Dreams & Goals For 2019

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I know that a few posts ago before the new year even hit, I had mentioned that I was not planning out any new year’s resolutions and that I was going to go into 2019 without any expectations. I had originally said that the only thing I wanted in 2019 was to be happy since 2018 really broke me down and drug me through the mud.

I believe I finally changed my mind about not having any dreams or goals for 2019. I need something to keep me going and motivated to move forward with my life and to better myself. So, I came up with a few goals or ideas of things that I want to do and achieve this year.

Publish A Second Book

This goal for myself is already in the works. But you never know, things can change in a matter of seconds. As it stands, I have been signed to publish a second book with Eliezer Tristan Publishing. If you follow this blog regularly, you may already know the details. But if you don’t, I will break it down again.

I wrote an entire manuscript when I was 18-years-old. I had tried to get it published for years but had no such luck. I really began to doubt my writing and thought about deleting it many times. Holy cow am I glad that I never deleted this manuscript because roughly 14 years later it is finally going to go from being a dream of mine to a reality. This manuscript was and still is like my baby. It was the first fictional book that I have ever written and completed.

The good news is that I will be assigned an editor for this book sometime soon and editing officially begins on February 5, 2019. It needs to be edited horribly because I wrote it before I even tried my hand at being a freelance writer. It was before I gained some experience. When I first wrote it, I had my family and friends read it over and over again to give me some feedback. Everyone seems to really like it, so by the time it is published I really hope that those that choose to buy it truly enjoy it.

Start Writing A Third Book

After the release of my first book, My Bipolar Mind: You’re not alone, I got major writing fever and decided to try my hand at writing another book. I want to make this a goal because it is something that I am really interested in. I sat down at my laptop the other day and just started hammering away at the keyboard. The story I was creating started to take on a life of its own and I started to believe that I may be on to something. I sent a few friends two of the chapters I had done and asked for feedback, everyone had just great things to say about it. I believe that it has real potential. I don’t want this to be some project I start and never finish like so many times before. I want to complete it.

Right now, this story could go so many different ways and I have to many different ideas but because I can’t seem to piece together exactly what I want I seem to have given myself a mild case of writer’s block. Wish me luck with this one!

Put Together A Poetry Book

This is a goal that doesn’t necessarily have to be completed in 2019, I just want to be able to start it this year at some point. I have several journals that are filled with nothing but my own original poetry. I want to do something constructive with it and put my best pieces all together in one book. I sincerely enjoy writing poetry. It is an excellent way to get your feelings and emotions out in a healthy manner. It can be very therapeutic. I have hundreds of poems and I anticipate it may be a bit challenging to only pick up to 100 of them or so.

I started typing some of them up in a word document in 2018 but I didn’t get very far with it. I have previously had some poetry published in books that had a variety of poetry from people all over the world. However, I would really like to create my own collection book.

Take Better Care Of My Mental Health

Over the past year, I have found myself really slacking when it comes to taking care of my own mental health. I would focus so much on everyone else that I was neglecting my own sanity and self-care. I would skip doses of medication, bail on appointments, allow people to walk all over me, and dive deep into my people pleasing issues; among other things.

I know tons of stress and anxiety reducing techniques, I even blog about them and suggest them to others without utilizing them myself. I need to change this, especially right now while my anxiety has been through the roof. I was also only taking my anti-anxiety medication as needed instead of the prescribed three times a day. If I want to start getting better control of my anxiety, I need to start taking them as prescribed.

I need to start using my impulse control log again to help with my self-harm tendencies as well. I also need to learn how to say no to people. As I mentioned, I tend to be a people pleaser. This needs to stop right in its tracks. I have to start putting myself first and learning how to finally be able to love myself. I am not saying that this is all going to get so much better in one year. I understand it takes time. But I am ready to start moving forward.

Create More Original Content For My Bipolar Mind

I know I have really been slacking on writing and posting actual articles that could help educate others and that have useful information. I have been posting a lot of personal blog posts instead of articles. I have a long list of topics that I have thought of and I would eventually like to write every single one of them. My goal here and the whole purpose of this blog is to help others learn that they are not alone and to help end the stigma associated with mental illness. In other words, I just want to help people. I believe that creating more original content will help others better than listening to me whine and vent all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I am still going to blog about my personal journey with mental health and addiction, but I want to do more than that.

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Some of these goals may not sound completely realistic, but I am going to try and give it my all. Maybe some of these goals are also wishful thinking. It doesn’t honestly matter because by creating goals, I am giving myself something to look forward to. Last year, I wasn’t looking forward to anything in life. I felt almost dead inside. I want to have a purpose in life, and if setting goals are what I need to do, it’s what I need to do. I am going to try to make each of these goals as realistic and achievable as possible by breaking them down into smaller tasks that I can complete throughout the year.

As an example; with my goal of writing the third book, I can try to write a minimum of 1000 words per day. And that is pretty much what I have already been doing. Sometimes I will write more than that, but I don’t want to write any less. If I start slacking off one day, I may feel like doing it again the next day until I have lost sight of what I wanted to achieve in the first place.

Have you set any goals for yourself for 2019? If so, what are they? If not, why did you choose not to pursue any?