At the end of each month, (or beginning), I review my yearly goals and spend some time reflecting on how I’m doing in living the life I want to live ~ a way of becoming my own accountability partner and having frequent check-ins to evaluate my progress. I’m still in the process of revising some of my goals as I encounter successes…..and setbacks. For the month of December, here’s my goal reflection:
| Category | Goals | My Progress |
| Literature | Read for Sarah Donovan’s Book Group Blog Daily Write a proposal for writing group’s book | Sarah’s book club did not meet in December, so I started Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer and am hanging on every word. I don’t want it to end. I’ve completed I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer for January’s book discussion, and I think Kate a genius for finding apt responses in her hate mail and flipping the script. I continue to blog daily, and the daily writing and reflecting is a wonderful habit for me. I don’t feel complete without some form of daily writing, and the blog is a way of continuing the habit. My writing group is writing a series of new books, and I will spend time sending our proposal out to some publishing companies. We are slow going at this, but we refuse to give up. I did not send out any proposals in December, but we met by Zoom and each decided to send to a couple more, so I need to get on that on the Tuesday and Wednesday before returning to work on Thursday. |
| Creativity | This goal did not happen in December. There was no creativity except in the making of a hat or two on a knitting loom. | |
| Spirituality | Tune in to church Pray! Keep OLW priority | We still watch a variety of churches on Sunday – in Georgia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. We attended a Christmas Eve Service of Lights in Kentucky when visiting family there. My car is still my prayer chamber for daily prayer, and there’s so much to give thanks for. I continue my conversations with the good Lord each morning and afternoon. I’m still keeping my OLW my priority: pray! |
| Reflection | Write family stories Spend time tracking goals each month | I have shared family stories through my blog this month. This will not be as much of a focus in 2024, but will continue sporadically. I’m tracking goals, revising, and considering some new categories as I look at my goal table. |
| Self-Improvement | *Reach top of weight range | This is a true failure goal for me in the last 6 months of the year. The first six months was amazing. Then, we drove down Route 66 and had the coconut cream pie at the MidPoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, and I haven’t stopped eating anything all year. |
| Gratitude | Devote blog days to counting blessings | I begin the days this way and end them giving thanks as well. Special occasion birthdays are often reserved as gratitude days on the blog. |
| Experience | Embrace Slow Travel Focus on the Outdoors | In December, I’ve traveled within the state to two different conferences – one in Harris County, and one in Paulding County, both focused on Literacy. I have also traveled to see family in Kentucky and South Georgia, and our South Carolina family came to us. I’m about ready to hit the pause button on travel for a while, other than an occasional weekend of camping. I’m still focusing on the outdoors with birdwatching on the farm so that I know which birds are prevalent during which months right here on the Funny Farm. I’m planning to shift partially to focusing on the indoors, paring down possessions so that we can, perhaps, by the end of the year, have a viable plan to downsize our home to a barndominium for our coming retirement years. |
In the coming week, I will examine ways to keep monthly goals and the best ways to share progress quarterly. I’m also searching for the One Little Word I’d like to take with me through 2024. I will share that word in the coming week as well.
Common Threads 
Happy New Year, Kim. I hope 20/4 brings you joy and reached goals. I’ve thought a lot about my OLW for 20/4 and think I have it narrowed down to two. Although I’ve not progressed on the poetry book for EELA, being a group of one, I did submit a manuscript of poetry for the Wilder prize and am preparing a chapbook for another one. These feel like huge milestones in my writing life.
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Glenda, I’m so happy for you! That is quite an amazing accomplishment, and you know I’m cheering your every writing adventure!
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