2021 New Years "Goals" + Looking Ahead

It's 2021. I don't know what else to say.

2020 New Years Goals + Looking Ahead

A new year is almost here. So it's time to reflect about last year's resolutions and make new ones for the new year. I honestly anticipated to have stopped blogging in 2019. Yet I somehow managed to do more than what I set out to achieve or thought was possible.

The Good

2019 was a wild year of experiences I never expected to happen, and a lot of goals that I happily met. I think turning 30 in December was a big motivator for me. *sobs into the void*

Goals I managed to complete last year: saw Hugh Jackman in concert, finished Game of Thrones before the last season started, won tickets to Florence and the Machine, attended MegaCon Orlando, visited Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge, and survived Halloween Horror Nights. And I met John Barrowman and David Tennant!!!!! They're still the highlights of the year for me.

I also completed a 30 day Yoga with Adrienne challenge - I missed a few days but instead of giving up, I pushed through. Now I do yoga a few times a week as it helps with anxiety. 

Hit my 20+ book goodreads challenge. This is the first time in forever I met one of my reading goals.

I failed to limit my coffee intake to the weekends, but I managed it more than I thought I would. Drinking tea was helpful as I enjoyed the variety of flavors more, but coffee is still that vice I have when I'm stressed out, which was a lot this year.

Some Ways I Stayed Sane in 2019

Who would've thought 2019 would've been as hectic and lackluster as 2018? The dumpster fire that is politics, cancel culture absurdity, and hopelessness in the news inspired me to highlight some moments that helped me feel like last year wasn't a waste. Similarly, even though this year was still ablaze, I managed to stay sane for the most part. But not without a lot of help. Here are a few reasons why. How did you manage to stay sane this year? Let me know in the comments below!


This post contains spoilers for Avengers: Endgame - read at your own risk.

2019 New Years Goals + State of the Blog

Last year, I thought we survived the Upside Down. LOL Oh, how everything and absolutely nothing has changed.  The only way I can describe 2018 is: What. The. ****. Was That?!

The fandom side of my life was awesome: I met Jeff Goldlbum and saw a mini X-Files reunion, attended MegaCon as press again, participated in Chicks with Accents podcast, met HerUniverse creator Ashley Eckstein, went to an advanced screening of First Man, saved Will in the Upside Down a million times, cosplayed as Harry Potter at Disney World, survived Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, covered a local library event for my Harry Potter blog, reunited with the boyfriend of my teenage dreams, saw Die Hard in theaters for its 30th anniversary, and some of my favorite characters didn't die.

2018 New Years Film + Life Goals

Well, we made it through the Upside Down folks. I hope everyone still has their wits about them 'cause 2017 was an onslaught of impossibly-impossible nightmares (and dreams) coming true. It's nice to roll over the date to 2018 and try to make the next year as best as possible.

Looking at my list of goals from last year, I'm pretty proud of the ones that I accomplished: kept up with Walking Dead recaps and Wonder Women series, posting on Instagram, cosplayed as Belle at Disney, and followed a blog calendar.

Some of my favorite moments included attending MegaCon with a press membership, celebrating what Harry Potter means to me and my favorite memories, saying goodbye to The Great Movie Ride at Disney, making it to Platform 9 3/4 nineteen years later, and had some writing collaborations (my first guest blogger and some sponsored posts).

2018 Film + Life Goals

If there's one character I learned the most from in 2017, it would definitely be Wonder Woman. If you've been around the block on my blog recently, you might be familiar with how much she has inspired me. Her confidence and determination gave me ideas about myself that I didn't know about before.

Cause you see: I have anxiety and it sucks. It's an endless, crappy headgame dealing with change, self-doubt, and perfectionism, where you never feel like a winner no matter what. While it took me several years to reach a 'We'll See' moment in life to accept life's twists, I struggle with following other people's ideas of what's best for me instead of taking my own good advice. With scene's like No Man's Land, it's actually settling into my noggin that what I do is not up to others or that asshat called Anxiety telling me I can't or shouldn't do something.

As nervous and apprehensive I feel about the future, hope and optimism is still stirring somewhere. I don't know where life's gonna take me if I don't try, so these are a few things I know I'd like to do:

Geekiness

+ So many books, I'm going to learn to make time. My goodreads goals is 20+books. I've already started with The Happiness Project and the next installment of Velcro The Ninja Kat, so that's a pretty good start.

+ Movies. Every year I hit about 50 movies, mostly tracking them on Letterboxd. This year I'm plugging a lot more reviews in. A few movies I'm looking forward to Proud Mary, Fifty Shades Freed, Annihilation, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ocean's 8.

+ TV Shows. I plan on writing more season or series reviews like Outlander and Game of Thrones, and a ton of others I haven't quite started or caught up with.

+ Find a candle that smells Ryan Gosling. I already have Chris Evans / Captain America covered, so I gotta one find for Canadian Sugarcube. RIGHT?!

+ DIYs. I have so many ideas for crafts - collages, drawings, pom poms, bookmarks, diys of fandoms like Star Wars and Harry Potter. 2018 is going to artsy.

+ Blog series. I want to continue Wonder Women series, Trailer Reactions, and a variety of lists posts. The Walking Dead recaps past season eight is to be determined. I'm also going to introduce a new fandom series called Fandom Throwback to talk about various fandoms I've loved in the past.

+ Blog Calendars really helped me realize how much I like and need to track projects. Having a place for ideas and upcoming events helped me trail posts I wanted to make, even if I strayed sometimes. I bought a planner before the new years started and it's already helping me.

Social Media

+ Grow My Instagram. I love blogging my adventures and be inspired by other users' feeds. I started a Harry Potter instagram which has been a lot of fun sharing my muggleness and meeting other Potterheads. I'd like to see how far I can take both of them.

+ Be a Conscious Instagrammer. As much as I love Instagram, it's very easy to slip into the mindset of playing catch-up with trends, especially with new books coming out all the time or some of the beautiful feeds out there in different communities. Sometimes I think about the impact on the environment with what people are constantly buying and where does it go - which is their choices to make (not judging). But I want to be conscious about what I buy for props or if it's just for Instagram, if I'm actually reading the books I post, and making sure that if my style grows, it's still me.

+ Cosplay. It all started with Matt the Radar Technician, and then Belle from Beauty and the Beast. I'll be heading to A Celebration of Harry Potter cosplaying as Harry Potter (Sorcerer's Stone style). For Halloween, I'm thinking about Dana S. Pumpkins, the long-lost cousin of David S. Pumpkins.

General

+ I hope to move out of Florida this summer...Ironically, before I leave I want to go to Madame Tussaud's (and meet Ryan Gosling), the Titanic Museum, and Kennedy Space Center.

+ 5000 Sales. It took me a long time to hit 3100 sales on my Etsy store. This year I'm expanding to bookmarks and instant downloads with a lot of fun geeky ideas up my sleeve. I'd like to hit 5000.

+ Continue #28Lessons. When I turned twenty-seven in 2016, I started #27Lessons, which I filled with thoughts and quotes. After having semi-quarter-life-crises once I turned 28 last December, I want to keep it going as #28Lessons.

+ Figure Out Something with the 1940s. I don't know what this means yet, but I'd love to find a space for my interest in Classic Hollywood and the 1940s.

What do you have planned for 2018? Movies, books, or events you're looking forward to?

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” ― Carrie Fisher