I love new things. Notebooks, weeks, months, and years are some of my favorites. Now that we’ve settled (or at least hopefully) into the flow of a brand new year, I find myself reflecting a bit on what I want to accomplish in this new year. I’m not sure if you all do this too, but this really helps me to focus my intentions. I don’t necessarily like to call them resolutions, which sound so rigid, but rather choose to look at them as flexible aims for the year. This makes me feel less bad about myself if I can’t reach the goals I set for myself, but it also helps me stay motivated to work on specific areas because I can alter the endpoint depending on the course my progress (or lack of) is taking. Instead of arguing both sides, I’m just going to share my thoughts this week, and ask you all to share any of your thoughts, resolutions, intentions, or goals that you’re comfortable putting out there.

Reading Goal: I used to be so focused on setting a goal and adjusting it to keep challenging myself, that I felt bad if I set the goal too high. Last year, I set a deliberately attainable goal for myself, to read a total of 52 books, so that I would only have to finish a book a week to reach the goal. I wound up reaching that a few months into the year, but didn’t bother to raise the goal because I wanted to find my joy in reading, and have it feel like less of an obligation or a race. And this doesn’t throw shade to people who enjoy setting goals that will challenge them, it just isn’t something that brings joy to me, personally. This year, I set my goal at 100 books, but still don’t plan to raise it if I read 100 books well in advance of the goal.

Blog Goals: Each year, I like to aim for specific things. Last year, I worked on posting more consistently, and I wound up taking a break from regular posting and not pressuring myself to write content. That had the unexpected effect of making me more motivated to write reviews and post regularly. I’m planning to continue working on this in 2025, and add on making better use of scheduled posts. Another intention of mine is to continue to grow my blog. Last year, I was aiming to get to 1,000 followers. I reached 990, and was thrilled for that, since I still remember how happy I was when I got my first follower, reached ten, then 100, then additional milestones. I’m still aiming to get to at least 1,000 followers, and work on engaging with more bloggers.

Health Goals: This is the area where I have the most intentions. I mention this from time to time, but I have several autoimmune conditions and some other chronic health problems. I was most recently diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and you can learn more about this condition here) and have been struggling the most with these symptoms, along with trying to regain lung functioning that still hasn’t recovered after I had a respiratory infection in July. My intentions as far as my health are to continue to work with my doctors on managing these conditions, and to reduce the amount of medications I take, since I take a LOT of meds. Working with my doctors also means taking their suggestions and putting them into practice, since the doctor doesn’t offer a magical cure. Doctors have told me that incorporating some physical activity into my routine regularly can help improve my lung functioning and reduce the severity of POTS symptoms. In addition, managing POTS also means wearing compression stockings (don’t worry, I found cool ones that have fun designs), following up with a cardiologist, increasing my salt intake, and drinking at least 2 liters of water daily, ideally with electrolytes added. I’ve been working on all of these things, and the cardiologist is changing around the doses of some of my meds. I’ve been attending physical therapy twice a week and have added some cardio to my routine while I’m there, and want to start doing a little cardio at home as well. Finally, I’m trying to focus on improving my sleep patterns, in an effort to avoid ongoing insomnia symptoms. I’ve been prescribed a medication to help me sleep, but I don’t like to take it every day because it can cause a physical dependence. Instead, I take it on nights where I need to wake up early, and am trying to turn off electronics around 11pm. On nights where I don’t need to go right to sleep, I still aim to unplug by 11pm, and use medical marijuana to induce sleep. 

Dog Goals: I’m working on getting two of my dogs to be less reactive, especially since we have two chihuahuas and a mixed-breed rescue, and the bigger dog is really intimidating when she barks. She’s very fearful and came to us practically feral, as a three month old pup, and we’ve had her for almost a full year, so when people come over, she barks and growls, and will occasionally snap at people, like my male chihuahua. This isn’t acceptable behavior in a dog of any size, and I’m going to have to work intensely with both dogs to train them. Hazel, the rescue, is also terrified of collars and leashes, so I can’t even take her out for a walk to let out some of her puppyish energy. Hopefully, I’ll help her extinguish her fear of collar and leashes, and be able to take her for a walk sometime in 2025, but progress is slow. 

And that’s it for my 2025 intentions. What are yours, if you’re comfortable sharing?