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