Happy New Year! Tis the season for new beginnings. For long winter days. For embarking on a new decade.
If 2018 was the year to hustle, I am calling 2019 as the year to fortify.
I built quite the foundation last year in both my personal and professional lives. I am thankful for all my accomplishments from last year. I already feel much healthier mentally having taken the steps to address my anxiety and feelings of loneliness. Although, I must say having a companion has had a significant impact on the latter. If I had moved to California by myself even with having more friends in the area, I know that those same feelings of loneliness would have surfaced without having my family as a safety net. Secondly, my job situation has vastly improved my mindset.
With a new year a tow and the building blocks in place…without further ado… here are my 2019 goals. This year all my goals are focused on strengthening that foundation.
- Focus more on my writing. I will definitely continue working on this blog, developing content as well as my voice. But I want to take my writing further and perhaps find the courage to share my immigrant story. Given that this is a public platform, I’m keeping the details close to me. In time I will reveal my progress but I strongly believe that we need more Indian American voices in literature. I hope to take advantage of opportunities to share mine this year.
- Read more. One of my friends recently posted that she read 40 books last year. 40 books!!! That’s impressive. I used to read a lot especially during my summer vacation and on my long commutes to work. My goal in 2019 is to read at least 10 books. That’s a manageable goal for the year.
- Side hustles galore. Blog writing, painting, wine bottle art making, volunteering. I have lots of passion projects and have found quite a lot of fulfillment through them. In 2019 I will continue learning and pushing myself outside of comfort zone through these projects. And have a little fun too!
- Having strong relationships whether it be with my husband or my parents or my sister or my friends is very important to me. Relationships require a lot of effort and nurturing. My goal is to invest in these relationships – take the time to build deeper bonds, learn to compromise more, and be more level headed (if you know me well then you know about my short temper).
- I started meditating consistently in 2018. Meditation has been fairly effective in helping me to observe my thoughts and take life’s challenges in stride. Meditation is hard work and while I have a long ways to go to become more skilled at living in the present, I will maintain my mediation practice. Be more mindful every day to bring more focus and clarity in my life. I will build on the progress I made in 2018.
I reiterate what I wrote in 2018 about making goals instead of resolutions. Goals are a longer term bet, which will require me to monitor my progress throughout the year and tweak as needed.
What are your goals for 2019? Remember setting goals is about evaluating yourself on a deeper level and being realistic about what it is you want to achieve. Most importantly, take baby steps – build a foundation, create good habits and don’t let little bumps slow you down. We have 12 months to achieve our goals. Run Nikita Run. (If you get this reference then you are super cool).