In December 2009 I wrote this blog post: 52 & 12. Now it’s review time.
52 Things
52 Meals: I got to four. I did cook more often this year, but with two extremely fussy eaters, plus trying to track calories for myself, this goal proved much harder than I had anticipated. I did cook more in 2010, and will endeavour to do so again in 2011.
52 Songs: I didn’t even track this one. #Fail.
52 Movies: I didn’t get to 52, and I slipped up on tracking around the middle of the year. I had hit 27 by the time I stopped tracking, and I’ve seen at least ten more since then, which I’ve added to the 2010 list. My top movie of 2010, without a doubt, is Inception.
52 Books: I planned to read (and possibly review) 52 new books. I read 6 by the time I stopped tracking. I reviewed one. Book #3 stopped me in my tracks in terms of reviewing. There was no way I could review it impartially, and I couldn’t find anything positive to say about it. I’m pretty disappointed with the low number of books I read in 2010, and I’ll be revising the goal for 2011.
52 Kilos: I wanted to lose 52 kilos. I lost and gained weight throughout 2010, and ended the year 2.8kg heavier. Disappointing outcome.
52 Strips: I wanted to resurrect Geek Salad in 2010. It was a maybe, but it didn’t happen. I’ve been getting multiple people hassling me about getting back to it, but the events of the last two months pushed it onto the back burner again; this one is a ‘maybe’ again this year.
12 Things
12 Lives: I didn’t reach 12, but I did manage to achieve a couple of things. However, for the same reason I didn’t dedicate a page to those things, I’m not going to list them here. Mainly because it feels like I would be boasting, or sharing someone else’ stories. I’m going to try again in 2011, but this will probably be the last time I mention this idea.
12 Meals: I was disappointed in the outcome of this particular goal. While we did have friends over for dinner quite a few times, this goal proved harder to achieve than I’d anticipated.
12 Experiences: Well, I did have some new experiences in 2010. It’s just that not all of them were “good experiences”. I also didn’t keep track of them, something I’m going to try not to repeat in 2011.
12 Personal Goals: I failed to set the goals, and failed to find people to be accountable to. #Fail.
I have to face up to the fact that I didn’t even come close to achieving most of these goals. In hindsight, I think I was trying to fit way too much into my schedule, without actually working out where most of these things would actually fit. To lose 52 kilos, I need to go to the gym 2-3 times a week, every week, plus track all of my calories, and everything that goes with those things.
It takes a few hours to read a book, unless it’s a small one, which seems like a bit of a cheat. There’s a couple of hours a week for a movie. There’s two-to-three hours (at least) in drawing and publishing a comic strip. There’s a few hours in a solid blog post. Cooking a meal involves planning and preparation, as well as cooking and cleaning up time – and finding things that two spectrum kids will eat. There were also some big life events, as well as one major one.
The thing is, in spite of failing to achieve any of my goals, I still moved forward in 2010. I went into 2010 with some doubts hanging over my head about my ongoing employment, due to changes of direction in the company I work for; my job is now pretty solid, and I have some interesting new directions ahead of me in 2011. I made some new friends in 2010, and strengthened some old friendships too. In 2010, I also experienced far fewer depressive episodes, and they were much shorter.
In spite of the fact that based on the numbers, 2010 was a failure, I feel like I ended 2010 both stronger and more emotionally secure than I started.
I count that as a win.