A Belated Resolution Evaluation for 2020

Reluctantly, I recalled that I’ve made a “resolution” post early in 2020 pre-pandemic. I’m slightly shame-faced but not surprised to see that I’ve not achieved most things I set out to do. I should’ve done this a month back, but I guess it’s never too late to do a resolution evaluation.

After all, there are 5 more months to 2020! Wow, where did the first 7 go?

My goals for 2020 were/are:

1. Self-acceptance
2. Simplify my life and reduce waste and plastic use
3. Continue to write and work on my NaNoWriMo 2019 draft
4. Make money from writing and crafting. (Aim: $150 in the first quarter)
5. Become more mindful

Let’s see how I did so far.

Resolution evaluation

1. Self-acceptance

I’m still working on self acceptance. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about social anxiety and it has gotten me thinking about my mental state of mind. I think I’ve overlooked the fact that the constant need to overcome basic fears is particularly tiresome.

To make things worse, I’ve never been supportive of myself. I’ve always been critical and well, pretty much like a disapproving parent to this little kid who really couldn’t help feeling freaked out by everything. At least I’m aware of this problem, now it’s time to change and take on a more nurturing role.

I think I’ll have to look at all the things I’m doing and cut myself some slack. But I knew this wasn’t going to be resolved in a year.

Progress: 5%

2. Simplify my life and reduce waste and plastic use

I haven’t simplified my life. If anything, I’ve complicated it by starting an Etsy store. Well, that was essential for me to hit my 4th resolution.

So I’ve added more work and more social media hours to my days. You already know, the latter is HORRIBLE for simplifying life!

I’ve added more plastic waste because I need to order supplies online. But I intend to reuse my plastic packaging to send packages to Singapore.

At least I managed to get the compost bin started! So I’ve been directing food waste away from the waste stream. I’ve also did a round of decluttering earlier this year. Partial win!

I’m going to simplify my social media routines and really find out what works for my type of content… I also intend to see what else I can prune from my life because I have accumulated a tonne of stuff for my new venture.

Progress: 15%

3. Continue to write and work on my NaNoWriMo 2019 draft

I think I’ve managed to keep up the writing, at least according to the Grammarly Insights I receive every week. I’ve managed to publish a post a week so far, which is something I never thought I’ll be able to do.

Unfortunately, the NaNoWriMo draft I intended to work on is still untouched. Boo! Still, I’ll take this as a 50% completion.

Progress: 50%

4. Make money from writing and crafting. Aim: $150 in first quarter

Nope, I didn’t achieve this. At the time of writing the resolution, I had two income sources: Adsense and Medium.

In June, I switched to auto-ads on Adsense, and that greatly improved my earnings. Please accept my apologies for the increased number of ads.

I’m pretty bad at creating content that people read on Medium, so I make enough to cover the monthly fee and maybe a coffee. I believe I didn’t breakeven this month. Boo!

But I’ve added another income stream! I’ve re-joined the Amazon Affiliate program.

For the past 7 months, I made $113.83 from these three sources.

It isn’t much but there is progress. I’ve also made a sale on my Etsy store thanks to the sweet and super kind Emily from thatweirdgirllife.com!

Even though I didn’t meet my earning target, I think there’s a small potential of a small living between the blog and the store. Hopefully, it’ll lead to more than $50 a month soon.

Is it worth it? Well, I think this is a better arrangement at the moment.

Thanks to COVID-19 and millions out of work, I don’t harbor any hopes of landing a job. Besides, I have this nagging suspicion that it’ll cost me more than I’ll make if I fell sick. My health insurance plan is pretty basic.

To be honest, the prospect of working also frightens me after being home for such a long time. I’ll have to use it as a motivation to work harder on my ventures.

Progress: 30%

5. Mindfulness

I think this is where I really failed. It shouldn’t come as a surprise seeing that this year had been particularly eventful, and I’ve had to worry about income more than ever.

Besides, now that I have the shop to manage too, I’m on social media apps a lot. So I really have to come up with a better plan and stick to it.

I also haven’t done any gratitude journals. Argh! In times like this, I wish I was a driven and productive person. But I alternate between chill, focused and anxious for the most part.

Progress: 0%

Overall progress: 20%

Conclusion

Does that mean I have 5 months to do the rest of the 80%?

I’m glad I did this evaluation. I thought I hadn’t achieved anything, but I’ll take 20%. It also cleared my mind about what my aims are and where I am with each resolution.

I recommend that you evaluate your year or your resolutions too! Consider it a fresh slate! Evaluating resolutions also help us identify what we’re doing wrong or not doing enough of, and what we’re doing well. That last part is important.

To be fair, I worked hard for my blog and the shop. My mistake was definitely not being focused enough, but the problem isn’t with distraction. It was worrying too much. I’m always wondering if I should give up and get a job, whether I’m even cut out for it. In other words, I’m a pain.

What you put your attention on grows stronger.

I had forgotten about this mantra and fed my worry more than anything else. Now it’s mean and chubby. Ugh.

Moving forward

Resolution edit:

1. Self-acceptance
2. Simplify my life and reduce waste and plastic use
3. Continue to write and work on my NaNoWriMo 2019 draft
4. Make money from writing and crafting
   Aug: $50, Sep: $120, Oct: $200, Nov: $300, Dec: $420
5. Become more mindful
6. Reduce worrying

I’m exhausted from worrying. And I know it’s pointless. The anxiety is just like a swarm of gnats relentlessly circling me. I can’t even sleep well. So yeah, I’m adding one resolution.

Come to think of it, coming up with resolutions did orientate my mind a bit. I may not have achieved much, but I stuck pretty closely to the itinerary.

Did you make resolutions for 2020 too? If you did, did you do an evaluation? Let me know how you fared! If you didn’t, well, anytime is a good time to set resolutions!