Kelly the Culinarian: Welcome to 2016!

Monday, January 4, 2016

Welcome to 2016!

I feel you, Napoleon
If I've ever had a case of the Mondays, it's happening right now. I maintain this is the hardest Monday of the year. I have been working from home/on vacation for a solid two weeks. Social media never sleeps, so I've checked in and done a few things here and there, but I've mostly hung out with my family and gone on small adventures. During my downtime, I went roller skating, went to the Shedd Aquarium, had tons of company, visited a waterpark, ran some miles and *tried* to get organized.

Don't get me wrong, my Christmas tree is still up. But we all have to start somewhere.

During the past two weeks of down time, I've thought a lot about what I need to accomplish in the coming year. I have a ton of career goals, as anyone my age does. I'm almost OK with not improving as a runner or losing weight. I occasionally get down on myself after a horrific run or when I try on something that used to fit. But, I realize that at my skinniest, I was also the most unhappy I've been. I'd trade in skinny jeans for blissfully happy any day. Also, I feel like resolutions speak to some underlying dissatisfaction in our lives. I'm cool with where I am now and just recorded a stellar year of interesting experiences, career milestones and fulfilling travel. So instead, my goals for 2016 are pretty simple:
  • Complete Ironman Wisconsin and take 1 hour off my finish time. This shouldn't be hard because of the technical errors I encountered in 2014. I need to use new goggles, learn how to change a flat and make it a goal or at least s l o w l y jogging the entire run course.
  • Compete in the USAT National Championship for the sprint-distance triathlon. I qualified last year by finishing third overall at Irongirl in Pleasant Prairie. I want to do it to say I did it, assuming my schedule for work lines up.
  • Increase my social media following by 20 percent. I work in social media and do this day in, day out, every damn day. But have you ever noticed that if you do something for a living, you don't really want to do it when you come home? I liken this to a decorator who has an empty home. One of the reasons I won Social Media Professional of the Year was because I increased my employer's Facebook engagement by 180 percent in my first six months. Time to do the work on my personal presence, too.
  • Blog five times a week. Blogging is harder than it looks. There's only so much of my life I wish to share online, mostly because my Netflix binges and kitchen fails are interesting only to me. Let's get more personal this year, shall we? To that end, let me know what I should write about. I'm taking all suggestions.
What will you do in 2016?

2 comments:

Katie @ Live Half Full said...

I would like to hear more day to day stuff and more food! :)

Maggie W said...

When I did social media as my job, I definitely didn't want to do it at all in my downtime. But then I realized that I hate doing social media as much job. I know I'm happiest when I can immerse myself in analytics ... and I honestly don't mind playing with numbers in my downtime.

Good luck on your goals! My goals for 2016 are to get stronger and "do math" for a living. And be paid what I'm worth.