10 Things I Want To Improve In 2021

Hello everyone and welcome back to the first post of 2021! I hope you guys had a good start into the new year and more importantly, I hope 2021 is kinder to us all. We had a super chill NYE. My parents and brother joined myself, my sister and her husband for dinner and then went home around 9ish and then it was just me, my sister and her hubby (and their kids). Just before midnight we went outside to hopefully see some fireworks (you weren’t able to buy them this year, government orders, but people always find a way) and we did! What’s a NYE without fireworks, right?

But yeah, I started into 2021 the same way I did with 2020 – with the people I love and who I want to spend the upcoming year with too. I even ended the night by joining my friends for an online NYE party and we got to ring in our American friend’s new year which was fun!

And what’s a new year without some new goals, am I right?

I’m not really the type to come up with long lists of things I want to do but I figured I could work on a few things to continue on this path I’ve been on since last year and improve my overall situation that way too. So, let’s dive into it, shall we?

#1 Work On A Content Schedule

Ever since I got back to blogging late last month, I’ve wanted to work on a content schedule. I want to know when I want to put up a new post so I can work towards that. And then I randomly decided to start uploading to YouTube too, just before 2020 ended so I think it would be even more important to have an outline for when I want to post where and what. So far, it’s been fun – once my editing app was working with me rather than against me. xD

I’m thinking the most realistic schedule for me at the moment would be one blog post and video per week. And then just see how things go from there – I can always change things if I need to. So that’s my January goal, I think: create a content schedule.

#2 Keep Working On My Budget

As I mentioned before, I really got into budgeting in 2020 and while I like where I’m at right now, I also know there is room left for improvement and that’s something I’ll be working towards this year. I need to keep better track of how much and where I spent some of my money to tweak my budget accordingly. I also have been learning quite a bit about finances in general by watching loads of budgeting videos and it’s so nice to be learning again. I feel like I haven’t used my brain like that in quite a while.

#3 Learn Different Editing Techniques To Continuously Improve My Videos

Usually, when I get into a new hobby of any sort, I don’t like to invest too much money into it.

All my journals and journaling supplies are mostly cheap alternatives to more expensive brands and while I thought that would be the case for YouTube too, I also quickly realized that it makes no sense. If I wanted all the options for editing the app (VLLO) had in store, I would have to pay money for it. Luckily, the yearly cost is just 8€ and I’ll happily invest that if it means my videos turn out nicer and are more appealing to the viewer.

I just started using it a few days ago and haven’t discovered all of the things obviously, but I’m really enjoying it so far! I even made my own little intro and outro videos to use and I think they turned out quite cute.

#4 Not Stress Myself About Reading

Something I’ve learned in therapy is that whenever I put too much pressure on a hobby of mine, I very quickly go from really enjoying it to it feeling more like a task and something I have to do, rather than something I want to do. And I think that (on top of other factors) also contributed to me reading a lot less in 2020.

I always felt like I had to read more books so I could talk about them on here, but we’re not doing that this year. I’ll come up with other topics to talk about – I do have interests outside of reading after all. And from the feedback I’ve gotten from you guys, I think you would be here regardless if I talk about just book or add other topics too. 🙂 Which, thank you! You may not know how much that means to me. ❤

#5 Create A Routine And Stick To It

Since I’m mostly in limbo at the moment, waiting to hear from the rehab facility about when I’m supposed to start and not working, my days aren’t really all that structured. I do my best not to stay up too late or wake up too late because I know it messes with my mental health, but I also miss having more of a routine and structure in my day. Plus, I feel like since I no longer get up at 5am I have zero clue about what’s going on as far as news are concerned.

I used to watch the morning news every day. I want to get back to that this year too. Maybe not the 5am news, but some news.

One of my goals with therapy was also to figure out how to deal with my bad mental health days better and I think having a routine and being able to stick to it, is going to contribute to it too. Especially once I have tools to use on days like that.

#6 Keep In Touch With Friends More

I’m the type of person who experiences friendships in waves a lot of the time. Some weeks, I’m always talking to this one person or this group of people and I’m really engaged there and then during other weeks I completely fall out of that connection. I’m lucky that I have build friendships where I can drop them a message out of the blue and the conversation flows like we just talked yesterday.

This goal also goes into me being more of a support system for the people who are always there for me (Hannah, if you’re reading this, yes I mean you too). I just know how much that support has meant to me and I want to be able to return it in even the smallest ways because I adore these people so much.

#7 Setting Boundaries

Another goal I’ve been made more aware of thanks to therapy and conversations with friends. I’m someone who will give their last drop of energy for their family, no matter how I’m feeling (mentally) in the situation.

But I’ve gotten a bit better about saying no and taking myself out of situations when I have to. I crave alone time in my place. Where I’ve seen my youngest sister struggle with these lockdowns more because so much of her normal isn’t there anymore, I’m mostly fine. Sure, I have my days where I wish I could just stroll around stores and look at things, but they aren’t too often. And I don’t really go out to eat or anything like that, so I’m not missing that either. I’m usually more content in my little bubble.

#8 Learn New Recipes

Cooking isn’t something I would consider a full on hobby, but I do enjoy it (or used to) quite a bit and I want to continue to enjoy it and I think it’s time I go out of my comfort zone a bit again and learn some new things. I’m starting to get tired of my own food at this point which isn’t good. xD

I have a bunch of recipes saved that look absolutely delicious and I can’t wait to try some of them. Oh, and I want to get back into baking too! I haven’t done that (apart from Christmas cookies) in probably over a year and that’s definitely something I know that brings me joy, so I want to reintroduce it!

#9 Make My Home Cozier

Something that I notice every holiday season is just how much I love having Christmas lights up. And whenever it’s time to take them down again, I miss them. They just make my space so cozy and somewhere I’m happy to be.

I keep telling myself I’m going to invest some money to make my place cozier, but I still haven’t done it. And I’ve been living here since August 2016. It’s gonna be 5 years this summer. It’s about time I get on that, I think. xD

#10 Make Time To Spend With My Nephews

It’s no secret that I’m a family person and love to spend time with them, but something I don’t do enough is spend quality time with just my nephews. Alexander will ask for a sleep over every now and then and it’s defintiely something I want to do more often this year. I’m happy that my nephews want to spend their time with me! I was going to have the two oldest nephews stay over on Monday but I ended up not feeling well, so I had to cancel on them which sucked. But I’ll make it up to them, for sure.

Okay, that’s about all the goals I can come up with for 2021 and I think that’s plenty to work on and keep me busy, especially now that our government has extended our lockdown to the end of the month (at least). All the time to do all the cooking!

What are some of you guys’ goals/wants/etc for 2021? Let me know in the comments down below! We can motivate each other too, I think that always helps a lot with goals. 🙂