remember to do so.) I realized this was a less defeatist way of approaching goals, one that celebrated progress rather than amplified perceived failures. Sometimes it’s just about the journey, you know? Anyway, here we go:

1. Visit Museums. This will be The Year of the Museum for me. I’m aiming for visiting 1-2 per month (probably more like 1.) I think 10 museums would be a minimum. 12 would be good, but I’m realistically aiming for 15. If I can get to 20, that’s freakin’ awesome. 24+ and I’m a total rockstar. Also, I want to review them all, right here on this blog. Speaking of reviews…
2. Write Book Reviews. I want to get back into writing reviews (however brief) on Goodreads for every book I finish reading. I used to do this religiously, and I’ve always found it interesting to go back and see how I felt about something right after reading it, versus how I recall it later. I fell out of this habit over the past couple years for various reasons (pandemic, career change, lifestyle change, etc.) but want to get back into it. Speaking of writing…
3. Publish my 3rd novel. I jumped right into the draft as soon as I published the last book and wrote about 70% of the book almost right away, then progress slowed to a dribble. I finally finished the draft right at the close of 2023, and so it’s ready to go! I’m already working on cover art, blurbs, sent it away for editing, etc. Speaking of novel-writing…
4. Write the draft for my 4th novel. Strike while the iron’s hot, etc. I’ve spent the last couple weeks churning ideas and getting into the right headspace by re-reading various inspirational source material (my other books, for example.) But finishing up after the initial surge has always been a challenge for me. Hopefully this deadline will help? Knock on wood. Speaking of… shit, I’ve got no bridge here…
5. Establish a solid new fitness/gym plan. For the past year or two I’ve made very deliberate efforts (spurred on by a raging midlife crisis) to focus on my health, and a big part of that included some major fitness goals. I’ve achieved major milestones with running (note: I am not good or fast, but I’ve run some races that younger Helga without the H never would have thought possible for me.) I did a weightloss challenge that forced me to focus on my daily nutrition and activity levels (note: I didn’t care about the weight. It was just a great metric to aid in my motivation.) I’ve been regularly seeing a chiropractor to help keep my stupid back pain in check. But my strength training and general gym routine has been floundering, aimless, and inconsistent. I’ve already started with 2 giant steps: One, I quit my gym of 6 years. Two, I’ve been trying out different gyms and workouts in my area. The biggest step forward there was getting a trial ClassPass membership at a friend’s urging. I did a whopping 3 workouts in my first 3 days of membership… then immediately got covid and haven’t been back. Doh!
6. Become Better at Gardening. Really I started this one last year, at least theoretically. I bought a raised garden bed and some gardening books and did my fall planting for spring blooms. I am hoping to follow the plans in my month-by-month garden guide. I’m not too optimistic on this one, but gardening is pretty trial-and-error anyway, right?
7. Complete Some Home Projects. They’ve been stacking up and have remained untouched recently. More will stack up, but right now the list includes building a yard sign for our address (nobody can read out house number), building an entryway organizer for out bits and bobs, painting the kitchen cabinets, coming up with a solution to have an outlet by the couch, and assembling a gigantic accent wall in the family room. Plus a whole list of stuff I forgot.

I think I had more that I can’t remember. Hopefully there are exactly 3 more and they’re easily achievable so it’s easier to calculate my results at the end with nice round numbers. If I think of them, I’ll add them here later.

UPDATE: I knew I was forgetting something! Here is another one…

8. Get (and Use) a Library Card. I haven’t had a library card since grad school (so… two decades ago.) I’m not proud of this fact. I still read all the time, of course. But I pay my big bucks to Amazon and Audible (which I think is also part of Amazon?) so I buy whatever I feel like reading. Recently I was re-reading some old favorites and thinking “Man, I want to read these old books again, but I don’t want to pay for stuff that’s not new to me! If only there was a way I could read a bunch of books for free! But oh, there is no such magical place!” Oh wait, yeah there is. And I can walk to two of them! Anyway, I took my first step today and went to get my library card. Very exciting! And I’ve started setting up my Libby app. What I’m surprised to be discovering so far is that most of the books I want aren’t even available at all, and those that are have huge waitlists. So… maybe this won’t be the magical solution I’ve been hoping for. But we’ll see.