Goals for 2017

If you're reading this, congratulations, you've made it through another year. That is a particularly spectacular achievement as the past year was pretty terrible, for everyone it seems. As we roll into the new year we do a lot of thinking, about the past and future. We reminisce and regret, and we aspire and hope. 

We're told to create New Year's resolutions, a set of things we want to achieve by the end of the year. This is a great idea, but I think 'Goals for 2017' would better suit the occasion. It might just be me but New Years Resolutions sound big and scary. Goals for [insert year here] seems more friendly and welcoming. Maybe just a personal thing? Let me know.

What do I want out of the year ahead? Here are my Goals for 2017

• Be more spontaneous // I need to learn to just do things. If it's not going to harm me, I should do it. I might even have some fun (??).

• Learn to take care of myself // Fill more of my time with things I like doing and want to do.

• Improve my mental health // This is a tricky one. I'm taking all the steps I can to improve my mental health. It's hard though because there are so many unknowns. It's hard to put a date on 'recovery' because my mental health fluctuates so often. But I'm trying as hard as I can.

• Write on the blog once a week // I really love what I'm doing on here and I want to continue. Although it hasn't taken off or gone viral, I want to start taking this more seriously. I also want to start writing about more mental health related things. It will be hard for me to open up initially but I think it will be for the better.

• Embrace my geekiness more // I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to some things. It's time for me to stop shying away from my inner geek. :)

• Recover from CRPS // CRPS has ripped through the last 15 months of my life, destroying everything in its wake. It's almost as if I've lost everything, but now my life shall be reclaimed. If you haven't read about my story, you can read it here. This year I want to recover and be walking by October, which will be the two-year anniversary. Being pain-free by the end of the year would also be nice. 

If you don't achieve what you want in the timeframe you desire, don't beat yourself up. Nothing is forever. Goals can be easily adjusted to suit you. Many aspects of my life shifted after my accident. A lot of my Goals for 2016 weren't achieved, but I'm still here. I'm moving forward and continuing into the future.

Another step to making goals seem more achievable is having an action plan. An action plan is personal guidelines you can follow to break down the steps towards your goal. It can give you a 'how' and maybe a 'why' to achieving your goals. It's important to know how to reach your end goal otherwise, all you write is just empty words.

Remember that. 

Peace out

- Miller