2022 Goals: The Year I Rebuild

2021 was a reset year for me. I spent the year learning to live with bipolar and rebalancing my life. It’s been a huge adjustment, and I lost a lot of forward progress. I made financial choices without truly being in my right mind (being manic is a bit like you’re on drugs) and set myself up for financial failure. 

Right now, I’m treading water without a flotation device, and that’s hard. 

I also made huge personal changes in my life. I quit my job and decided to go full time freelance. To help with the transition, and to give myself healthcare, I’m working part time at a Starbucks in my town. It feels a bit like I came full circle to where I was, except I’m in loads more debt than I was at the beginning of 2021. 

And that’s okay. The main thing is that I got help, which in and of itself is a blessing. I’m stable now, and I’m medicated. And that’s truly amazing.

I’m going into 2022 quietly; we saw what happened when we were hopeful about 2021. The gods laughed in our face and sent us an even worse year. But I’m speaking some goals into existence. 

Personal Year of Less Challenge

A few years ago, I read Cait Flanders book, a Year of Less. And I fell in love with the concept of not spending any money on consumption for an entire year. When I was manic, I developed a spending problem, and I needed a hard reset. Instead of not spending anything, I will be pulling $100 cash out of the bank every month and giving myself an allowance. I think that’s a better balance for me and money. 

The goal is to teach myself to have fun in moderation. I don’t really have a lot of room for excess purchases but I don’t want to miss out on fun things entirely. It feels a bit like I’m going back to middle school, but it’s needed. 

And I think my spending habits predate manic me. When I was married, my husband and I both had good jobs and we were able to make our spending and saving goals as well as buy whatever we wanted. I didn’t need to teach myself moderation. And I took that mentality with me into single life, where the reality is, I don’t make $70k a year. And that’s okay, but this hard reset will help give me some skills I desperately need. 

Attend One Event a Month 

One of the things my therapist pointed out is that I need more friends. All of my close friendships are long distance and while I’m working on making new friends here, I’m not actually doing anything that will help me meet new people. 

To that end, I’m going to try and go to one fun event a month. I’ll budget for them, so they won’t count towards my Year of Less challenge. But I’m lonely here and the best way to cure loneliness is to try and cultivate meaningful friendships. 

I’ll focus on finding outside, socially distanced events like hiking meetups and pick up ball games. I’m not sure how effective this will be, but it’s better than sitting on a couch scrolling twitter, haha. 

Develop a Meditation Practice and Explore Witchcraft 

As I’m stepping away from the Christian faith, at least the evangelical sect, I’m finding a hole that needs filling. And I don’t know what to fill it with. I’ve attempted to read the Bible without the commentary of the evangelical church, but honestly, it’s painful. So many stories have been twisted around to mean something they aren’t, and I’m not sure I have a home left within Christianity. 

I still believe in divine destiny and that something governs us, but it’s not some white all-knowing guy in the sky. 

And I want to find a practice that grounds me, and is woman-centric. If there’s a way to combine witchcraft and Christianity into a symbiotic community, I think that’s the space for me. And if not, I might leave Christianity behind because it’s too painful these days. 

In any case, my soul is starving and I’m looking to fill it with something meaningful. 

Make Voyager Profitable

I don’t know the first thing about running a business, and this is still kind of a shot in the dark, but I’m fumbling along and growing a following on Twitter. I’m not sure how to turn a freelancing concept into a profitable business (except of course, freelance writing), but I’m sure it’s possible. 

I think this first year, I’d be happy making $5,000. That’s only 10 clients and completely doable. If I can figure out how to find clients. More on that as I blunder my way through digital entrepreneurship. 

And Finally, My Finance Goals 

Don’t worry, I know this is a finance blog. And I have finance goals. Between Starbucks and freelancing, I want to make $50,000. That’s $35,000 after taxes. A totally doable number. But it’s still more money than I’ve ever made. 

Right now, if I write one article for each client a week, I’ll make $65,000. However, I’m sure that not every client will have work for me every week. And I want to ensure that my goal is reasonable. Anything on top of that will be a bonus. 

I also want to save $10,000. Manic me blew through my savings and while that’s a bit embarrassing, it’s not a life or death thing thankfully. And I’m able to recover. If I stick with my Year of Less, and prioritize savings, it’ll be possible to save $10,000 in cash. That emergency fund will allow me to focus on paying off other debt in 2023.  It’s the foundation of my financial wellbeing. 

Conclusion

Overall, my goals are reasonable. None of them will stretch me too thin, and I’ll be able to create an atmosphere where I can succeed. I want 2022 to seem doable so that I can build a solid foundation. I’m not trying to rock the boat or do anything extraordinarily complicated. 

What are your 2022 goals?