A Review of 2013 Goals

On January 1st of 2013, I set three goals for myself. These were:

1. Spend less time on the computer. Don't get me wrong, I do love my work. I just need to rediscover the world outside of cyberspace.

2. Work on further building friendships. I have some horrid social anxiety going on over here. That combined with social awkwardness, and it's just a big ol' mess. I'm hoping to continue working through that. I used to love social interactions. While I don't expect I'll be at that point again, I'd at least like to get to where I can be comfortable in social settings.

3. Develop family ties. That's one that I don't know how to begin with. I've been focused so hard just on making it that I've neglected family ties outside of the nuclear family. I'd like to start building those, if possible. I just have to figure out where to start is all.

I think that over all, I have been quite successful. For the first goal, I moved my work computer to a separate room. I set schedules for when I was working and when I wasn't. Then, as difficult as it was, I stayed with those schedules. I was a workaholic less, and started finding more me.

I started volunteering a lot more in 2013. We also visited the great outdoors, went on a cross country road trip, tried new foods and did new things completely. This year, I look forward to my husband's promise to take us to the beach, and I look forward to camping with the kids. My daughter and I may even take another cross country trip.

For the second, I am still working on building friendships. I go to more meetups in Austin, and try to make it a point to visit others at least every couple of weeks. The social anxiety is doing better. This is something that I need to continue to work on in 2014.

Lastly, developing family ties has been difficult, though I've put forward a strong effort in all directions. It's always been just me and my kids for as long as I can remember. It's difficult to stretch back out of that. I am learning, however, to respect one's wishes. When a person makes it clear that they don't want that family connection, I back off a bit. 

I think that in 2014, I'd like to work on strengthening family ties a bit more. Even if the end result is just to have strong friendships instead. Without the effort though, we'll get what we've always gotten. Nothing.

As you look back over your goals for 2013, what were you able to accomplish and what needs more work?