I am a planner and a goal writer. With both a busy life and an anxious mind, I have found that writing down my goals at the beginning of each year helps me clear my mind, and it also gives me a great sense of accomplishment as I am able to cross things off my list as they are completed!
My husband bought me a super cute notebook that I have been enjoying, and while I was jotting down my 2020 goals I thought it would be fun to share them with you!
So, here is my list of 20 things that I plan to do to make this year a great one, and hopefully better myself along the way!
1. Focus on a healthy work/life balance. My job can have its super busy times where my schedule is insane, but it also has its lulls too. I want to continue to try and create a balance between both those times that is tolerable for both me and my kiddos. I think all working moms struggle with this one eternally! All we can do is keep trying to do our best.
2. Enjoy the little-ness of my babies. Time goes so fast, and my last baby is 14 months already! I feel like this time in their life is an especially precious one and it is gone before you know it! I want to make sure I am able to enjoy it before it is past us. This might mean telling friends I am able to go out and do things less, but that honestly is the stage of life I am in and I am at peace with it. When my kids are teenagers and have a million activities and are way too cool for me, I am sure I will look back on this decision and feel like I did the right thing.
3. Travel! The world is changing fast right now and it scares me. There are some beautiful places that I fear will be no longer by the time my girlies are my age, so I want them to see and experience it all now. I keep thinking of the wildfires in Australia and mass extinctions currently taking place… sadly as the climate crisis worsens this will only become more widespread and I want them to be able to experience how beautiful the world is now, and keep the memories dear in their hearts forever. Depressing goal? Maybe a little, but still an important one to me.
4. Make a commitment to unplug more often. This year we took a trip to Cama Beach on Camano Islandand it was so quaint and peaceful, and I had an overwhelming feeling that our family needs so experiences like that so much more often than we get now. Cama Beach was so fantastic that I would love to go back there, or even explore the Olympic Peninsula. Roche Harboris another fantastic place to get away and I hope to be back there as well this summer!
5. Keep a journal. I have my goals journal and am sharing some ideas out of there with you now, but I want to write more than that – the funny things my kids say, the great moments we experience together as a family… I want to write it all down. I plan to keep my journal on me so I can do it more!
7. Work on living a healthier lifestyle. I am not ready to commit myself to some crazy workout routine or fitness membership hoping to change my life. Honestly I would rather spend quality time with my girls than do a boot-camp fitness class and think just by paying more attention to getting off my butt, doing light workouts when I find time, and eating a sustain-ably healthy diet are what I need to do. Just the common-sense kind-of stuff, really!
8. Not guilt myself for enjoying a comfort food. Yes being healthy is important, and as we age I have been harping on my husband to eat healthier. However, its okay to treat yourself now and then, and when you do you shouldn’t feel guilty for it. I have spent my whole life struggling with food and weight guilt, and it is time for that to end!
9. Spend more time boating. I know you are reading this like… hey don’t you work on the lake? Haha, yes I do! However I spend almost all my time on the water working, and I really need to do more boating with family and friends too. This year we went to Andrew’s Bay for Father’s Day, and also enjoyed Sea Fair Sunday on the water together, and it was really fantastic! Great memories for the kiddos and I want to do it more.
10. Not forget to hit the beach, too. We did lots of splash parks and pools this past summer, which are a fun way to cool off in the heat, but are also steamy places filled with screaming kids to be quite honest. Something about a beach where you can hear the waves crashing on the shore soothes the soul and the air is so refreshing. We ALWAYS go to Golden Gardens, so I want to get outside our comfort zone and explore more this year too. Stay tuned!
11. Not stress myself out trying to do EVERYTHING. I am a Pinterest mom by nature. Every birthday, holiday, special event, you name it… I have gone on Pinterest for ideas how to bake for it, decorate for it and so on. Let me tell you what an exhausting life that is to live, especially when you are also the working mom, the blogging mom, the mom who pays the bills, who schedules the appointments, the vacations… the list feels like it goes on forever! Its time to give myself a break and I am not going to put crazy pressure on myself for holidays moving forward.
12. Get back on the mountain. This is simply a personal goal, stemming from the fact that my husband and I used to snowboard weekly, but haven’t been ONCE since we had kids! It is time to get back into it, and I am committed to us hitting the slopes as a family. My eldest is almost 5 and I am sure will love it too!
13. Try out a new life experience. This one is already planned out for us, as we have hired an au pair who arrives in the U.S. in less than two weeks! We have had the same nanny for our girls for over four-and-a-half years, so this is a huge life change for us and is totally outside of our comfort zone! We are however excited to add a person to our home and think it will be a great change. I can’t wait!
14. Tackle my list of restaurants to try. Yes guys, I am so serious about food that in my little diary I keep a written list of places I want to try. There are SO MANY great restaurants popping up in the area all the time, to the point where it is hard to keep track of! If I find myself in a certain area and it is lunch-break time for me, I will pop open my journal and see if there is anything on my list I want to try. If you are a foodie too, I suggest giving this a try, it really helps you explore the foodie world easily!
15. Partner with more bloggers and businesses. This year I met SO MANY people through my blog, and felt like it was a fun way to make friends with similar interests! This was a part of blogging I totally did not expect but love now that I have discovered it. I also had the opportunity to partner with some local businesses for events and had so much fun – I so badly want to keep this rolling in the new year. #BurgerBoat2020 anyone? 🙂
16. Be okay with being a home body. Younger me spent all her time out and about. I was either with people or meeting people, and was about as busy as a person could be. It was how I lived my life and had fun with it. However I am at a point in my life where I need some time to just be at home, to relax and unwind. To enjoy my house, my family, and some peace and quiet. Having kids I feel like my schedule packs up with minimal effort, so in 2020 I want to try and keep myself free a little more. I think it will be good for my mental health and am looking forward to it.
17. Work on my marriage. Just because this is at the bottom of my list does not mean it is at the bottom of my priorities. This past year everything was so stressful trying to pack and stage our house for sale, then ultimately moving and unpacking in the middle of the holiday season. I feel sure my husband and I could easily say it was one of the most stressful years of our lives. It is time for us to have a year to relax a little, go on some nice dates, and go back to enjoy being married instead of worrying about so much life stuff.
18. Meditate. Have any of you downloaded the “Calm” app on iTunes? If you haven’t, you seriously need to, because it is the absolute best guided meditation app out there. They have songs, stories, and so much more than just mediation sessions too. I swear by it, however I have not been making time for it. As an adult, meditation has been one of the most useful tools in helping me manage my stress and anxiety, and it simply needs to be a part of my lifestyle.
19. Let friends and family know they are loved. It is SO HARD to balance everything, and our lives are so busy that it can spiral out of control and we lose sight of what is most important. One reason I like the way I wrote this list is because some of these tasks are simply to do less. My hope is that re-focusing my life this way, it will allow me more time to spend with family and friends. 2019 ended with a few reminders about how short life is, and even if it is a simple text message, or a quick cup of coffee with a friend, I know 2020 needs to be the year where I acknowledge those important to me more often and quit sweating the stuff that truly doesn’t matter.
20. Not nitpick this list to death. I am going to give all of these things a try, and will revisit the list often to remind myself of my goals. However, if there is one that does not get accomplished I will not be too harsh with myself. There is always tomorrow!
If I were to summarize all this, I think I would say that I want 2020 to be a great year for memories and mental health. Did you write down a list of goals for 2020? What are some of the key things you want to focus on? I would love to hear them and get more inspiration!
Have a safe and wonderful year everyone!
X.O. – Abbey Co.
Some fun links (affiliate) to journal-ing supplies in case you want to get into it. I love writing my goals and to-do’s… it helps keep my mind clear! 
Journaling: A Guide to Over 100 Techniques and Ideas for Amazing Dot Grid, Junk, Mixed Media, and Travel Pages
Tanmit Gel Pens Set Colored Pen Fine Point Art Marker Pen 36 Unique Colors for Adult Coloring Books Kid Doodling Scrapbooking Drawing Writing Sketching Highlighter Pens
Loved your list… It struck me that while I’m no doubt quite a bit older than you are, our goals and desires are pretty much the same.. maybe everyone’s ultimately are. Keep the list handy for occasional “realignment” and yes, love those kiddos while they are still with you at home.💜Happy 2020!
Happy 2020 to you as well 💕🎉
Awesome goals girl! Hope you have a wonderful 2020 and that you accomplish these goals this year 😊
that’s right Abbey, happy new year! cheers from Portugal, PedroL
Happy new year to you too! 🍾
thanks Abbey 🙂 PedroL