Resolution progress January 2026

This is about progress not perfection. Sharing here helps me stay accountable to myself and be okay with struggling sometimes. 

1. Put more away towards retirement - Investing in myself first. Pay rent then pay myself for retirement. I've doubled what I am automatically putting away towards my future because I would like to retire some day. This does mean I have to be more aware of how I spend money on other things though. 

2. Travel more - I've booked a trip for February break- not much time to travel in January, and frankly too sick to try.

3. Don't cry over men - I failed at this this month. Grief and healing, and process aren't linear. 

4. Find joy in my work again - So I was sick. Honestly my masking was a 2020 levels. It wasn't the flu, it wasn't covid, but I had junky lungs and really struggled to breathe or talk most days. So focus was more on not falling supper behind than it was on joy. Ended the month with several work related headaches and a lot of disappointment- hopefully February is better. 

5. Get rid of things I haven't worn or used in the last year including books-especially books- I guess I should probably change this to ESPECIALLY BEAUTY. 

    Things that have left my home beyond the paper, cardboard and other trash found in the cleaning process. 

11 books, 6 bras, 8 tops, 3 dresses, 4 bottoms, 2 Randoms household things, 1 jump suit, 1 jacket, 1 puzzle, 2 unopened beauty product, 2 penlights and 1 suitcase= 42 items out

Threw away 61 Make-up/skin care products that are 1. Expired 2. I don't use any more 3. Are not my shade. And this was only 1 drawer. I've got 2 more to go in February but its really overwhelming so it's also okay to space it out. 

103 Items total

The big goal is to move next fall into a more affordable place, which likely means smaller so I'd like to reduce my stuff by at least 300 items before that move. I know I will quickly reach a point that it's hard but right now its feeling pretty easy so I think I am going to set a new goal of 500 items. 

I'm also in a use it up mode- I know now just how many shampoos and dry shampoos I have and I wont need to buy anything in that category until after a move. I used up 1 hair care product and 1 lipstick this month.

I also added a 6th goal this year and that's continue learning- I got myself a subscription to Great Courses Plus after spending time at the holidays listening to a music course with my dad and have enjoyed the lecture series on a variety of topics. Also being home sick it's a good distraction from Doom Scrolling. I set a goal of 1 hour per day in the month. I did 29 hours in January across 59 episodes. So far I have enjoyed lessons on the following topics:

• The Real Ancient Egypt - 2/5   Interesting topic- but didn't go in a timeline order so it was very difficult for my to follow along. Completed this series
  
• American Musical Heritage  - 5/5. Wonderful overview course on the musical traditions of the United States.  Good lecture and performances. Completed this series
• England, the 1960's and the triumph of the Beatles Completed series 3/5- One of my favorite college courses was "The life and Times of the Beatles" taught by a science professor who picked up an adjunct course for fun he loved it and that came out in his lessons, assignments and feedback. I was hoping this would be similar or refresh some of that course. It's okay, but my professor at UMD was better and that was an async course. 
  
• The History and Archeology of the Bible 2/5  really wanted to like this, I find the subject interesting, but the lecturer was not very exciting and I found myself falling asleep during most lectures and needing to go back an re-listen.  I've listened to 11/24 lectures so far. 
• Great Music History of the 20th Century  The guidebook is critical for this course- CopyRight means that they cannot play the videos or songs inside the course- which means you need the URLs at the end of the online provided guidebook. I don't personally mind this and am building out a library of music for this course- Honestly not all my taste- So I'm not listening straight through- I'm jumping around to things I'm interested in. 2.5/5 so far. 
• National Parks - By National Geographic This is my special interest- so I am very knowledgeable on this content already and I still learned new things though I've been to 7 of the 12 parks discussed. I strongly recommend this series. Also it will make it easier for my friends and family to talk about my special interest with me- so shameless plug.  5/5. 
  
• America's State Parks- By National Geographic - The man lecturing claims to be an expert but as someone whose been to a lot of these places, his pronunciation sounds like someone who has no idea what he's talking about as he is saying words phonetically that I promise you no local would every say that way.  They also don't include any MN state parks when talking about the Great lakes, which is nothing but a disappointment. Certainly good to learn about potential travel opportunities for my cross country drives, but has several short comings. 3/5 So far.