No.469: My Goals for 2021

Aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands.
– 1 Thessalonians 4:11

1. Spend considerably less time online. With the daily upheaval of 2020, I fell into a lot of bad habits: scrolling frequently, reading all the opinions about all the things, even grabbing my phone the moment I woke up in the morning. It’s so silly how those things can affect my entire day! My family deserves better than that and I need to re-learn what it means to have a healthy relationship with the Internet again.
2. Continue to cultivate a deep prayer life. When you show up, God meets you there. I want to continue showing up.
3. Really embrace the homemaker spirit and focus on my vocation at home. This goal is a continuation of one I made last year about being a good steward of my home. I’ve purchased a few books on the subject to further direct me and can’t wait to share what I learn.
4. Dive into the Constitution and Constitutional Law. I’ve been intrigued by the concept of focused reading since learning about Callie‘s study on WWI. I was struggling to come up with a topic of my own when it suddenly hit me: the Constitution. I think it’s a really important and timely choice.
5. Get through a lot of my unread books and go on a book-buying fast. Some people got through 2020 with extra desserts or alcohol…I coped by buying books! I couldn’t resist the $3-4 novels on Better World Books…and their sales? Amazing! Needless to say, I am completely stocked up for 2021. I’m also going to make my yearly reading goal at 100 books(!!). Intimidating, but I think if I follow Goal #1 above, I’ll have a good shot.
6. Explore the art of dressing well. I am a tomboy through and through and have never really been into makeup or “girly” things. But somehow in 2020, I felt a nudge toward the more feminine. (No one is more shocked about this than me.) Some concrete sub-goals for this are to assess my closet and create a functional wardrobe of items that help me look neat and put together. I also want to invest in a few pairs of “grown-up” pajamas to help clearly distinguish daytime and nighttime. I may even get rid of most of my athleisurewear! Pray for me – I’m in uncharted territory here.
7. Give generously in money, time and talents.  There are so many people who are struggling right now, especially in my own little community.  I want to keep my ear to the ground, ask the Holy Spirit for inspiration/direction, and intentionally seek out opportunities to serve the people around me.
8. Aggressively work toward our financial goals of Baby Step #3 and #6. I am so pumped about these and am hoping to make a big dent in 2021.  We became consumer debt free last July and have enjoyed the ability to finally purchase some of things we’ve put off.  Now we’re ready to get back to work and hustle!  I’m excited to return to intentional frugal living again.
9. Get started on our farming dreams and brainstorm how we can make this endeavor work for us, both vocationally and financially. When I was a child, I never would have guessed that I would want to become a homesteader someday. But here we are! We’re excited (and a little nervous!) to enter into animal husbandry this year.