Goals 2022: Wrapping up and moving on

With 2022 quickly making an exit, it’s time for my annual goal wrap-up and review. And then, I am ready to move on!

My overarching goal for 2022 was to focus on the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. It’s been a challenging year (outside of goals) and that means that I didn’t really focus on my overarching goals the way I would have liked to. Instead, the year was focused on survival and grief – and surviving grief.

That said, I did manage to make some progress towards this goal, and I feel that, given the additional challenges I faced, I did well. And, as I’ve said before, these overarching goals are more aspirational than anything else. After all, they are hard to really measure so they are hard to really “meet”. That means that I will carry on with these aims as I move forward into 2023.

My success with my measurable goals was a little easier to see, but some of them were lacking, too. A major reason for this was the death of my mother in January and the knock-on effect on my life “plans” for the year. Mum’s death also meant I did/accomplished a lot of things I wouldn’t have otherwise done. But sometimes life (and death) happens and that means re-focusing priorities.

However, I did manage to meet my running and walking mileage goals and my step counts. I also managed a good year for geocaching and a couple of new personal best run times. So, all in all, I am calling 2022 a success!

Some of those successes include:

Goal: Run 750+ miles, success: I hit my annual mileage goal on Christmas Eve and then kept going for a 2022 total of 780.9 miles. I had a slow start to the year with very little running in January and not much in February, but I did manage to catch up with a couple of “bumper” months.

Goal: 4,500,000+ steps, success: I had a slow start to the year and worried that I wouldn’t be able to make this goal. But by April and May I was catching up and I managed to make the goal with steps to spare. Indeed, I ended 2022 with more than 4,575,000 steps.

Goal: 365+ miles of walking, success: As with last year, this was a relatively easy goal and I managed more than 400 by the end of the year. And that included a couple of very sparse walking months. However, I managed a few good Pentland walks and that really helped me to rack up the miles.

Goal: Find 42 geocaches, success: Indeed, super success for this goal with a cache total of 105. That makes this my biggest year. I hit my primary goal over the summer and just kept going with a cache or two here and there, but it was that 30+ cache day with my friend and his dog that got me into the triple digits. Yay!

With 2023 right around the corner, I am pleased to say that I managed my way through the madness that 2022 threw at me. Whilst I a goal-oriented and love to meet and exceed my goals, I am accepting this year’s changes as part of life and I am not allowing myself to be upset about what I didn’t manage to accomplish. I will, however, aim to accomplish many of my unmet goals for 2023.