2022 goal review and survey

I set up a set of goals for family, health, mind. Unfortunately I didn’t review them beyond first month. Yet, as I go through them, I still accomplished some of them.

FAMILY GOALS

Parenting

• More walks with the girls. Bronze. I did that often in the first half of the year then all the surprises kind of derailed me. I Jakarta, we haven’t found a walking path for evening walks.
• More patience. Work in prepress.
• Listen more and let them talk more. Gold. I am more mindful of carving out time to listen to the girls, at least before bed time when we all lie in bed I. The dark to talk about our day. When they come to me when I’m doing something, more often than not I’ll stop what I was doing and focus on them.
• Grounding. Work in progress. We live in a privileged life which makes it hard to them to live other peoples life. When we travel, I want it to be my holidays too and not educational trip, so we stay in nice hotels and do things we want to do. I’ll have to think of strategies that will teach them other life styles and how lucky we are.
• Read one book with Sofia. Fail.
• Schedule unstructured days to get “bored”. Work in progress. They still have a lot of activities.
• Have more fun moments. Work in progress. When I was stressed out I just wanted to be alone and quiet. 

Lifestyle

• Declutter toys and clothes before our move (mid-2022). Gold.
• Shopping ban of non-essentials. Work in progress. I don’t recall doing impulsive buys but neither mindful buys. I just bought whatever we needed or wanted.
• Try new cuisines: Bronze. Given earlier exit of our old place in manila, we had to eat out more often. Yet, we could have tried to vary restaurant choices. We had too many times of Japanese, pizza, burgers.

Travels

• Whale Shark watching (tentatively Feb). Did not happen because no whale shark at the time.
• El nido for the third time? Done. Loved it.
• Short trips near Manila: hiking, obstacle course, trail run? None.
• Depending where we move to, we will have a big summer trip, either Europe, Argentina, or New Zealand. None due to work commitments but we did go to el nido.
• Then, start traveling around the new country in the second half of 2022. Done. Did a short trip near Jakarta and Bali for the holidays.

MIND GOALS

Technology

• No phone after 6pm. Bronze. I left my phone in the bathroom when sleeping. But I could stop checking it after 6pm more often.
• Limit Social media. Work in progress. I don’t feel out of control of it but could reduce strolling time more.

Meditation: daily 5-10 min. Gold. 

Reading: bronze. I did read consistently until September when life got crazy. 

LIFESTYLE GOALS

Exercise

• Running: Gold. PRed at Berlin Marathon
• Strength training: Bronze.
• Pilates/yoga: Gold

Selfcare

• Massage Gold.
• Take bath on Sundays after long run with epson salt. Silver.
• Skincare. Bronze
• Cold shower: few times a week. Abandoned.

Eating

• January low carb vegan challenge. Gold. But very hard.
• Whole food balanced meals. Silver. Stress eating happened more last quarter due to life stress.
• Ban sugar. Bronze.
• Eat last meal of the day 3 hrs before bed time. Bronze. When possible I did it, but many times I got home later than 6pm.
• Try new recipes. Work in progress.
• Explore new cuisine while traveling. Gold.

And now into the survey from Lisa.

1) What did you do in 2022 that you’d never done before?

Eye surgery. Very scary but so glad I did it

2) Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, a team member from the Philippines. It was a complicated pregnancy, she was in bed since week 28. What a relief.

3) Did anyone close to you die?

No fortunately.

4) What places did you visit?

• Cebu city with Sofia
• Cebu Mactan with the family
• Siem Reap solo
• Baguio
• El Nido
• Jakarta (July) with Lizzy
• Berlin solo
• Jakarta rellocation
• Bali

5) What would you like to have in 2023 that you didn’t have in 2022?

More calm, relaxing days, less worry, less anxiety. I would ask a bit less surprises, not the good ones like the mushroom situation we had in Manila.

6) What dates from 2022 will be etched in your memory forever?

• Nov 25, my ICL surgery day.
• September 25, my Berlin Marathon day that I PRed and gave me hope that I could get faster despite getting older.
• Oct 8, our departure day from Manila, very sad.

7) What was your biggest achievement this year?

Successfully moved the family to Jakarta. Although it was not my first choice career wise, it was a good location for the family. Girls are happy with the new school, our new home, and husband is not complaining, so I guess it was a good move.

8) What was your biggest failure?

I felt I didn’t manage stress well which impacted my mental and physical health. I felt I was in the edge since September, always in firefighter mode. I kept with my meditation, exercise, but those were not enough to manage extra stress in 2022.

9) Did you suffer from illness or injury?

Not physically, but maybe mentally. I was anxious. A few times, I felt I needed to go to the ER, just like those episodes after my first time COVID.

10) What was the best thing you bought?

I don’t recall buying anything particular but I would consider money spent on my travels, especially to El Nido, to Berlin were the best money spent.

11) Where did most of your money go?

Travel.

12) What did you get really, really excited about?

Travels and my eye surgery.

13) What authors did you discover in 2022?

I don’t remember anyone in particular.

14) What do you wish you had done more of?

More reading, more walks with the girls.

15) What do you wish you had done less of?

Worrying about sickness of the family (Lizzy in particular), myself (what if I get blind?).

16) How did you spend your Christmas?

At home with family and new friends.

17) What was your favorite TV program?

I didn’t watch any TV series.

18) What did you want and get?

Not wear glass anymore, especially when running.

19) What did you want and not get?

I wanted to move to the next level in my career but didn’t.

20) What was your favorite film of 2022?

Hmm, I think I’ll go with Top Gun: Maverick. Saw it twice in the theater it was so good! Also recently loved the new Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and enjoyed the Elvis movie this summer. We’ve actually watched quite a lot of movies this year.

21) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? 

Turned 39 and spent the weekend at an indoor waterpark in Wisconsin Dells! Also took a beautiful fall hike that was very memorable for me.

22) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I’d say somehow figuring out how to just feel like I “have it all together”. I always end up feeling like despite my best efforts at planning, organizing things, etc…. I still can’t quite ever achieve a state where life feels like it’s all just smooth sailing. Then again, maybe that’s a myth, or an urban legend. Maybe that doesn’t really exist. 

23) Who kept you sane?

Definitely would say Ivan. He’s soooo much more chill than I am in many ways, and when I get myself all wrapped around the axle or stressed about things, he is so good at bringing me back to reality. (Sometimes by saying things like, “Well, just remember that none of this really matters, because in less than 100 years we’ll all be dead, anyway.) 

24) Who did you miss?

Well, I hate not being able to see my sister more often. I hate that we can’t have a “normal” relationship where we can see each other’s families frequently, or where I can go pick out and drop off gifts for my nieces and nephew, or just be able to experience all the different stages of the kids without huge gaps of time in between. 

I also always miss my childhood best friend. Sounds lame, but I’ve never had another friendship like hers. We’ve grown out of touch over the years, but I think of her often and sooooo miss the friendship we had. 

25) Who was the best new person you met?

Um…. hmm. I don’t know! I guess maybe my co-volunteer coordinator for the swim team?! She was new to me and really nice, and kind of a lifesaver! I also really like the new Data Coordinator my department hired. She’s very cool and fun. 

26) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2022.

Okay, I think I’m getting fatigued from filling out this survey, because I’m not sure what to say. Haha. Um, I think I’ll say: I’ve learned to continue working on just being really content with who I am, and not trying to change myself or hide myself for others. Self-confidence has never been my strongest suit. I think it’s been an ongoing work in progress for a while now, but I think I’ve really made some strides. 

27) Show us one of your favorite photos from the year.

It has to be from el nido, my favorite place in the entire world.