2024 Goals: Was I Successful? + 2025 Goals

Alas and alack, here we are at the end of the year, and so many of my goals are unfinished. I had such great plans for 2024 and somehow many of them failed.

My word for 2024 was strong. I didn’t want to be blown about by the ideas of the world, or taken in my ungodly ideas. I wanted to be reminded that God was with me, and if he called me to do something, he would give me the strength to do it. However, I forgot about my word almost instantly, so I can’t say it shaped me all that much.

My word for 2025 is obedience. Lately God has really impressed it upon my heart that as a Christian, I need to practice what I preach and obey without question or hesitation. If God calls me to something, who am I to argue and hold back because I’m afraid, unqualified, or whatever other brilliant excuse I can come up with? I pray that I will obey the call of Christ to follow him wherever he calls, despite my terror of everything.

Reviewing 2024 Goals

• Fix my relationship with God ✔

Ah, even the way I worded that goal showed how little I understood about Christianity. I thought that I, in my own strength, could somehow force God to be whatever I wanted him to be. That I would bridge the chasm between us.

But yes, GOD worked in my heart in a lot of ways, and my relationship with him is so much better than it has been for a long time.

• Figure out what I’m doing with my life and what future schooling looks like. ✔

Of course, I don’t have my whole life figured out. Who does? But now I have direction. I’ll (Lord-willing) be studying missions online for two years, and then hopefully nursing after that. Not sure what comes next, but hopefully I’ll have an inkling of something by then. At least I have plans for the near future.

• Be more independent & figure out what it means to be an adult ✔

Yes and no? I feel like I grew a lot in adulthood this year. It was as though I finally became a woman and felt comfortable with that. But I still have a long way to go to be fully independent and such.

• Get my license/buy a car ✔❌

I got my license, but alas and alack, no car yet…

• Learn how to talk ❌

HAHAHAHA! Like I’d learn how to carry on a good, not-awkward conversation in a year. Nope, I’m still horribly shy, introverted, and incapable of talking without stumbling over myself.

• Don’t let fear rule my whole stinkin’ life ❌

I did make progress on this – a bit. I’m learning how to do things despite fear, but it still has a very big hold on my life. Next year??

• Learn self-discipline ✔

Who can fully learn self-discipline? Not in a year, that’s for sure! But yes, I did make a lot of progress on learning to deny myself. It’s been good to exercise my willpower and realize that it isn’t as impossible as I used to believe.

• Find an activity out and about for the express purpose of socializing ❌

Uh, no. Have I mentioned how much of a homebody I am?

• Volunteer somewhere ❌

Nope. I was planning to volunteer with something related to seniors, but then we moved, and those plans got shoved to the back of my mind.

• Take a women’s self-defense class ❌

Hopefully in 2025….

• Take an evangelism class ❌

2025?

• Read the whole Bible ✔

I read the Bible, and goodness, it came alive for me this year. It spoke to me as never before. It is truly the Word of God and is immensely important in showing us the way to live rightly before Him.

• Exercise every day & do Spring100 if they have it this year (goal 1,000 miles) ✔

I love walking. I did reach my goal of 1,000 miles for Spring100, which made me very happy. 🙂

• Start a YT channel for sugar glider health & care❌

I would have…except I hate talking on camera…

• Attend a sugar glider conference❌

*sniffles* I forgot, and by the time I remembered, the conferences were done. I’m not that devoted to sugar gliders anyway…

• Learn German❌

I started lessons, did them for about a month, then quit. Language is hard…

• Re-write the travel memoir I’m working on ❌

I rewrote the first few chapters, read a travel memoir written by someone with a sense of humor, and gave up on my very dull book.

• Write 2 novels (one for Nano) ❌

I wrote my NaNoWriMo novel, but not much else. I wrote a lot of blog posts (most unpublished), some random story starts, and lots of world/character building.

• Read 200 books❌

*wails* Noooo! I didn’t read as much as I wanted to this year. I read 133(ish) books. I’ll do my traditional yearly series soon reviewing all the books that I read in 2024.

Goals for 2025

• Start missions classes in college (if I get accepted, which I probably won’t be *cries*)
• Go on a short term missions/training trip
• Buy a car
• Get a job & save money for school
• Three weeks devoted to seeking God in prayer and Bible reading
• Spring100 (1,000 mile goal!)
• Read War and Peace, Resurrection, Les Miserables, and The Man in the Iron Mask
• Start a travel blog
• Sell my glider joeys (https://www.pouchbabiessugargliders.com/, if anyone is interested!)
• Talk openly about my faith (specifically at work)
• Lose weight (the ever illusive goal *sighs*)
• Do NaNoWriMo
• Attend a self-defense class
• Attend the March for Life in Atlanta
• Read the whole Bible
• Study Biblical Hebrew or Greek
• Make a quilt
• Study American history in depth (specifically the wars)
• Get to know the people in our community and invite people over to our house
• Talk on the phone more often