2012 in Review

For 2012, I set out to do the following and here is how I did:

•   I want to continue to eliminate clutter from our lives and improve our financial security. I haven’t done as good a job as I had planned to do with eliminating clutter but I have been a mindful consumer and we’ve done pretty well sticking to our household budget and paying off debt. We even decided to make a concerted effort to being debt-free by 30. 

•   Continue to find meaningful ways to give back to my community. Yes. Yes. Yes. I took a lactation consultant course and helped a local agency for young parent support organize their annual fundraising event. I also continued with my two regular volunteer positions. We donated items for food/toy drives throughout the year and I also signed up to support our local United Way for 2013.

•   Immerse myself in my thesis research and give it my all. Though I haven’t been exerting 100% of my effort on my thesis research, I decided to do a case study using my home town so my research will be meaningful to myself and for my local community which is what I set out to do. Mission accomplished.

•   Cherish the little things – I think I did a pretty good job of this. I kept a daily bests journal for more than half of the year. I really liked reflecting on the good. Not sure if I’ll get back to this but it was a good exercise.

•   Act on the fact that "life is short" – I need to do more of this but I did make more plans with friends this year and I did splurge on an impromptu trip to Edmonton to visit my best friend. Next year there will be more!