Monday, January 17, 2022

2022 Goals

Historically, I've been super bad at goal setting. Mostly because it feels like when I put things out into the universe, I jinx myself, but also I'm not great at following up on them... lol. Oh well. That's just who I am as a person and I don't think that's going to change, but I am at least going to TRY to put some 2022 goals down on paper (errrr, html?)! I browsed January posts on the blog looking for any other goal posts, and the only one I found was from 2017... and ironically enough, most of those goals track with my 2022 goals (so clearly I didn't achieve them in 2017 hahahaha). 

Personal

- lose 15 more pounds. I really let things spiral in 2020-2021 (pandemic bread baking was not kind to my weight) and was the heaviest I've ever been last summer when I started lessons. I'm down 20 pounds since then and feel so much better, but I could definitely stand to lose more. I want to fit back into that ballllller Annie's coat I bought at Rolex in 2017 and then never wore and then got too fat for. I can button it now but it ain't pretty 😂 

A bit in denial that this was (almost) FIVE YEARS AGO. 

- continue to prioritize movement in whatever way I can (walking on breaks at work, taking the stairs exclusively instead of the elevator, riding as much as I can when the weather is cooperating, etc). It's hard for me to stick with workout programs and we cancelled our Y membership in 2021, but over the last 6 months I've consistently averaged 15-17k steps a day and decreased my resting heart rate significantly (also has helped with the weight loss/maintenance).

- make a doctor's appointment and see if we can do something about my fucking insomnia. I'm doing dry(ish) January and that seems to be helping (according to my Garmin) so I probably need to keep the alcohol dialed back, but medication is probably also necessary for long-term maintenance.

Enjoy a stretchy sleepy puppy break. 

Horses

- keep everyone happy and healthy and as comfortable as possible: Jack is 27 this year and Trigger is 26, and they're both noticeably slowing down. I definitely touch base about quality of life with my vet at every annual visit. We seem to be on a good trend with their weight over winter and they are LOVING the big bales of alf I got last fall, so even though it's sort of a PITA to feed, what they want, they get, lol. 

Living his best life and wearing his beet pulp dinner mash lol. 

- maintain a 2x-3x a month lesson schedule. In the winter this can be affected by weather and during spring-fall it will also be affected by my trainer's clinic/show schedule, but I've been doing pretty well at hitting this mark monthly since last August, so I want to keep it up! Probably Ruby for most of the lessons, but I definitely plan to take Cinna a few times.

- take Cinna off property more - definitely for some lessons and also for trail rides/whatever other adventures we can scrounge up. She's definitely getting off the property more now than she used to, but I need to keep doing it. 

Currently our best rides are "drendurance" style, in a partially assembled dressage bridle and my endurance saddle. Can't wait to show up for a lesson like this lol. 

Showing

- This is really small potatoes compared to the next two bullet points, but I'd like to aim for some GMO year-end awards again. This leads to a whole 'nother quandary because my GMO didn't do year-end awards last year (and possibly the year before as well, I can't remember?) and the vibe I'm getting from meetings is that they want to prioritize educational events over shows this year, which is totally fine, just... not the direction that I personally want to go. So I may need to join my trainer's GMO if I want to aim for year-end awards. 

I miss big ribbons and prizes. 

- It's time. This is the year. RECOGNIZED SHOWS. I'm serious about it in a way I definitely wasn't back in 2017 the last time I halfass put it on a goal list. I shelled out the $600 to get all our memberships sorted out the first week of January, suffered through 5+ hours of useless safe sport training, and bought a better stock tie (now I just need white breeches!). I'll be using the Gifted Grant to spend a week in boot camp at my trainer's this spring to be ready and have already sketched out my rough show plans (finances willing). 

Super stretch goals would be to get some scores towards my bronze, qualify for Regionals (which is in LSTL this year, so that would be convenient!), and/or win an All Breeds award :) 

Whew. Okay. That made my internal pessimist cringe a little, but here we go, my goals are out in the universe!

12 comments:

  1. DID YOU KNOW you can now wear any solid color of breeches at dressage shows, contrast piping allowed? So go white with joy if you want to, but I could really see you killing some other outfits with different colored breeches.... And have an amazing year!!!!

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    1. Oh I'm very aware about the rule change 😂 but when I mentioned it to my trainer she sounds like she's still planning to go very traditional with white still so while I don't HAVE to, no sense in rocking the boat yet lol. I did look at some nice dove grey breeches but I haven't found anything in particular calling my name yet lol.

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  2. BOOK A DOCTORS APPOINTMENT! YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!

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    1. Well yes that too but I didn't think the internet at large wanted to hear about that 😂

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  3. Get it girrllll! Can't wait to see 2hqt you get up to this year!

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  4. These sound like very reasonable goals. I too saw the rule change in clothes and thought that some fun change in breeches would be great. But then I thought that Jane may not approve.....

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    1. I'm not a masochist, I wasn't planning on doing anything TOO weird, but black or a nice dark grey would show less stains than white 😂 ah well. We'll see how it goes when I get there!

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  5. Great goals for the year! I'm just so excited you're getting back into lessons and planning some shows. So exciting!!!

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  6. ALSO: Show together with Karen and Hamp? We may come to STL again for a show or two??? Also how the fuck was that Rolex coat photo FIVE Years ago

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    1. YASSS. All the rated shows at the NEC are tentatively on my calendar, and possibly the ones in Indiana near Jen! I WANT TO SHOW WITH YOU 🤩

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