Last year, I set up a couple of goals for what I hoped to achieve in 2023. Here’s how I did with each of those goals:
1. Getting a different job
This was the most important goal I had at the beginning of the year, and by May, I managed to achieve it when I got hired to work at Last Chance, a store affiliated with Nordstrom, around the end of April. This allowed me to leave a job where my schedule was unstable and the pay was low and to start one where I get to work full-time, get paid four dollars more than I did before, and qualify for more benefits, including paid time off and health insurance. Although I still hope to eventually start a career, I’m still glad to be working someplace else where I’m better off than I was a year ago.
2. Learn how to do important tasks
Due to what’s required of me at work, I can say that I’ve learned a bit about customer service on the days when I’m assisting at the store’s designer shop and fitting room, all of which involve giving directions to customers and providing them with assistance. Since I have worked directly with people before, this isn’t as difficult as it could have been otherwise, but it can still be a challenge if a customer doesn’t want to follow the store’s rules or if we have certain items that aren’t in the best of shape.
Outside of work, one important thing I managed to do for the first time was to take a train downtown by myself. It was during a time when my parents went on a second vacation to Cancun by themselves in September, and one of the things I wanted to do the most was visit downtown Chicago on my own. It was something that felt a bit intimidating, but which I still managed to do easily enough. As for tasks involving household chores, I’m still pretty much doing the same as I’ve done before. I’ve tried helping whenever I can, but due to my busy schedule, I usually just do the bare minimum. Among other things, I’m still not great at cooking, and I don’t know if I could get any better at this year. Yet I’ll still try seeing if I can change some things about this this year.
3. Spend time with others outside the family
This is probably an unusual goal for someone to have, but given my situation in the past, I did think this was something I had to work towards. As was the case in the past, this usually meant just going to the movies or to the mall with friends during my days off. And given how much busier I’ve been recently, this is sometimes all I can do when I’m with friends.
Yet there were some things I did somewhat differently, such as going to an evening event with friends closer to my age (something I usually only did with older friends before) and going to downtown Chicago with another friend by train. And due to having more money, I was able to spend New Year’s Eve at an elegant banquette with the friend I did the evening event with. Perhaps at some point I’d like to attempt going to other places with friends, such as attending a concert, going to a convention, or even travel if we get the chance.
4. Get back to writing fiction regularly
This was unfortunately something I had to put aside when I started working full time. Writing this newsletter has resulted in dedicating more time to writing essays and reviews instead of fiction, with the latter being something I don’t have often have the time for anymore. This isn’t really a good thing when I have a novel I still need to edit and several stories for which I only wrote a few chapters of before putting them aside for years. Perhaps one of my main goals for this year will be to dedicated at least two times a week to working on my original fiction whenever I can. Of course, most people don’t publish their first novel until they’re past the age of 30, so I may still have some time at the age of 29, but once you have an idea for a story, it’s better to try completing it as soon as you can rather than putting it aside for ages.
5. Increase the number of books I read
Now this is something I managed to improve upon significantly last year. Whereas in 2022, I only logged 20 books on Goodreads, I managed to complete 50 books in 2023, which as far as I know is the most books I’ve ever read in a year. This included a variety of books ranging from classics like Orlando and Notes from the Underground to current novels like How to Sell a Haunted House and Big Swiss. I also got my first Kindle and started listening to audiobooks more regularly, all of which helped me get more reading done. It may seem difficult to read more when you’re working full time, but I get it done by reading on the bus, during breaks, and as much as I can during my days off. What I did end up doing less of last year was watching TV shows, something I always enjoyed doing before but for which I have much less time and interest for now.
6. Try watching different types of movies in theaters
While I watched less TV shows last year, I did watch a greater variety of movies. It started when I got the Letterboxd app in January, in which you can log the movies you watch. This resulted in me logging nearly everything I watched just as I have already done with books for years, and seeing the many things which those I follow have watched has encouraged me to try all sorts of different films, especially when it comes to new releases. I got to watch both Barbie and Oppenheimer in theaters last summer (although not the same time, as many others did), as well as smaller releases like Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, Talk to Me, and The Holdovers. Another notable thing about my viewing habits in theaters though is that I didn’t watch anything related to Disney in theaters last year, including animated films like Elemental and Wish, the live action The Little Mermaid, or any of the Marvel releases. It wasn’t so much because I was determined to not as because I just wasn’t interested enough in them, and in some cases, I just couldn’t find the time to watch them.
7. Travel outside of the country or to someplace I’ve never been to before
I traveled only once last year when my family and I went to Cancun for a couple days in August. Although it has wasn’t ever an ideal destination for me and the trip was short, I did enjoy my time there. Going to Mexico City in late February was also a good experience, since we got to stay with my stepdad’s family and go to several different places while we were there. However, I didn’t get the chance to go to different states at all, so visiting a state I’d never been to before, such as New York or any other east coast state, wasn’t something I got to do last year. And I’m still wanting for my chance to visit countries in different continents. I don’t know for certain if it’s something I can do this year, but given the many other things I got to accomplish last year, perhaps it’s a possibility.
Now, do I have any goals for this year? There isn’t too much I intend to be fully committed to, but I would like to start saving up money so I can eventually move out and live on my own in the future, remain open to learning different things both at home and at work, continue reading and writing a bit more whenever I can, and maybe travel to a different country if I get the chance. And as with last year, what I want to do is make at least some progress towards all this rather than set up a specific number or time, because what matters the most to me is to improve on what I do each year.