As December drew to a close and 2021 was dawning on the horizon, I was decidedly shy about emotionally investing in new year goals.

I have always advocated making life plans and daring to dream, but my optimistic agenda was drop-kicked and knocked unconscious last year. When I woke up, the world had changed, and so had I.

New Beginnings

Still, nothing inspires dreams and new year goals like a pristine, blank calendar and the promise of a fresh start.

It is a cue from the seasonal rhythm that we have yet another opportunity to reinvent ourselves as we dare to dream. Make different choices. Build new lives. 

In this spirit of new beginnings, I contemplated what was important to me, my family and my readers this coming year. The best goals choose you and not the other way around. The momentum of authentic enthusiasm works best.

If we learned anything from 2020, life as we know it can be snatched away from us at a moment’s notice. That knowledge creates urgency. It wakes up the soul and spirit from the sleep of apathy.

Right Idea, Wrong Method

Last February, I emerged from an unexpected health crisis determined to embrace and enjoy everything that life has to offer and proceeded to eat my way through the rest of the year.

Almost 20lbs later, I realize that as important as the desire to celebrate life is, I need to find another way to express that enthusiasm so I don’t make myself ill and end up back in the hospital!

Global Pain

In addition to the weight gain, I have been impacted, as we all have, by the anger, blame, criticism, fear and negativity that permeates society these days. Covid issues dominate conversations, and we are all grappling with a myriad of conflicting viewpoints. There is much real and predicted suffering globally, making it challenging to find uplifting topics to think about and express in writing.

Turning 2020 Challenges into New Year Goals

These two problems (weight gain and negativity) inspired a New Year’s resolution list that I am so excited to share with you!

Goal #1: Celebrate Every Day of 2021 (without the excess calories)

In a search for unifying, uplifting writing content, I aspired to celebrate, observe or announce every single special day in 2021. Compiling a list of all the holidays and events from multiple calendars, I started designing and scheduling posts to share online.

Starting on January 1st, all my social media accounts display these celebratory posts. Naively, I had no idea how many simultaneous dates and observances there are. The sheer volume of “holidays” resulted in multiple social media uploads on every channel, every day. It is much more work than I realized, but it’s been fun and exciting, so I’ve decided to rise to the “occasion.” Literally.

I will be sharing personal photos for some events, and for a select few, I will write about more extensively here in my blog. For the most part, though, it will merely be a steady succession of interesting expressions announcing why each day is unique and should be appreciated.

You are welcome to join in by sharing the fun special-day posts with your friends and sharing your celebratory efforts in the comments.

Goal #2: Create and Publish “The Appetite Reset”

I have wanted to offer helpful courses to my readers since my blog’s inception, but between writing blog posts and publishing my first book, I struggled to find the time. 2020 was supposed to be the year I designed an online course, but if you have read my articles this year, you’ll understand why that never happened.

It wasn’t until I started describing my recent weight loss success to interested friends that I realized I had found my first course topic. It was very organic. So many women struggle to control eating habits and lose weight, as I do.