Well, this year certainly didn’t go as planned. At the end of every year, I take a look back on what happened and examine how well I accomplished the goals I set out to do at the beginning of the year.

The first half of the year was a big whirlwind of travel. Some personal and some professional. The second half went crashing down but in the middle of it all, I was still able to accomplish a few things.

Professional accomplishments

Some of my 2019 goals were not reached but I did have some extenuating circumstances where I’ve forgiven myself for not accomplishing everything that my high-achieving self set out to do. 

  • I went to Madrid with the SCA for my volunteer position on the ED&I task force. I stayed a little longer with friends to explore the city.
  • Visited Berlin for World of Coffee
  • Nearly finished (at the time of writing this) the weekly photo challenge. I didn’t exactly take a photo and post one every week but I did take brand new photos and expand my creative output.
  • Continued my biweekly publishing of my newsletter and even added some new, original content that I kept on my own blog.
  • Participated in some pitch meetups and unsuccessfully pitched my personal essays.
  • Did my first-ever reading of my work at LitCrawl. It was of a personal essay.
  • Applied to and was accepted into a creative coworking space.

Personal accomplishments

I’ve been able to focus on some more gardening this year, as well as connecting with fellow plant parents in the area through plant swaps. I also got a little more into board games!

  • For the first time, I went to Taiwan to celebrate the new year with my extended family.
  • Grew wheat! I still don’t know what to do with it.
  • I kicked off the year in Wichita with my best friend. It’s also where I started my weekly photo challenge (which I am on track to accomplishing!).
  • After my Madrid trip, I took a mini solo vacation to Amsterdam (my first time!).
  • Executed another successful SCA game night!
  • Created a professional development tracker and published the template. I didn’t quite get to a few hours per week of professional development but I’m glad I created this. It’s something I can use into the new year and I like how I can keep all my professional development notes in it.
  • Road tripped down to LA and finally made it to Big Sur.