As you’ve probably noticed, I’m late (more like missing) the party and haven’t yet posted my 2024 goals. Here’s a hint, as well as some background on why it’s taking so long.

I’ll start with the big “why” right away. 2023 proved to be a year that has caught me unaware many times, and I’ve been facing doubts in many aspects of my life. I’ve faced the worst writer’s block ever – stretching for over half a year. I’ve faced doubts about my personal life. I’ve struggled with motivation. And while things are better now, I still struggle with figuring some things out.

Writing

My biggest failure of 2023 for sure. I had hoped to have the second book done – or close to it. The last round of beta reading was supposed to be a push towards some final polish. Instead, it only revealed that I – once again – overshot the goal with some changes I made in the previous round of edits. Since then, I’ve felt like finding the middle point is impossible. And even putting the few ideas I had into practice was like trying to mow the lawn with my bare hands. A lot of effort and very little progress. I’ve managed to re-write two chapters right after the new year, and maybe what I need is to stop overthinking and just look for simple solutions. But given that overthinking is in my nature…

Thus, it’s very hard to give myself any goal on this front. With all that in mind, my hope of trying to add more art – in the form of drawing simple sketches of the characters – wasn’t even attempted.

Reading

I had a strong start to the year – which I often have – but writer’s block and creative burnout eventually affected my reading as well. I seemed to not know what kind of story I’d like to read next (which was rarely a problem for me before) and managed the 20 books goal only barely – finishing it on the 30th December.

That said, I’m keeping the reading goal for 2024 at 20 books. Still aiming to keep reading mostly by self-published authors.

Hiking

Hiking was definitely a winner, despite countless setbacks: getting severely exhausted from 5km of trudging knee-deep through freshly fallen snow in February, getting rain-soaked twice in June, taking my parents on a “warm up” hikes (separately due to availability conflict) in July which ended with both of them struggling with pain from older injuries, getting noticeable sunburnt the same month, and overheating to the point of being airlifted to the hospital during my August week-long trip.

At the same time, it was also a year of major “victories” – I managed more winter hikes, I managed to be consistent throughout the year, and improved my personal best both in length (after 10 years) and difficulty (around 3 years, I think). Eventually, with a strong end of the year, I also set up a new year-long best, beating the target “around 800km” with the final distance of 1109km.

Thus, I’m feeling confident in this aspect, and my plan for 2024 is to, hopefully, reach 1000km/year for the third year in a row. And, if things go well, I’ll try to push my personal best in length to 40km (my current record is 38km).

Personal

I’m once again thinking about some exercise routine. My at-home attempts lacking guidance back in autumn 2022 didn’t seem to be doing much, so I’m looking into some other options.

As I mentioned in my farewell to 2023, the last year had me facing more questions than answers about where I might see myself heading when it comes to my love life (well, lack of it so far). At the beginning of 2023, I was maybe way too ready to just put things to ice indefinitely and accept that I might, very likely, just stay single forever. What followed (mentioned in the linked post) had me question that.

Being in a relationship has always felt more like a dream rather than a possible reality to me, yet I was left – during and after a year full of doubts – wondering whether it’s something I’d like to pursue and, if yes, then how much. It does feel like a chicken-egg scenario – with no relationship experience, I’m not sure if it’s worth pursuing, but I won’t get that answer without first-hand experience…

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So, these are my thoughts – and some goals – going into 2024. I don’t dare to guess what challenges – expected or unexpected – will the year bring. But I hope I’ll overcome them. And I hope the same for anyone reading this.