The Terror of Knowing

Greetings folks! Today I bring you the last of my check-ins on my 2017 Resolutions – the final review of how I did with my goals this year. Around this time last year, I set some resolutions or goals for 2017. It’s something I try to do every year and every year, without fail, I forget my goals unless I keep them on a handily placed sheet of paper or, as is this year’s case, in the front of my bullet journal. This year I also did quarterly check-ins to keep myself accountable – click to peek at my first quarterly check-in, my second quarterly check-in, and my third quarterly check-in – and it turns out regularly checking in on the progress of your resolutions might actually help you achieve them. Who would’ve thought it?!?

Before I decide upon my 2018 resolutions, I thought I would do a final review of how I did in the final quarter and for the year overall!

READING, BLOGGING & WATCHING GOALS

1. Read at least 52 books in 2017

Verdict: Completed
I set my reading goal at a nice manageable 52 books since a book a week allows me to make up for any reading slumps and capitalise on being a roll, if I ever am. This year I well and truly smashed through this challenge and even raised my goal to 75 books, and I still surpassed that at 86 books. I’m so thrilled with this and hope that I can continue this reading roll in 2018.

2. Write more reviews

Verdict: Failed
I’m not entirely sure I even wrote as many reviews in 2017 as I did in 2016, so I’ve definitely failed on this resolution. I’d prefer not to dwell on utter failures though so let’s just move on, shall we?

3. Blog more & comment more

Verdict:  Completed-ish
After blogging every day in December leading up to Christmas, I don’t think I could say I completely failed at this goal. However, having said that, I fell off the blogging bandwagon at many points during this year when I felt unmotivated or uninspired so I didn’t blog or comment on others’ blogs quite as much as I could (or should) have. I hope to burst into 2018 rejuvenated and ready to blog!

4. Read at least 4 classics

Verdict: Completed
I’m so thrilled that I did read 4 classics this year. Not counting Tolstoy’s War and Peace which I didn’t finish before the year ended (I’m still super annoyed at myself for this), I’ve read Hard Times and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, A Room with a View and Howards End by E.M. Forster, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. Not bad, eh?

5. Be mindful of Reading Challenges and actually complete them!

Verdict: Completed-ish
This really is a story of two halves because whilst I completed my Goodreads reading goal, achieved the low bar of my Mount TBR Reading Challenge goal, and made a push at the eleventh hour to complete the Around the Year in 52 Books challenge, I well and truly failed the Book Riot Read Harder challenge. The Book Riot reading challenge is always difficult for me, that’s kind of the point of it, but I don’t think I ever prioritise it so why do I persist in trying to when I clearly have other reading interests??

6. Explore more TV shows/films

Verdict: Completed
I may not have finished the TV shows I wanted to catch up on, but I have watched some brilliant TV and films in 2017. I get too settled in rereading and rewatching media that I’m familiar with but I think this year I really have tried to branch out a little and watch more things.

PERSONAL GOALS

1. Exercise more regularly

Verdict: Completed
Ok so I’m not a fitness nut (far from it) but I have found that I don’t entirely hate Zumba classes and I feel much better generally about my fitness level. This time last year I never would have thought I’d go to weekly class as I’m quite self conscious but I’ve found I prefer classes to just using the gym equipment and I’m somehow less self conscious during classes so I clearly need to find a couple more to attend regularly in 2018.

2. Experiment and find a skincare routine that works

Verdict: Completed-ish
I have successfully found a daily scrub I can use without it completely ruining my super sensitive skin (thanks St Ives!) but am yet to find a mask to use regularly so I could have done better. I still need to get into a better routine of drinking more water to help my skin out and also applying day and night creams with a little more regularity than I do but, all in all, I think my skin is in slightly better condition than it was this time last year so it’s a semi success???

3. Travel more

Verdict: Completed
Of course I completed this in 2017, I went to America for the first time ever and had an amazing time! I can’t even begin to describe how lucky I felt to be able to explore somewhere I never in a million years thought I’d ever visit in my life! I also made a late in the year trip to London to see five(!) musicals/plays and I realised this year that life’s too short to think you’ll go somewhere “some day” – you have to do it now, if you can! I am just so lucky to be in a position financially and professionally right now to have the money and opportunity to put in holidays at work to go to these places and I dearly hope this continues into 2018 as I’ve realised just how much I enjoy travelling to new places and want to prioritise it whilst I can!

4. Allow myself to write more

Verdict: Failed
I failed NaNoWriMo again this year which was my third attempt to write the same story idea that has been plaguing me for years. However, I did realise just how much I care about this story and did make significant progress in terms of fleshing out the pretty basic idea I had for the story, so although it’s a failure in terms of actually writing, it wasn’t a total bust and I did achieve something out of my failed NaNoWriMo 2017.

OVERALL

Overall, it’s been a mixed bag of successes, semi-successes, and failures. However, I’m 100% sure that having my resolutions recorded on this blog and in my bullet journal kept them more at the forefront of my mind than they otherwise would have been, and this contributed to some of the successes. For example, I never would have went to the gym at all if I hadn’t made a point of tracking it at one point in my bullet journal. Likewise, owning a (fairly regularly updated) book blog provides me with a healthy dose of book guilt/scrutiny so that I actually read to give me something to talk about on it! Moving forward into 2018, I’m going to make sure to set realistic resolutions/goals and do quarterly check-ins again to keep myself accountable. I’m so thrilled that I actually did things in 2017 that I’d wanted to do for years and let’s hope that 2018 continues with that theme, shall we?

Did you make New Years’ Resolutions or goals for this past year? How did they go and will you be making Resolutions for 2018? I’ll be posting mine soon so be sure to keep an eye out for them and, in the meantime, let me know in the comments if you have any goals to work on in 2018!

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