Since this year is almost over, it’s time to review the goals I had set for 2022. I don’t think I’ve ever accomplished every goal I set in a given year and this year was no exception. How did it go this time? Let’s take a look.
- Publish my book. I’ve been working on my communication book on and off for several years now. Even though I’ve nearly finished the first draft, there’s still a lot to do with it, including editing the final draft, adding illustrations, and figuring out how I want to publish it. However, I’ve done enough so far to make publishing it in 2022 an achievable goal and I’m going to make that happen.
This didn’t happen. I severely underestimated how much work there is left to do before my book is complete. There is a huge amount of writing I have to finish, then edit, then hire someone to edit further, and so on for several more steps before I even think about how to publish it. All the pain and struggle of this year plus regular disappointment at how much horrible communication still occurs made me want to give up entirely on the book at times. When I’m ready, I’ll return to working on my book in the hope of getting it published sometime in the next few years. - Launch my business. All the healing work I did this year gave me the inspiration to start my own business as well as the courage to follow through. I’ve spent much of this month working on it at my own pace. Since there are no products for sale, it’s entirely service-based, has low starting and overhead costs, and it’s a predominantly online business, I’m almost ready to go. I plan to launch it in January and I hope it catches on quickly so it can add value to many lives, including my own.
I successfully launched my business, although it didn’t go anywhere. I started the business early last December and made it available to my friends and acquaintances this past January. Throughout the year, I held several free workshops over video call in the hopes of encouraging at least a few people to become customers. Unfortunately, nobody did. Just as it seemed I was going in a great direction, I lost my dog Sawyer. The overwhelming grief, sadness, despair, and general pain I felt made me put off doing anything with the business for most of the year after. Eventually, I stopped hosting the free workshops. I rarely ever think about the business at this point and I have no idea what I’ll do with it in the future. Still, since my goal was only to launch it, I consider this goal to have been successfully completed. - Get more juggling gigs. Aside from the two that I had this month, I haven’t had a paid juggling gig since late 2020. I used to get a lot more of them and I also used to enjoy them a lot more than I have the past few years. Next year, I want to get more gigs, both because they pay well and because they’re a blast, even when I feel afraid. I also want to dive deep into the fear and anxiety around them so I can heal it and have fun like I used to.
One of my greatest successes this year! My first gig this year was in Jekyll Island, Georgia, back in March. It was one of the easier gigs I’ve done for unexpected reasons. I even stayed afterward to play and hang out with the other performers at the after party. That gig also allowed me to check off my yearly goal of going somewhere new to me as I’d never been to Jekyll Island before this year. I’ve had more gigs this year than I have in many years and I’ve enjoyed them all, though some have been much more fun for me than others. The best ones have been whenever onlookers get into it, play along, and have a great time. I’m glad that most of the gigs this year have been that way and I hope that’s how any future gigs I have will be. - Juggle 5 clubs. This one has been on my list for years now. I learned to juggle 5 balls more than a decade ago. Not too long after that, I learned to juggle 5 rings. So far, I have yet to juggle 5 clubs. It’s the only one of the main juggling props of which I haven’t juggled 5. I managed to flash 5 clubs a lot last year and a few times this year but I haven’t yet managed a full juggle. I plan to change that by finally learning to juggle 5 clubs in 2022.
I did it! Of the three goals I accomplished this year, this is the one gave me the most joy. It took way longer than I thought it would. I spent most of this year improving my juggling technique and slowly building up the necessary skill for this accomplishment. Lots of self-care (including wrist stretches and taking a lot of time off in April to let me wrists recover from overuse) and taking at least one rest day a week allowed me to make fairly consistent progress. Fortunately, all that practice and persistence paid off: I got 10 catches on December 19th! The pattern was also pretty good, considering it was my first successful one with 5 clubs. That felt even better. Still, I wish I had worked toward this goal consistently from 2020 onward. If I had, I probably would have gotten it during Sawyer’s life. Since I missed that opportunity, I became even more determined to get it before the end of 2022 as this was the final year we spent some time together. And I succeeded! I immediately felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders as all the pressure to reach this milestone went away. I’m so glad I got this. - Stretch every day. I’ve never managed to stick to a regular stretching regimen for long. I don’t know why since I always feel better when I stretch and I’ve come close to making it a habit on many occasions. I’m determined to fix this by stretching a little bit every day next year, even if it’s only for a minute a day. If I can stretch every day of the year, it’ll become a habit that even I’ll find difficult to break and my body will thank me for it.
Didn’t get this one. Even though I stretched more this year than I have in any other year, I only stuck with daily stretching for the first few months of 2022. Since sometime in the spring, I’ve done a great deal of wrist stretches to keep my wrists in good shape from all the juggling I do. However, even that has been something I’ve done several times a week rather than every day. I’ve noticed lots of growing tension and occasional pain in my lower body through the course of this year. To remedy that, I want to start stretching each day for the remainder of 2022 and continue that through every day in 2023. I hope I succeed this time.