Setting monthly goals for January 2021. I love setting monthly goals to stay focused on what matters most and what I most want to prioritize year round.
Happy New Year!!! What a year we just finished! I’m not eager to relive THAT any time soon. I’m really hoping that 2021 will be a year we all look back on more fondly.
Either way, I picked now as my word of the year for 2021, because it reminds me to make the most of whatever circumstances we end up in.
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Setting Monthly Goals for 2021
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I’ve been setting monthly goals for years now! I don’t usually achieve all of them, although the months when I do are amazing. I still love the process of setting them as a way of forcing myself to sit down and think about how my life is going. This way, every month I consider what I love and what I want to change.
Looking Back at December 2020
We had a lot going on at the end of 2020, so I kept my December goals simple. I started off by organizing the house, and enjoyed Christmas traditions with my family. We also enjoyed a quiet New Year’s Eve, staying up until midnight since the kids wanted to. We don’t usually do that, and I’m so tired today! I’m definitely not a night owl.
I didn’t sew any masks for that tween face mask tutorial, but I did enjoy sewing these medical dolls for my two youngest daughters. 2020 was a medical-heavy year for my family. Besides the ongoing pandemic all over the news and impacting how we go about our daily lives, their dad was diagnosed with cancer and their grandpa had a heart attack leading to two surgeries. When the brilliant LiEr of ikatbag.com created a medical doll pattern, I decided to make them to offer my kids some play therapy tools. As you can tell from the photo, the dolls are a hit! Don’t sew? Right now she still has a couple of sample dolls in her Etsy shop.
Our county was sent into Shelter in Place days before my son’s birthday party, destroying plans with friends. Fortunately he was a good sport about celebrating just with us instead. Hopefully things will be different for his next birthday!
Mike finished what, if we are lucky, will be all of his radiation. He was super tired at first, but is starting to feel better. He has an appointment in January to find out if they need to do more.
January 2021 Monthly Goals
Remember how I taught middle school music last year? I told them to find a replacement for me for this year, because we were supposed to be in England.
Well, the replacement quit and, thank you pandemic, we are not in England in planned. So when the principal called me right before Christmas asking if I could possibly come back, I said yes.
It’s going to be a stretch. I’m homeschooling two children, and we already had three people on Zoom meetings all day. But I’m only live teaching (well, over Zoom) ten hours a week. I’m still teaching full time, but the other hours are dedicated to meetings and assigning and grading work asynchronously. Lily and Anna are amazingly self disciplined homeschoolers. So hopefully we will make this work! I do love the school and the students, and I knew that if I didn’t say yes they would likely lose music classes for the rest of the year. I also got permission to teach whatever, and however, I wanted, so it could be super fun.
So, goals…
- Start off teaching again, focusing on what the students are most interested in learning. This is a luxury that elective teachers have that core subject teachers often do not. Focus area: mindfulness and education
- Keep things at home as organized as possible. I am so glad I made organization a December goal! Focus area: mindfulness
- Swim or walk every day. We are lucky enough to have a heated neighborhood pool that stays open year round – California perks. I swim most weekdays at 6am, and it keeps me sane. Focus area: gratitude
- Keep sewing or doing other crafts on a daily basis. I started doing that in December, and was really happy with the results in terms of my own happiness. Some days I spent a lot of time, but mostly this was a few minutes a day, but the time adds up to a meaningful amount. Focus area: gratitude
- Continue to prioritize family time. This is going to be harder with a full time teaching job on top of everything else, but it’s important. Focus area: mindfulness and gratitude
I’m stopping there. Nothing ambitious because we still have Mike’s oncology appointments and I’m back to teaching.
What are your January goals?
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MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
I love those medical dolls, and was seriously tempted to buy them, but I already have her other medical doll pattern, and my kids aren’t really as into dolls now.
I’m trying to work and find a little bit of time for crafting of some sort every day.
It can be hard to make the time, but I find that even a couple of minutes makes a difference with crafting on a daily basis.
I feel like I barely squeaked under the limit of my kids being into dolls with this newest creation of LiEr’s. It’s a good thing I have those two younger girls!
Those dolls turned out AMAZING, and so timely. It’s excellent you can teach music to kids who wouldn’t otherwise get a chance, and teach in the way you choose. It is a lot you have going on, not just physically – being in the right places at the right times – but also mentally and emotionally. I’m so glad you have (outdoor!) exercise and crafting scheduled into your days to help you cope with all the rest of it. It will be a strong indicator whether you can keep teaching or not if you are able to maintain that healthy schedule for yourself. I hope for everyone’s sake that that’s the case!
Thank you, Elisa! It’s going to be a challenge, and I really appreciate your well wishes.