Now that is the end of January, I figured it was as good of a time as ever to share with you my thoughts from last year and what I’m looking ahead to in 2023. I reflected heavily on 2022 to bring me out of a lull I usually get myself into between Christmas and New Year’s. I decided to make a “2022 brag list” where I write down all of my goals I actually accomplished from 2022 and then I can see what was achieved and which goals I can continue to work on. In this blog post I have detailed 5 of my goals/accomplishments from last year. This gave me a great mindset on how to work on my vision board and future goals for the upcoming year. I have a few categories of goals that I focus on however the ones that I am going to share with you today are food/dietary needs, personal development, and travel. 🌎
Everyone conducts their goals/resolutions/words of the year a little bit differently so that’s important to keep in mind here. I will explain my system to y’all but please don’t feel like you automatically have to do the same. What works for me may not work for you but I know I like to span my 2023 visions through different levels to make it most productive for me. First, I don’t make big overarching goals because then I am unsure of how to actually achieve them. I instead split up my goals into categories and then write tangible smaller goals within those sections to focus my efforts in. If you are still trying to figure out your style, keep trying different methods because one size doesn’t fit all! 💗
While I was working on the brag list, I also realized that I had a few other goals that weren’t goals in the beginning of the year but were spur of the moment or things that just came up throughout the year that I hadn’t planned for. I highly recommend making a brag list for the year before because it helps bring the year into perspective and frames a good mindset to move forward. Below I will explain my five goals/accomplishments from 2022 and the corresponding category it belongs to.
Re-introduced gluten, dairy, and alcohol back into my diet (Food/Dietary Needs)
As many of you know, I had some very intense medical issues that happened during 2020. All throughout 2021, I was focused on healing. In 2022, I really wanted to focus my energy on re-introducing certain items back into my diet that I had to temporarily eliminate/reduce. I successfully, added all three (in small doses) back into my regular lifestyle all within moderation. I usually limit myself to 1-2 drinks a week and 2-3 times a week having some sort of gluten. As for dairy, I try to have lactose-free cheese when I can and then I opt for non-dairy alternatives such as almond and oat for everyday use. All of these things took time for me to get accustomed to which is why it took a full year to feel successful. It will continue to be a daily choice this year but I finally feel like I’m moving in the right direction.
Read 17 books (Personal Development)
I picked back up my love of reading when the pandemic hit…. i know *shocking*. I set quite a large goal for myself and I was pleasantly surprised when I hit it in October! By the time the end of the year came around, I had read 26 books and felt so accomplished. I was prioritizing time 30 minutes before I went to bed so that I could get a few chapters in every night. Some of my fav authors are Taylor Jenkins Reid, Christina Lauren, and Julia Quinn. Don’t forget, I have a book highlight on my instagram of all my ratings and book recs.
1 holiday with my boyfriend (Travel)
Anthony and I have been planning at least one trip a year just the two of us to go explore a different state and in 2022, there wasn’t an exception. In 2020, we travelled to the mountains (to socially distance) in the blissful Highlands, NC. In 2021, we went to the Great Smoky Mountains, TN. In 2022, I was itching to go to the beach and I figured we could go together since we had never been to the beach together. We settled on going to the panhandle in Florida, specially 30A. We stayed for 6 days there and explored so many beach towns it was absolutely stunning there. I wrote a blog post here “Travel Guide: 30A, Florida” if you would like to read further details about it.
10 yr Friendaversary trip with my best friend (Travel)
You may be asking… gee Sara where is the blog post about this trip? I confess that the end of the year caught up with me and I wasn’t able to sit down and regurgitate everything. I will give spark notes here: My best friend Gabby and I had been planning on going on a big friendaversary trip (we made that word up to celebrate) to mark 10 years of us being besties. She came into my life in high school in 2012 and has been one of the biggest blessings of my life. Fast forward 10 years, in 2022 we wanted to choose a location that we both hadn’t been to before, that wasn’t too far form VA, and that would have a bit of everything for us to do. Enter, NASHVILLE. We went on a 4 day trip to Nashville, TN and when I say it was one of the most fun trips I’d been on, I am not exaggerating. We truly did a bit of everything… museums, tours, customizing our own cowboy hats, bar-hopping, restaurant-tasting, dancing/singing in honky tonks, even took a chocolate tasting class! Somehow, we fit it all in and it truly was an amazing experience. Nashville…. we will be back for you.
Expand blog to better serve my online community (Blog)
Since I already had a year under my belt of having my blog, I was searching for ways to expand. In the fall, I got my first discount code for Electric Picks which was truly a pinch me moment. I was so excited to be able to offer an exclusive code for my followers to get their hands on some beautiful pieces at a discounted price. Electric Picks is a top notch jewelry brand who I have been a loyal customer of for a couple of years now. I am in the works of getting another discount code soon as well so I am hoping that I can continue to provide better tools and rewards for my blog community.
It means so much to me that you guys take the time out of your day to read and consume my content. You absolutely have a choice on who you follow and I really appreciate your support while I have embarked on my incredibly exciting blog passion project. Thanks for reading along and I look forward to creating more content for you in 2023✨
P.S. I have recently started posting more on TikTok as well… my username is sara_elise0, follow along over there if you haven’t already.
XOXO
–Sara💋
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Sara Elise 