I started the year with goals and ambitious plans. 2020 has zero respect for plans. But having just clocked up 200 miles of running so far this year, I was curious to see how far off track 2020 has been for me.
To recap, my previously declared 2020 goals:
2020 Goals
• Complete wine region research trips on 3 different continents
• Reach C2 Level in Spanish
• Run 730 miles
• Sleep 2,550+ hours
And continue taking time to watch sunset one of my favourite habits from 2019.
And just for shits and giggles here was my report card back at the end of January, when I hilariously thought January was the longest and most miserable month of the year. Little did I know how the next few months would pan out…
Progress, report card – July 2020, B
Wine trips
So January most places were still closed from the holidays when I was travelling, February I spent working hard and not near any wine regions and well from March onwards, travel bans have fucked any potential for wine trips so far.
The pandemic has not put me in a mood for wine study if I’m honest, I can’t face opening any study books right now. But if I have a trip planned I’m likely to read up on everything before I go. In all likelihood, I’m not sure I’ll get to three wine regions on three continents in 2020 but with travel opening up in Europe I should at least be able to do 3 wine regions somewhere. I’ll explore what’s on my doorstep first, in Spain, extend to Portugal and then plan a few trips a little further afield as it becomes feasible.
Spanish
Three months out of the country has really impacted my fluency in Spanish I was at B1/B2 level when I finished classes last September and I feel like I’ve forgotten a lot and fallen back. But, I started weekly one to one classes again about six weeks ago and as of this week I’m slowly starting to translate my blog posts which is helpful to improve my written Spanish and learn more colloquial expressions. With little travel beyond Spain for the next few months I could get this back on track.
Run
Today, I’ve hit a milestone of 200 miles already this year, well, 201 miles but who’s counting, Strava ha ha!. It’s way off my original goal for this point in the year, but is a milestone worth celebrating all the same. I’m going to give myself a break here, I was good in January, had a crazy work schedule in February, we’ve been living through a bloody pandemic since. Lock down work out restrictions etc in March/April reduced my ability to run. All in all, I’m happy with my progress here and think I could go some way to making up the difference before the end of the year but, honestly, if I reach 500 miles for the year I’ll be happy. I’m getting better with consistency which was the point of the 14 mile weekly target, and I am enjoying running again.
Sleep
Aside from some shitty and also super exciting moments in 2020, I’m generally sleeping better and not pushing myself to the extremes in the way I used to do. Sometimes I still need to pull late ones but generally I look to make up the sleep within a day or two and rest up and give my body chance to recuperate. I’m being kinder to myself, and hopefully that’s showing.
Sunsets
I still love pressing pause for sunset. I did this almost every day in Granada and Antigua. I haven’t quite got the same sunset views in Madrid – but I reckon I could build this back into my day as the view from the office terrace should be worth stopping for. Will try doing this again from next week.
—
So given it is such a crazy year, don’t think I’m doing too bad with my goals. 2020 won’t the year I was hoping it will be, but it doesn’t mean I can’t achieve some of what I set out to do this year.
—
Also, I’m loving looking back on this and seeing that for the first time in years my goals don’t include any New Year’s resolutions to lose weight or dreams to buy a house, which have been a consistent feature of my annual life plans for the past decade.
My goals were about me growing personally and looking after myself better, the irony is by doing this I have actually lost weight as a by product but it certainly wasn’t the goal.
I’m not going to bother talking about buying a house any more. Looking at a past blog post from 2012 talking about saving for a house just makes me sad. One day, I’ll just surprise myself and you all and just buy one. But 2020 is definitely not the year to make big purchases. I’m very happy to be fairly nimble and flexible, renting somewhere I’ll probably never be able to afford to buy and enjoying it for what it is, and not being tied down.
