Goals for 2019

Last year I posted my goals for 2018 to act as an extra incentive to achieving them.  It was a mixed batch when it came to success, but even though I didn't achieve all of them it has been a good way of seeing where my weaknesses are and what I need to do to actually be successful in the future.  I've decided to publish my goals again this year and hopefully I'll do a little better job of actually achieving them.

Healthy Eating

The first is the one I failed at last year, but is the one that would have the most positive impact for me.  I don't know what it is about food, but like many people I really do struggle to be as healthy as I should be.  Don't get me wrong my diet is probably seen as being healthier than most, but with my PCOS and the work that I do it is extra important that I take care of what's going into my body.  My main nemesis is sugar, mainly in the form of a sweet, dark, fizzy, caffeinated drink I will not name, and as sugar is an addictive substance the connection to it is hard to break.  However, I have noticed a huge difference in how I feel when I'm eating a diet low or without it and a diet that has sugar in it.  Without I feel more awake and, ironically, have more energy.  I can actually concentrate on things and am so much more productive.  With it I'm slow and lethargic, and emotionally I just feel blah.  It's time to give processed sugar the shove.

I also want to keep on moving towards a vegan diet.  As I said in my last goal update for 2018 I'm vegetarian already and, due to the PCOS, am basically dairy free without really eating any animal products at all when I'm at home.  Whilst I don't want to force other people to make the meals we eat together vegan (as they are already making vegetarian, gluten free meals for me) and do want to make sure that no animal products come home with me.

Waste Free

I've decided to add this goal as it actually coincides with my healthy eating goal.  That probably sounds a bit strange but I noticed last year that practically all the waste I produced last year came from the food I was getting.  I already have re-usable bags, water bottles, and coffee mugs I take with me everywhere.  I have metal straws instead of plastic and use bamboo toothbrushes which I dip into a tooth powder kept in an recyclable glass jar.  I've managed to use pretty much all the packaging that my orders have come in over the year.  However, when I look in my recycling bin and my rubbish bin they mostly contain packaging from food.  I've also noticed that most of the products I buy full of sugar are the products that contain the most packaging and, by eliminating those, I should automatically reduce how much waste I'm bringing into my home.  But I also need to be more smart about the fruit and vegetables I buy, picking those without any packaging especially as these seem to come in that plastic which is very difficult to recycle.  

I just need to be more aware of my behaviour, especially when I'm food shopping, and hopefully the deterrent of waste will be an extra incentive to buy or bring with me something healthy.

Learning New Skills

This goal is sort of a two stage goal as I want to learn new skills both for work and for my personal life.

Lets start with Work.  I love the job I do and I hope to be able to do it for many years to come.  However, it's not the most stable of jobs and there can be times when there is no work available, so it makes sense to have a few extra skills in your belt to ensure you are always able to earn money.  I want the skills to be in a job that is still outdoors and related to my work as a path worker, such as dry-stone walling or hedge laying, but these can be difficult skills to learn (or even find out where to learn).  However, as my work allows me to have extended periods of time off it should be do-able.  January is going to be spent researching what and where I can learn these skills and the rest of the year will be spent learning and perfecting them.  Who knows, I may have a whole set of useful expertise by the time 2020 comes around.

And at Home.  I want to learn something that will challenge my brain a little when I'm at home.  I had thought about learning a new language, but I've always really struggled with that in the past (probably not helped by my dyslexia) and I don't know if I would just get down-heartened.  I also wanted a skill that would be useful to someone else as well and it occurred to me that I could learn a language that would fulfil that criteria as well as being based on actions (and therefore in my head pictures) instead of words.  That is, of course, learning sign language and there are quite a few places where I can start the learning online - making it perfect for the way my life is now.  I'm actually quite excited about this goal as it will be quite a challenge.

So, those are my goals for next year.  There aren't too many of them as I don't want to feel overwhelmed and just give up straight away, but they will to be the challenge you want them to be.  I will, of course, bore you with updates on how I'm doing throughout the year.  Do you have any goals for 2019?  I you do let me know and we can go through the trials together. 😀