2016: The Year Of...

All the friends I've spoken to recently have been talking about their plans and goals for 2016: new friends, new relationships, new jobs...and it has made me curious about what it is that I desire and want to strive for in the new year.

What will 2016 mean for me?

Oddly, nothing in particular comes to mind. I already have a new job that I am incredibly thankful for. I am finally in a good place with my parents and my family. I have my own separate apartment away from home, and a (somewhat) independent adult life there. I finally know how to balance a checkbook, have an IRA (and I know what IRA means!), and can do my taxes to get a full refund (with help from TurboTax--but, like, all adults need TurboTax, right? I mean, unless you're like a tax accountant, or something, which would mean you'd be a really boring, lifeless person anyway, so, not doing that.)

I feel like I have somehow this year managed to check off all the boxes that I've had on my "Become a Real Adult" list since graduating college. I'm very thankful to have accomplished those things, and quite amazed that God opened up those doors so easily and so suddenly, but now I find that I have come to a dead stop. 

Like....now what?

I have been working towards these basic life and career goals since I was in middle school, and now that I'm done with them, I'm faced with figuring out the rest of my life. I'm a little more than a quarter through my life (wait--really? 25 is scary in a lot of ways), and I realize that I don't have one anymore. Or, at least, I don't have a purpose for it anymore.

So, I am beginning a journey of self-discovery. What do I want? What does God want? Where am I going? How am I going to get there? I think 2016 might not be so much a year of particular goals, so much as a year of discovering the "Now What?" of my life. 

In pursuit of this new enlightenment, I took to surveying my best friends for ideas about what I might be be aspiring to in 2016.

Some topics they mentioned or suggested:

-Health & Wellness Goals - sleeping, eating, exercising, mental health, emotional health

-Spiritual Goals - prayer, Biblical study, church community

-Relationship Goals - friendships, family relationships, *other* relationships (nope nope nope to that last one)

-Professional Goals - new things to learn or become better at in work

-Personal Goals - other activities or interests I want to learn or pursue

I think that, in my quest (yes, I am going to be pretentious and self-assuming enough to call my plight a 'quest') to find my aspirations for the future, I need to begin by assembling some smaller steps, some "micro-goals", if you will, that will hopefully lead me in time a a greater future enlightenment.

My 2016 Micro Goals

Health & Wellness:

Get 8 hours of sleep at least 4 nights a week, and go to bed by 10PM at least 4 nights a week.

Try to figure out how to care about the job I do at school, but not fall prey to allowing what others think of me consume me (I have no idea how to do this..? Anyone reading with thoughtful suggestions is strongly encouraged to share them.)

Spiritual:

**Develop a prayer journal or schedule or something to pray purposefully (still trying to determine what this looks like and what would be most practical & effective for me here)**

Relationship:

Growing one friendship in Williamsburg so that I have a local close friend who I feel I can really talk to and confide in (not really quite sure how I'm going to achieve this or if this is possible, because, let's be honest: I'm a bit too much of an awkward dork to be any good in the "making new friends" department)

Keeping in close touch with my brother & sister while they are at college/grad school in Nashville (calling once every week or two to check up)

Professional:

**[Spring 2016] Finish making up all major assessments and lesson resources through the end of the school year prior to Easter/Spring Break**

[Fall 2016] Refine the literature curriculum for 6th and 7th grades so that students are exposed a variety of genres but with high-interest and high-level texts (I've discovered this year that this is harder than I anticipated)

[Fall 2016] Work on creating seasonal academic content for the walls of my classroom & the hallway

Personal:

**Finish 75,000 word first manuscript for novel (Preferably before Nanowrimo 2016)**

Begin learning some German vocabulary (15 new words or phrases a month)

Take a self-defense class (so I can feel more athletic than I am, and so that when I threaten my friends, they will actually cower in fear. Students, too.)

Create financial goals for savings & investment over the next 5 years

** denotes HIGH priority and that I need to hang my head in intense shame, should I fail on these.

Yeah, you should quote me on that. **

Alright, 2016. Let's do this.

2016: The Year of Now What?