Hello! Happy New Year! I hope you are off to a great start to the new year so far. If you aren’t, don’t sweat it. But get on the ball. I’m always excited when the new year comes because it’s a fresh start. It really bugs me to see people on social media always speak so negatively about people using the new year to do new things. In my opinion, some people need that push and excitement to start their goals. For example, getting healthy and going to the gym. I saw someone speak so horrible about people about going in the gym and then after a couple of weeks, they stop. Well, I wonder if they ever stop to think why that person stopped? Maybe they didn’t have the motivation or SUPPORT they needed. So if you see someone wanting to make changes with their body, HELP them. Be their accountability partner. Support and uplift them. Everyone needs support. Stop saying that crap.

Before you can work towards any goal, you have to be your best self. Around my birthday, I reflect on the year, go back to old journal entries, to see how I reacted to life treating me. I look at old journal entries, and I write down all the things that I can work on within myself and things I can do differently. You know what, it was a slap in the face from me to me. And I really needed it. It lead me to sharing a few tips on how to be my best self this year and you can read here.

So I decided to share a few goals that I NEED to accomplish this year. My word for this year is COMMITTMENT. Although I won’t share everything with you (gotta keeps some things to myself), I wanted to share some goals that I can write down and check off throughout the year.

• Learn to swim– yes, I’m a grown woman, and I can’t swim. Look, it wasn’t on my parents to-do list when I was younger and although I took lessons in college, I didn’t keep up with it. I’m learning swimming is equivalent to breathing (lol!) so this year, at my nearest YMCA, I am taking lessons.
• Network/Attend More Blogging Events- I’m a nervous wreck and a serious closet introvert, lol. Is that even a thing? Okay, so you know how you feel like you are desperate to socialize and get out to meet people, and when you do, you’re like….naw, I’m good. That’s me! My fiancé thinks I’m faking because when we’re out with people, I’m a social butterfly. My goal is to attend 3 blogging events this year and network with people.
• Read More– I just finished watching the entire series of Sex and the City and I am fried from watching TV. Reading is fundamental! It also stimulates the brain. I did okay last year with reading but I want to take it up a notch. There’s nothing like getting lost in someone else’s story. My goal is to review every book I read this year.
• Travel More– Traveling is something I want to do more this year, especially with Benjamin. We have the best time together and he tolerates my shopping (well, almost!). When we wrote our goals for this year, we learned that a lot of travel is included and we’re super excited.
• Start that business girl!-I don’t know how many “faux business plans” I wrote this year, but I wrote some interesting things. After several nights of researching and scoping out competitors and looking at the market, I’m ready to bring one of them to life.
• Learn to sew– I’ve had a sewing machine in my Amazon cart for over a month now, and I’m going to get it. My sister-in-law and cousin encouraged me to do it so I’m gonna! When I’m shopping for certain things, I can never find exactly what I want because they are either too expensive, too small or sold out.
• Invest more with CurlswithStyle– In 2017, I decided to put a little effort into my blog and I was able to land a sponsored blog post (how cool!) and I met some cool people. I’ve seen what consistency and dedication can do in ONE YEAR, so this year, I’m taking a huge leap of faith to do more. I’m investing in better equipment, more time to produce amazing content and hiring a photographer (I’ll still have Benjamin though).

what are your goals?