This is part two of my New Years posts, yesterday a 2023 in Review went up where I went back to the 2023 Goals/Priorities/Plans post and dissected how I did on them. And in case you TL;DR’d that; ummmmm let’s just say I had a lot of fun last year. This year I am staying focused. Not that I’m not going to allow myself to have fun and be spontaneous, but not nearly as much this year. Let’s get into it:

Main Goal:

Get back to a major urban area, either in the Vancouver area, Southern Ontario (I’m truly not picky; anywhere from Guelph/Waterloo as a western boundary, Ottawa as a northern/eastern boundary), or Montreal. Or potentially Western Europe for the right organization, there are a few orgs that I would kill to work for and they are based out of a few major Western European cities. The majority of my other goals are directed at supporting this.

Financial Goals:

Just like last year, my financial goals are at the top of the list, but this year I don’t have nearly as much travel and only one wedding invitation so far; so I think it’s actually going to be more achievable this year.

1. Save up a $1000 starter emergency fund. I have done this sooooo many times, but it never sits for any extended period of time. It usually gets spent on my car, but I also have definitely fallen back on it for things that aren’t actually emergencies in the past. So I want to have it saved up and only use it for emergencies.
2. Pay off credit cards. These next two items are going to happen in tandem because I think they play a part in my main goal of the year. Moving is expensive, and I would like to have the space to use my credit cards if I need to and I want to have a good credit score for when I am applying to city apartments.
3. Save up a moving fund of at least $5000. I’ve been basing this number off average Toronto rents; it seems to be that I’ll be looking at minimum $2000 a month rent and in Ontario leases are first and last months rent, plus a U-Haul, hotel because it’s a two day drive to basically anywhere I want to go from where I currently live. And I say at least because my mattress is from 2005 and she is tired and needs replaced and I bought my couch second-hand and I think I would like to dispose of both of those items when I move on. Outside of Ontario it is likely I would also have to pay a damage deposit or pet fee, but neither of those things are allowed in Ontario.
4. I would also love to pay off my car this year, although realistically I think that the only way I will do this is if I move to a major urban area and can sell my car and become a public transit girlie (I love public transit, and would be thrilled by this). Or get hit by a deer and get an insurance pay out.

Activity Goals:

This is maybe a weird category, but to me it makes more sense than a fitness or wellness goal. I don’t set weight or size goals anymore because that is really hard on my brain. So I’ve decided on activity goals because I really want to be an active person again, and I am definitely not anymore. I used to go to fitness classes, horseback ride, walk every where and I miss that. I also used to have an active job and both my desk job and lack of out-of-work activities happened at about the same time. So:

1. Resubscribe to The Pilates Class and actually do at least three classes a week.
2. Do cardio, either on my bike or walking four times a week.
3. Take a tennis lesson once a week in the summer (if still up north, re-evaluate if you move and have access to more).
4. After you re-locate; look into riding lessons and start riding once a week.

Career Goals:

This one is pretty simple in theory, but get a new public health job in a major urban area. This is proving much more difficult in execution. I think I need to dig a little into what I am doing wrong, because I am qualified and I have experience.

Other Goals:

1. I want to continue having fun with social media, the blog, YouTube. I don’t make any money off anything, and TikTok and my blog are the only places that get a significant number of views at this point (and they are still small on the scale of internet views) and I don’t make any money off any of it so I just want to keep it fun.
2. Read more, scroll less. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.
3. Actually take care of my health, and I don’t mean diet or exercise. I mean going to the doctor when something hurts, getting my teeth cleaned twice a year, taking vitamins, going to therapy, doing my PT exercises. Like nitty gritty, basic, health stuff.

That’s what I’ve got so far, I really want to read the 12-Week Year book. From what I understand, you think about your overarching goals for the year and then break them down into three goals that work towards those overarching goals, and then for each quarter of the year you focus just on those three goals. I think it could be a good way to break down big, scary goals and also actually be focused on a few important things rather than spreading your energy over all your goals at once.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be back when the mood strikes.

Laura