2022 Goals

Each year, since 2016, I have chosen a word as a kind of code or mantra for the year.  The word (ideally) pushes me toward a destination.  Motivates and inspires me.  Some years, it works.  Some years, it doesn't.  But each word lets me reflect on where I was when the year started.  The word for 2021 was "support."  What this most tells me about January 2021 is that I didn't have the time or make the effort to find my old words because this was the same word I picked for 2016.  Both years involved moving from America to overseas, so it's not a bad choice.  I don't know that I always embodied this mantra last year, but I tried to support those around me as we upended our lives quite dramatically.

Other annual words were:

2017 - Survive

2018 - Juggle

2019 - Gratitude

2020 - Elect

2021 - Support

As I thought about 2022 and what it means to me, I realized that I want to settle into our lives in Mexico fully.  We are here for at least three years - longer than I have been in any post or job.  I will live in this house longer than any other place I have lived since I was in high school.  Our last year in Alexandria, we made a real emphasis on making our house a home and it really made us happier.  So, I ran through a list of words around this idea: Home, assimilate, align, settle, unite, lived-in.  Finally, I honed in on my word for 2022

Inhabit

I hope this word will inspire me to actively pursue making Guadalajara our home, to inhabit this space for the time that we are here.  Anyway - on to the goals:

 Professional Goals

• In a year where I am not bidding, not up for promotion, and not studying a language, I don’t have many lofty professional goals this year.  At least not any that are articulable.  So, generally, I want to do well and help others, but no specifics this year.

Personal Goals

• Not get COVID
• Get two oldest boys fully vaccinated (stretch goal - Elliott gets vaccinated.  Let's go Science)
• Read 10 books (at least one in Spanish)
• Find a church home in Guadalajara
• Finish decorating house by April 1, 2020.  Includes painting walls, hanging mirrors, pictures and artwork, buying rugs, window coverings (maybe) and finalizing storage, etc.
• Teach Jack and Crosby to ride bikes without training wheels
• Form an active board gaming group that meets at least twice a month
• Visit at least two places that is new to me and/or Sara
• Take an adults-only trip for at least two nights away
• Attend the 50th Anniversary Pi Kappa Phi Rose Ball
• Watch two sunrises and two sunsets
• Attend a Husker football game
• Take Jack to his first football game
• Celebrate turning 40

Exercise Goals

• Lose approximately 20 lbs (weigh between 220 and 222 at the end of the year)
• Complete at least three of the Power Zonw Pack challenges on Peloton
• Have two 30-day streaks on Peloton

Recap of 2021 Goals

 2021 was a jam packed year (even excluding COVID stuff).  We had a baby, we moved to Mexico, I started a new job, the kids started a new school and we sold a house.  We have been extremely lucky that we and our family have out health throughout the year (minus a few days here and there with some non-COVID bugs).  I got to spend some real quality time with my 92 year old grandmother.  I swam in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.  In no way would I call this year easy, but it has definitely been rewarding,

Now - a recap of my 2021 goals

Professional Goals 

• Score a 3/3 in Spanish, with a stretch goal of a 3+ in reading.
• I got my 3/3 in Spanish.
• Move the family to Guadalajara and settle into a new job
• We moved here in July.  My job is going well with good colleagues and lots of interesting challenges.
• Get promoted (unlikely this year coming out of Spanish)
• In September, I was shocked to get promoted since I wasn't promoted last year and I didn't add anything to my performance file (due to language training).  This means that in 2022, I will get the Foreign Service Golden Trifecta - no bidding, not up for promotion (there is a mandatory three years between promotions) and no moving!

Personal Goals

• Have a healthy baby boy
• Elliott Jude Caniglia was born healthy on January 3rd and turns one on Monday
• NOT get COVID
• I did not get COVID.  Nor did anyone in our house or our extended family.
• Get vaccinated before moving to Mexico
• In January last year, this felt like a difficult goal.  Now I've been vaxed and boosted.
• Bond with new baby during 12 week parental leave.
• This was my favorite part of the year.
• Read 8 books (including 2 in Spanish)
• In order of enjoyment
1. Matar a ruiseñor (To kill a mocking bird in Spanish) 
2. Project Hail Mary
3. Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (HP 1 in Spanish)
4. How the State got their Shapes
5. The Pioneers
6. The Noble Hustle
7. A time for Mercey
8. The Bomber Mafia
• Potty train Crosby (Crosby's potty training has been delayed by a combination of some minor medical issues, toddler stubbornness and parental laziness).
• Crosby did awesome this year and was fully potty trained before school started.
• One of the highlights of 2020 has been playing an online board game called Diplomacy.  It is uber nerdy, but I've really enjoyed it.  My goal for 2021 is to win five solo victories.
• I quit playing for a few months over the summer as we moved, but I managed three solo victories for the year.
• Watch two sunrises and two sunsets
• Celebrate Sara's 40th birthday in most awesome way possible
• We went to Puerta Vallarta for a long weekend where one of Sara's friends met us.  Given the circumstances, it was pretty good.

Exercise Goals

• In 2020, I rode about 2300 total miles on the Peloton (destroying my goal of 1000 miles).  I recently learned that the United States is 2755 wide, so my 2021 goal is to ride across the USA
• Moving the Peloton from VA to Mexico cost me about three months.  Not saying I would have made it otherwise, but in the end I only hit 1,100 miles this year.  Will repeat the goal for next year.
• Complete at least two 30 day workout streaks on Peloton
• Managed one 45 day streak in the beginning of the year, but never got a second.
• Lose 15 lbs (weight of 218 by end of 2021)
• Complete failure - instead of losing 15, I gained 7 pounds.  I did well the first half of the year, losing 10 pounds by June, but moving and vacation this summer did me in.  Goal for 2022 is to lose between 20-22 lbs.
• Ride RAGBRAI (if COVID allows)
• COVID may have allowed, but I made the decision not to ride before I and everyone else was vaccinated.  Plus, between moving and having a new baby, 2021 was not the year for this.