Ah, how I love this time of year – a time to recap the past year but also to set goals and intentions for the year ahead.
I do a truly extensive recap each and every year.
I use my own Let’s Do This guide, Susannah Conway‘s Unravelling the year workbook, the shining year life workbook and this year, just because it was there, I also added the Holstee reflection workbook.
And I check my spreadsheets, Fitbit stats, etc.
Dion asked me why I go through all this hassle and I said because I feel like I can close off the old year only when I’ve taken stock thoroughly.
Then it’s really easy to set goals and start the new year in a positive frame of mind, leaving the past in the past and looking toward the new year with hope.
Biggest (unexpected) change
Buying and selling a house. It was unplanned but a blessing nonetheless. I remembered anew how much I hate packing and unpacking. On the bright side, there’s been a lot of little corners and spaces to organise 🙂 And the view has kept me focussed throughout.
Family
We had a good year. Kids did well in school and adjusted to Grade 1 really well. We also had no problems with them adjusting to the new house except for a few “I hear strange sounds” within the first week or two.
We managed to take two holidays – yay!
Fitness and health
I only lost about a kilo this year but I have consistently attended my Zumba class on a Saturday morning and I feel fitter than I did this time last year. I did two Spanish exams which took a bit of a toll on my ankles but I made it. I reached my goal of 52 photowalks on the 29th Dec (shew!) but best of all, I maintained an average of 7 hours 32 minutes sleep in 2016. I’m a night owl so it takes concerted effort for me to prioritise sleep over getting things done 🙂
I did have a numb toe for about 2 months of the year which was really frustrating and scary too. I hope this winter doesn’t catalyse it again.
Fun
The photowalks goal mentioned above was both for fitness and fun. I made sure I took a photo on each walk, whether with the iphone or my Canon. I didn’t post them all but you can have a look at about half of them here. For the record, I’m not setting myself a goal like this for 2017.
I read a ton this year. In fact, 97 books – it is the highest number of books I’ve read as an adult in a single year so yay me. I can (again!) give a big shout-out to Audible for 14 of those books and 3 of my top. My goal was 70.
I had 4 crafternoons this year – afternoons with friends while crafting and chatting.
Finances
Shocking. The money flew all around what with the house purchase and sale, and payments to lawyers, City of Joburg, handymen, plumbers and electricians.
On the bright side, it has all worked out okay but I really don’t like all this unbridled spending on (super) boring things.
Once the transaction is finalised on our old house in about 1 – 2 weeks, I will do a proper recon so we can move forward.
And that’s my recap!
I’d give 2016 a 7 out of 10, largely due to the house stress.
How was your 2016 on a scale of 1 – 10, and why?
Read more about the power of the annual review here.
yicaiglobal
Organising Queen’s recap of 2016