Top 10 things I want to achieve in 2022
Top 10 things I want to achieve in 2022
Oh hiiiii 2022! Nice to meet ya!
Not to put too much pressure on you, but we’ve all got a year of epic plans ahead so why not play ball and give everyone the kind of year they’ve been dreaming about for the last two years, yeah?
Seriously though, as any new year begins, it’s a natural point of forward thinking for most of us. I love how the new year feels. So full of hope and optimism, thinking about what we we’d like to achieve over the next 12 months.
I don’t plan to make 2022 “my” year or create a “new” me. I’m taking the simple approach of outlining the top 10 things I want to achieve around health and wellness, finances, blogging, travel and relationships.
I hope this post inspires you to think about what goals you’d like to set yourself this year and what plans you’re going to put in place to make 2022 a great year!
Here are the top 10 things I want to achieve in 2022.
Goal 1: Health and wellness
1) Lose my lockdown weight
I started the review of my 2021 goals off strong with an immediate fail…weight loss! 😂
During the endless months of lockdown in 2020 sitting on my arse, I went from gaining the “Quarantine 15” to fully letting go and gaining over two stone.
In 2020, I ate whatever got me through the long work days and months on end being stuck as home.
I’m sure a lot of people can relate to this. But with so much going on in the world and bigger things to worry about I just stopped taking care of myself.
But at the start of 2021 I decided it was time to change.
For me it was less about the numbers on the scale and more about dealing with what had led to the weight gain in the first place: bad food choices, no exercise and poor work-life balance.
In 2021, I didn’t follow through with a complete overhaul but I did make small changes a bit at a time that I knew would be more sustainable.
I started exercising more, going for long hikes in the countryside and eating less sugar and processed food. I also trained for a half marathon and gradually lost 10 pounds over the course of the year.
It’s not the grand transformation I was hoping for but I actually made great progress upon reflection!
They say that slow and steady wins the race so I’m keeping up the running, continuing to work on making healthier food choices and finishing this goal in 2022.
2) Run a marathon
Last year I set myself the goal of running a half marathon to help keep me accountable. I wanted to lose all my lockdown weight and get pre-pandemic fit again.
Well, I stuck to the training plan and came over the finish line at the Great North Run, proud to have completed the world’s largest half marathon!
I was on such a high after the Great North Run, I knew a marathon had to be next!
I’d already done three half marathons and if I didn’t do the marathon now, then when? Plus, I’d already trained up to 12 miles for the Great North Run, so I was already technically half way through marathon training as it was.
I’ve now signed up to the Manchester Marathon in April but I’m nervous as HELL.
I’m not going for a time. My only goals are to finish within the six hour cut off to get an official finish time and medal without collapsing!
Wish me luck.
Goal 2: Finances
3) Buy a house
In 2021 I set myself the goal of maxing out my LISA for the year in order to fulfil my dream of finally buying my first house.
At the time of setting this goal it sounded so grown up. But now that I’ve achieved it, it doesn’t feel like that big a deal at all!
For anyone who doesn’t know, LISA stands for ‘Lifetime ISA’ which is essentially a ‘Help to Buy’ scheme.
You can pay up to £4,000 a year into it and the government will give you a 25% bonus based on what you have put in. It’s specifically designed to help first-time buyers purchase their first home.
If you max out your LISA before the end of each tax year with the full allowance of £4,000, the government gives you £1,000 for free.
And that’s exactly what I did.
Now I’m officially ready to buy in 2022 and I couldn’t be more excited!
Goal 3: Blogging
4) Publish two new blog posts per week
Through the first lockdown in 2020 I managed to publish a new blog post every Monday whilst working full-time.
Unfortunately, the stresses of my then job began to take their toll and as the UK ended up in and out of tier systems and further lockdowns, I found my heart just wasn’t in it.
But after starting a new job at the beginning of 2021 that allowed me to have a designated blogging day every week, I rekindled this goal and set my sights on posting once a week again.
As you may have read in my “Review of my 2021 goals: What did I achieve?” post, this goal ended up being a roll-over. Despite dropping down to four days a week in my new job, my extra “day off” quickly became a free-for-all of sleeping in, training and running errands.
I looked back on my editorial calendar for 2021 and I only stuck to updating Footsteps on the Globe once a week 36% of the time!
But I’ve well and truly had enough of my own excuses.
I’m determined to make a change in 2022. I’m even going to step it up and set myself the challenge of posting two new blog posts a week on Monday and Thursday.
So, why double the goal if I couldn’t stick to it last year you may ask? Well, as the great Albert Einstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” So I’ve made the decision to up the ante to ensure I commit to working on the blog every day to grow it to where I want it to be.
Will life get in the way sometimes? Of course it will. But the perpetual cycle of starting and stopping ends now.
5) Go to Traverse
For anyone who is unfamiliar with Traverse, it’s a UK travel blogging conference which is hosted by Traverse Events every year in a different European location.
Going to conferences like this are such a great way to invest in your skills, boost campaign opportunities and get re-inspired. I was lucky to get to go to Traverse last year, which was my first trip abroad in over two years!
It felt AMAZING to be somewhere (anywhere!) new again and I loved exploring Palma in Spain. Whilst I was there, I took classes on SEO, story-telling through video, brand building, affiliate marketing and loads more!
I learned so much and it felt great to finally let off some steam at the nightly parties after being stuck at home for so long.
I’ll definitely be going to more blogger events in 2022 but attending Traverse is definitely on the top of my list of things I want to achieve in 2022!
6) Grow my instagram to 2,000 followers
Anyone who has Instagram in a blogging or business capacity knows how notoriously difficult is has become to grow on the platform.
Granted my lack of strategy, infrequent uploading and lack of commitment to my niche may have also affected this growth. 😂 BUT! I’ve really enjoyed experimenting this year by producing content which is less curated and more fun.
I was getting so tired of the same bikini clad, skinny girls in tropical locations making me feel meh about myself. So I decided not to worry about what these creators were posting and just start having fun and be true to myself on the platform. If people liked it, great! If not, at least I was enjoying myself.
But people really started to respond to my new approach. This vegan travel reel in particular had over 200 likes and 8,000 views!
In 2022, I really want to focus more on Instagram and incorporate it further into my blogging content plan.
If you’d like to help get me to that 2,000 follower goal, you can follow me here.
Thanks so much for your support in advance! 😉
Goal 4: Travel
7) Visit Dubai for the last time
For those of you that don’t know, I spent the majority of my childhood moving around the Middle East. A big chunk of that time was spent in Dubai, which is still very much home to me.
Well friends, this trip will sadly be my last. My parentals are finally taking a step back from their business and retiring to Spain. Not a bad transition I must say!
So in February this year I plan to take a final trip to Dubai for my birthday before they head off into the sunset to enjoy their retirement.
Of course you can never say never. But the reality is there is so much of the world I’ve yet to see and with Dubai being so expensive to visit, this will be the last time in my mind. Plus, it just won’t be the same without my parents being there.
But I’m super excited to see what’s new in Dubai and visit all my favourites places again!
8) Go to Finland
I have had Finland on my bucket list for-everrr! And 2022 is definitely going to be the year that I make it happen.
I was lucky to see the Northern Lights when I visited Iceland a few years ago. But I’ve always dreamed of seeing them from beneath a warm fuzzy blanket in my own igloo whilst looking up at the stars.
Whilst I’m there I’d also love to go dog sledding, have an authentic sauna experience, go snow-shoeing in the national parks and meet Father Christmas!
With all the hope in the world a white Christmas just isn’t going to happen at home in the UK. So why not take a romantic winter getaway to escape and experience one, right?
It apparently snows in Finland between November and March with Lapland getting snow between October to April. So I think a pre-Christmas December break would be perfect!
Check out my latest post for romantic Christmas getaways for couples if you’d like more getaway ideas for December.
9) Spend a long weekend in Venice
My boyfriend first booked Venice as a surprise for our first anniversary which was eventually cancelled due to the pandemic.
Now it just seems comical we held out hope that we’d still be able to go – even the following year!
We joked about saving it for our second anniversary (because of course we’d be going long before then right!). But what followed was another year of the UK being in and out of lockdowns and varying tiers. Urgh remember the tier system?
So this year in August 2022 (our third anniversary 😂), I plan to finally make it to Venice.
I want to go on a gondola ride, see an opera, visit the palace and eat my body weight in pasta, pizza and wine!
Although to be fair that last part I do at home. But it’s so much more acceptable when you’re on a romantic trip in Italy, right?
Goal 5: Relationships
10) Move in with the boyf
As you may have read in my “Review of my 2021 goals: What did I achieve?” post, my plan at the end of 2020 was to spend a final year in the city centre and then move in with my boyfriend by the end of 2021.
But it just got more and more difficult sharing a small space 24/7 with my then room mate when we both started working from home during the pandemic. When his new girlfriend then moved in rent-free without my permission, I decided it was time to go!
By this point my boyfriend was renting out his spare room to his best friend during a career pivot, so the timing just wasn’t right.
But I’m a firm believer that sometimes things have to fall a part to fall in the right place. Unknowingly, it led to one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I moved into my very own place just outside the city centre in Chorlton whilst I was still maxing out my LISA for the year and absolutely love it!
I didn’t want my deposit to go to waste so I decided to go ahead and buy my own house as an investment in 2021, no matter where I was at.
So now, my lovely boyf is going to continue to rent out his house whilst he, plus Lilly and Dexter (our two adorable pups) move in with me into the new house. I can’t wait! ☺️
But I’m especially looking forward to waking up on Christmas morning and starting new traditions with my new little family this year.
What goals do you want to achieve in 2022? 😊
