I set a lot of goals because they help me accomplish things. In the past I've set some unrealistic goals, but I'm getting better at pinpointing things that are both important to me and achievable. Having something to work towards motivates me to keep moving and not turn into a vegetable on the couch, even when it's really tempting because I'm so dang tired all the time.
Thoughts about how things went in 2019
My mileage totals were half what they were in 2019, but I still hit my goals of 52 hikes and 365 miles.I spent a lot of time working on my businesses and that tended to take precedence over getting as many miles in as I could have. I also worked to find a good balanced schedule of enough sleep, a good bedtime, a good wake time, the right supplements, and the right food.
Mileage
I'd hoped to hit 365 foot miles and 365 bike miles, but I only managed 366 total miles. Honestly, all things considered, I'm happy I hit that many.
Hiking
Despite my intentions otherwise, I spent the last couple months of the year squeezing as many hikes in as I could. It wasn't as bad as in 2018, but it was still more than it should have been if I'd been just a little more diligent.
A lot of the hikes were solo hikes as I went after a trail run or squeezed one in while out running errands. Sometimes it's just easier to knock out a couple miles when it's just me, who moves a lot faster than the kiddos. Not that I didn't still take the kids with me on some hikes.
Running
I didn't do a lot of running in 2019. Partly because I was letting my foot fully heal, partly because it just wasn't a priority; working on my businesses was. That said, I did start trail running when Ocean went back to preschool in the fall. I haven't had great experiences with trail running in the past (this race and this race were both a bit on the traumatic side), but I'd read somewhere that trail running was great for strengthening your core muscles. I don't have good spatial awareness so I was concerned I'd fall a lot, but the opposite is happening. I'm being forced to pay more attention to where I am and where my feet are going, and I've only fallen once. And I'm really enjoying the challenge of running on hilly trails.
Business
I had a lot of successes on the business side of things, but I also had some setbacks. I made some pretty drastic changes and I'm feeling confident about where I'm going with my businesses.
Goals for the coming year
Yearly MileageIn 2019, my goal was to do 365 bike miles, 365 foot miles, and 20+ kayak miles. I didn't hit any of those numbers, only doing 366 miles total.
In 2020, my goal is 370 bike miles (I like to ride in 10 mile stints, so I've rounded up), 365 foot miles, and 5+ kayak miles. More would be great, but just in case things don't go well (always a possibility when dealing with chronic illness), I'm keeping the numbers on the lower side.
I'm also going to work on staying on track with my mileage throughout the year so I'm not cramming it into the last couple months. So I need to hit 185 bike miles and 185 foot miles by the end of June. The kayak miles are more flexible.
Hiking
In 2019, my goal was to complete 52 hikes and continue working on increasing the average length of our hikes. I planned to do this by doing more solo hikes, as the kiddos don't really enjoy hikes longer than 2 miles. I did a lot more solo hikes, but my average length decreased. Mostly because I always felt pressed for time.
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In 2020, my goal is to complete the first 21 hikes by the end of June and the second 21 hikes by the end of December. I also want to increase the average length of my hikes to at least 2.25 miles.Races
My goal for 2019 was to start slowing running again and build my mileage base back to where it should be. I did some running, but not much. I also wanted to figure out my fueling needs while sticking to the ketogenic diet. I didn't do enough running for that to come up and I only stuck to the keto diet for the first half of the year.
This year I'll do a few local races, mostly ones I've done before. If I can make the scheduling work, I'd like to do some local trail races. I don't have a specific goal for number of races, I'll just do them as they fit in my schedule.
I do plan on running a half marathon the first weekend in June and will possibly do my first Ragnar trail run this spring or summer. The Ragnar race will depend on scheduling- Jeremy, me, my sister, and my brother. Jeremy to watch the kids, my brother and sister to run the race with me if they can work it out. If they can't, I won't do the race this year. I've got my plan to train for the half marathon after building up my running mileage, so hopefully all will go well. I am concerned because my stamina has taken a huge hit since my narcolepsy got bad a year and a half ago, but I'm hopeful that with the gradual approach I'll be ok. If not, I'll defer the half marathon a bit longer and just do a 5k instead.
Training for the half marathon will give me the opportunity to figure out how to fuel properly while doing keto (more on the keto in a minute).
2019 was a year of growth for my businesses. I worked on my existing companies and didn't start anything new.
2. I finished one e-book for my travel blog and it was included in a travel bundle in July, which brought new traffic to my site. I didn't increase my page views enough to get in with one of the big advertising networks yet, unfortunately.
3. Early in the year I decided not to continue selling on Amazon, so I stopped sending items in. I sold out my last item in December. I haven't closed the business quite yet (I need to figure out the paperwork), but that's in the works. It was a relief to make the decision to close the Amazon business. I don't enjoy shopping and it took a lot of time to source products, so quitting this venture has opened up my schedule a bit.
4. I built up my personal finance blog and hired my Pinterest VA to work on that blog as well. Despite both our efforts, this blog really never gathered much of an audience. I transferred site hosts in November/December and lost 2/3 of my content. I thought I'd backed up my site, but after the transfer completed, I found out I hadn't. I was able to find 1/3 of my content by searching for cached pages, but the rest had never been cached. I decided not to rebuild the site just yet.
In 2020, I plan on a lot more growth in my businesses.
1. I'll continue to add products to my Etsy shop. I'll also build out my Shopify site, which will allow me to have a shop with my Oak Hollow Cottage website. I want to get my notebooks into 1 or 2 local shops. I will be more diligent with my social media posting to drive traffic to my shops.
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2. I'm combining my personal finance site content with my travel site. I decided it was too much work to rebuild my personal finance site and I realized I could pivot that content to apply to my travel site. I'm currently working on transferring and reconstructing the info for that. I'm still working on increasing my page views and will also start focusing on SEO (search engine optimization- so I show up in Google and other searches). I'll also learn how to use Facebook and Instagram advertising.3. I will officially close my Amazon business.
4. I may start my personal finance site again in the future, but I haven't decided what I want to do with it yet, so I'm holding off. Focusing on just my handmade business and my travel site are keeping me plenty busy, so I'm good leaving it alone for now.
Cub Scouts/Scouts BSA
In 2019 I completed the other four ticket items for Wood Badge. My goal was to have them all done by April at the latest, but it was the end of May before I finished the last one. I was officially beaded in October. I was released from my Primary calling in April or May and am now working with the Young Women, so no more Cub Scouts.
As a kindergartener, River is old enough to enter Cub Scouts as a Lion. We've decided to hold off on signing up the boys until they're in second grade and old enough to be Wolves. Lion and Tiger rank require a parent to be by the boy's side at all times, and we just don't have the time for that right now. We don't mind being involved, but that's a bit much for us currently.
Sunshine is in Scouts BSA, currently at second class rank. We'd like her to earn her Eagle in the next two years, so we're focusing on merit badges and rank advancement. I'm registered as a merit badge counselor and am helping the troops (we have a boys troop and a girls troop) as the health form coordinator. At some point I might take a larger role, but I don't have the time right now. I do go on as many campouts as possible, since they are usually looking for a trained female leader so the girls can attend.
Health
In 2019, I continued to take Plexus products, and they've helped a lot. I credit them as the reason my blood work looked so good when we were trying to figure out what was going on. I continue to enjoy the lack of PMS and painful cramping that used to come every month, as well as increased energy (just think how fantastic I'd feel if I didn't have narcolepsy!).
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I was able to go low carb/almost keto for the first half of the year and even managed to lose some weight. Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon when we went on vacation and have not been able to get back on track.
I've tried a variety of supplements and other things and have a fairly good routine going. Amino acids in the AM, don't sleep in, eat as close to keto as possible (the higher fat content makes it much easier than just low carb), judicious use of low doses of caffeine as needed, Plexus supplements, 7 hours of sleep, Frankincense essential oil, a weighted blanket, and regular moderate exercise. I'm much more functional than I used to be, though there's still room for improvement.
This year I'm getting back to keto, training for my half marathon, and getting to bed on time (sooo hard for me) so I can be as productive and functional as possible. If I can also lose some weight along the way, that would be great.
Family
In 2019, we were going to work very hard at fully using the new study manual the Church put out. We weren't super successful. Between my super busy schedule and Jeremy's overtime hours and our super energetic little boys, it's proven very difficult to make this actually happen.
We're trying again this year, and our later church schedule should help for at least our Sunday study time. Jeremy should only have a few more months of overtime left, and hopefully we can get back on track once his schedule opens up.
We're also working hard to get our finances in order and are hoping to start our adoption paperwork within the next few months.
what are some goals you've set for yourself for 2020?
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