Reflecting to set goals for 2022

I almost never make New Year’s resolutions. They seem like a cliché, like something that is mentioned once but loses its significance or focus shortly thereafter.

This year, I thought I’d look back on the year and use those memories to help me set goals for the next year. Maybe this process will help you to focus on what’s important in your future.

Set goals for work/family balance

First of all, 2021 was a year of hard work for me. My husband had knee surgery in July, and we worked hard to get our home ready for his convalescence and to complete projects that needed to be done before the end of 2021—all before July.

We also had a family member move in with us, and that meant getting a room ready for her. We updated our kitchen with a new tile backsplash, hardware, sink, faucet, and lights. We repaired the plumbing and replaced the rotten siding on the house.

Now that it’s winter, I realize that we should have done some additional insulating. In 2022, I plan to get window inserts and insulate the crawl space and the rim joints (the bay formed where the cellar ceiling joists meet the foundation).

This is a drafty house, and those steps should help to further cut our heating costs and effort—since we heat primarily with wood.

Using wood bricks has been our “easy” step. Wood is super warm, but stacking and lugging is very labor-intensive and messy. Using wood bricks has made it easier to tote the fuel (since I’m turning 67 in a few days) and kept the house much cleaner. We stack them in an area we can access without trucking through the snow, which has been another move toward “easy.”

I edited about 200 pages a week in 2021. I was very, very happy to have consistent work, especially when others were out of work due to changes as a consequence of the pandemic. It’s work that I can do wherever and whenever I choose without having to leave my home.

It has been a godsend over the last two years when the world as we knew it fell apart. If you think proofreading might be right for you, take a look at this post on how to earn money as a proofreader.

I also love proofreading because I’ve been able to work exclusively in my area of interest and expertise, science. I’ve read some amazing work that gives me hope that scientific advances may help us lead healthier lives. If you’d like to become a proofreader but aren’t a scientist, don’t worry!

While proofreading papers in certain fields requires expertise, there are many, many other topics to edit, as well as needs for general proofreaders.

I highly suggest taking a course to elevate your skills and help you present yourself more professionally. I recommend Proofreading Academy and Proofread Anywhere. Take a look and see which one will make your skills shine.

But, honestly, I have so many other things to do with my time that I wish I didn’t have to work. I’d love to garden and sew more and help babysit my granddaughters even more days a week. I haven’t been able to spend as much time teaching them to cook and craft and enrich their scientific curiosity as much as I wish.

In 2022, I plan to continue to work as a proofreader, but every Friday, when I babysit, I’ll bring a craft project or science experiment with me to do with my granddaughters. One of them already knows what a hypothesis is, so I think I’m making progress!

I find most of my craft and science experiment ideas on Pinterest. If you haven’t visited my Pinterest pins on kid topics, please take a look. You’ll find jokes, games, crafts, projects, simple science experiments, and other fun ways to engage and teach the little ones in your life.

 Set goals for hobbies I need

My hobbies of gardening, crafting, and blogging help to maintain my work/life balance, feed my family, keep my mind busy, and keep me sane!

Because of the food shortage and problems getting all types of goods, gardening was a focus of mine during 2021.

I was an intense vegetable gardener when the kids were small but moved more toward flower gardening—which is still where my heart is—in later years. However, in the past 4 years, we’ve moved back to vegetable gardening, and I’m so glad we did.

I measure gardening success not just by the yield but by whether we choose the right veggies and seeds for our needs. Despite those best efforts, sometimes we miss the mark. And sometimes, we get unexpected results that don’t go unnoticed, like the eight beautiful acorn squashes that grew in the compost pile!

Tomatoes and green beans are staples that I rely on in the winter months, but having fresh lettuce and zucchini (thank God for whoever invented zoodles!) on my summer table is the best!

In 2020, we had an abundance of tomatoes. This year was not as productive, but I still managed to can quarts of tomatoes, spaghetti squash, salsa, and tomato soup. Nothing gets wasted.

Peppers do well in my son’s garden, and he is very generous, so I don’t have to worry about the fact that peppers don’t like to grow for me. Consider this type of sharing agreement if you find yourself with a dearth of a certain veggie but a flood of another.

While the crops I want closer to home, like green beans, lettuce, swiss chard, and grape tomatoes, are planted near the house, our main garden is across the road where there’s more sun and land.

We bought a tote tank, which we fill with water from the brook using a transfer pump. Old garden hoses attached to the tank provide water to the garden during dry spells.

That system was our “easy” —it certainly beat filling totes with water and trucking them over to that garden—we had two (non-consecutive) dry months, and the tank required filling more than once. That was not easy.

We have four raised beds near the house. In 2022, we’ll build two more large raised beds there. I’ll devote four beds to tomatoes, one to green beans, and one to lettuce and grape tomatoes. I can easily extend the garden hose to the beds.

But I almost forgot my flower garden! That’s my biggest source of peace. Focusing on perennials has meant less planting, less weeding, and more enjoying. When the vegetables don’t have a great year, I can always count on the flowers.

I’ve learned that I love blogging and sharing my thoughts and passions. My goal for 2022 is to publish two blog posts a week to really amp up my blog. There. I’ve put it in writing.

Actually, I first wrote that I’d post three blog posts, but I have to be somewhat realistic! Tune in weekly (and at the end of 2022) to see how I’ve done!

Set goals to keeping health at the forefront

The beginning of 2021 meant reading everything I could on COVID vaccinations. Upfront, I want to say that I am not anti-vaccines.

But, being a scientist, I’m more than a little concerned about the fact that while mRNA vaccine technology is not new, such vaccines have not been used on the masses, emergency approval was given after only two weeks of trials, and we are constantly asking that children receive more and more vaccinations.

It seems that constantly assaulting a developing immune system with massive doses of foreign antigens might derail the exquisite mechanisms of the immune response. That’s something I’ll be reading up on in 2022 and reporting what I learn back to you.

 Looking ahead to 2022

So, in 2022, I will keep studying vaccinations and hope for better treatments. I will set a goal of focusing on maintaining my health and trying to prevent future illnesses and diseases. I plan to spend more time blogging on health-related topics so I can share what I learn.

I will write more posts on natural ways to stay healthy.

I’ve got so much to share there that I’m really excited to get busy doing the research and presenting them to my readers—and putting an emphasis on the preventative measures we all can take. I will also search for companies to promote and align with that have charitable missions and visions that resonate with mine.

Here’s to trying to make 2022 easier and healthier!