Welcome 2021!

Today we welcomed in the new year of 2021! The last year has been one that none of us will ever forget. We have been forever changed by 2020 for so many reasons. My husband and I had birthdays and anniversaries in November & December and we didn’t really celebrate, nor did we celebrate Christmas or even New Years’ Eve in the way we’ve done in past years. So today we decided to make it a special day and really focus on starting off the year with good intentions and a positive outlook. We spent time outside with our dogs, had a BBQ (called a Braai here in South Africa), took a dip in the pool and even played some board games which we rarely do. Since we both are self-employed we are used to spending all day on the computer and having less structured days but our intentions for 2021 are different.

Traveling in 2021

We have never done New Year’s resolutions but we do want to set our goals since its’ been a chaotic past year. Thought I’d share our 2021 goals and maybe you can relate?! For travel, we’re going to be doing a lot more road trips and staying in self-catering places and National Parks vs. hotels. This gives us the freedom to cook our own food and to also be away from others. Staying in the National Parks is a great option as you’re literally surrounded by nature on all sides so daily walks through the forests, incredible sounds at night..it’s a win-win. As much as we’d like to work on that bucket list like we have been, we are going to explore our own back yard until we feel that international flights are less of a risk. I missed seeing my family in California last year as well as my annual girl’s weekend so I’m hoping I’ll be able to make that in 2021 but we will just have to see what happens. The goal is to be flexible, and don’t look at things not happening as bad…it just is!

Goals for 2021

For 2021 we’ve decided to get into routines, something we’re not very good at!  Sticking to a schedule will be a challenge as we’ve both been self-employed for many, many years and honestly neither of us set an alarm clock to wake up in the morning. I’ve gotten so used to waking up when I want to (it’s usually early I swear) but getting used to waking up with the jolt of an alarm clock will be a challenge!  I have actually been setting it to wake up at 6am every week or so to get to the grocery store before the crowds so I’m already slowly adding that to my routine.  Next is to schedule workout times, times to walk the dogs, etc. We’ve tried to do this before but have not been very successful I must admit. I used to love going to the gym, I always have. When I was younger I was a trainer so I’m very comfortable there, with all the machines and like just putting my headphones on and doing my thing-it’s always been my “me time”. I miss that quite a bit especially since I’m not good at trying to workout at home (and have zero equipment). I think part of our failure for sticking to a routine is that we kept thinking things would get back to normal and we’d just wait but that has not happened so it’s time for a reality check. Here in South Africa the president took us from Lockdown Level 1 (which was the least restrictive) back up to Level 3 earlier this week, so time to face the fact that we’ve got to move on and make lasting changes.

So we have workout times, dog walks, trying to make sure we have breakfast, lunch and dinner…we seem to always skip a meal?! 

What are YOUR goals for 2021, I’d love to hear about them!