Bookish:
As I’ve said before, 2020 was not the year for reaching grand book goals. So I’m hesitant to set big goals for this new year. At the same time, setting goals helps me to ensure I’m spending my time the way I want to spend it.
In both 2019 and 2020 I set a goal of reading 100 books. In 2019 I read 104 books while in 2020 I read only 87. I’m setting my goal at 100 again. It’s nice and even and I know it’s possible.
It remains to be seen if the Sunshine Coast Writers Festival will happen in 2021 or in what form. If it does, or if they find another way to highlight Canadian authors, I will challenge myself to read a book from each of those authors.
Another challenge I’m excited to participate in is Claire’s First Annual Asian-Canadian Literature Challenge! More on that in another post where I’ll share some of the books I hope to read but you can read Claire’s post here.
My final goal is to keep reading more from my own shelf. I know I’m not alone here in saying that I own a lot of books that I’ve never read, some of which I’ve owned for years. So my idea is that at the beginning of each month, I’ll reach randomly for an unread book on my shelf and read that. That’s it. That’s the challenge. One per month.
Non-Bookish:
Actually, my first goal is book adjacent, in that it involves reading. It is to read the Bible this year. As in, the whole thing. While I’ve read the whole Bible before I’ve never set out to do so in a set timeline or in any sort of order. After a bit of research, I’ve decided on this plan, which takes you through the Bible chronologically with a mix of Old and New Testament each day. Normally I focus on one book of the Bible at a time so I’m excited to have a more deliberate plan for the whole year.
My other big goal is a challenge to myself: Buy Local. As in, 100%, keep my money on the Coast. Ideally, supporting businesses that are also locally owned, not just chains that happen to exist here. This is something that I’ve been wanting to do for a while and thought about enacting last spring. The timing then seemed a little too difficult when so many businesses were closed or limited for in-person shopping. Now that businesses are open and the Christmas rush is over, this seems like a great time to support them. This doesn’t mean shopping more than I would normally but simply looking for local options rather than searching the internet first.
I plan to do this in seasonal chunks, meaning that at the end of the March I’ll re-evaluate and see how practical this is for our family’s needs. If at that time I determine there is something we truly need that we can’t get locally, I’ll purchase it then. The main problem that I foresee is that it’s difficult to buy kids’ clothing and gear locally. While they don’t need anything at the moment, kids grow fast so we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully I can also start doing some secondhand shopping again.
(The exception for my Buy Local plan will be if we visit another town. Then I have no problem spending my money locally in another location. We’ll see how much travel 2021 holds for us though.)
My other 2021 goals are the same as they always are. Spend time with my family. Love on my husband and kids. Make time for date nights (even if lockdown means we don’t leave the house.) Be present for my kids. Be more focused and mindful of how I spend my time online. Be deliberate about staying connected with friends. Pray without ceasing.
Karissa Reads Books 
One goal I decided on in my head, but did not announce on my blog, was to try to stop buying books because it’s actually not helpful to the public library. As our stats go down because people aren’t allowed to congregate in the library, we lose staff, funding, etc. By supporting your library as much as possible, you’re helping the whole community that NEEDS the library (folks who can’t buy books). I love the spirit of independent book stores, but I’m starting to realize that their existence isn’t as important to me as it once was. At least where I live, and in the surrounding area, local book stores don’t employ that many people. Some employ one (the owner), and others have may six people. By using the library and increasing their stats, I’m helping the library build a case for more funding, more grants, more development.
I know it’s been said before but the importance of libraries as a free gathering spot (not to mention all the other resources they provide) is really important in a community. That’s something I’ve come to realize even more this past year as the library is currently the only place I ever go with Rose. I like your point that helping the library helps the whole community. I think independent bookstores can be great literary hubs in a community but that can obviously vary hugely from one store to another. And I’m a bit biased because I’ve been employed in independent bookstores off and on for a decade and a half! Buying fewer books was a goal I was considering for 2021 but when I looked at the numbers, 11 new books in a year didn’t seem unreasonable, and I read more than twice that in library books (let alone the hundred more books the girls borrow from the library). I like buying used books and I like using the library because I want to save money and reduce my consumption but your perspective on library use is a really good one to keep in mind.
Thanks for sharing my post! I love all of these goals, especially reading the Bible and buying local. My friend got me a lettering journal that has all of Proverbs printed in it and it’s really refreshed my Bible reading! And I’m definitely going to try buying more local this year. I think the pandemic really showed how important it is to support small businesses!
A lettering journal sounds like a great way to be more thoughtful in your Bible reading. I try to pick at least one verse each day to copy out in my journal because I find that makes me focus better on what I’m reading.
I think so many people have realized this year how important it is to support local businesses! It was encouraging to see people really make an effort to shop small businesses this year for Christmas.
These sound like such thoughtful and worthwhile goals, I really wish you the best of luck with them all! Buying entirely local sounds challenging but ultimately very rewarding if it works out. And reading the whole Bible in a determined time frame is a life goal for me, but not one I’ll get to this year, I don’t think. I’ve attempted it before but I don’t think I’ve ever made it all the way through before something throws me off schedule, and I really struggle to catch up with anything once I fall behind!
Thank you so much! Buying 100% local will definitely be a challenge but I also hope it will make me more thoughtful in what I do buy.
The Bible reading plan I found is a 5 day one which will hopefully give some leeway for days I might fall behind since there will be 2 extra days each week to catch up! I’ve actually never set out to read the whole thing in a determined time period so I’m impressed you’ve even tried!
Good set of targets! I’ll be interested to hear how you do with the buy local one. My little town doesn’t have a wide range of shops, probably because we’re so close to Glasgow that people tend to go there for anything other than food. But I do try to wander down the high street every so often and support the local shops at least a little.
I’m interested to see how that goes too. Your town sounds similar to mine, except that we have to take a ferry to shop in Vancouver. Which is technically only allowed for essential travel currently. Mostly, I expect this to mean I buy less in 2021 and that’s fine.
Great goals! I’m actually trying to follow that same Bible reading plan this year – it was recommended by a friend who did it last year and really enjoyed it. I’ve tried a couple of times to read the Bible in a year and not made it, but maybe this year will be the year.
Oh nice! Good to hear it’s well recommended. I am hoping that the 5-day aspect will make it easier if I fall behind. Good luck!
All lovely goals for 2021! I’m trying to buy local too, but it’s tough when the kids keep outgrowing things so quickly. We have some great consignment stores that I frequent here, do you have any consignment stores you can go to if you can’t buy local? They are always a nice plan b 🙂
No, there’s no consignment store with kids’ stuff, sadly. I would be all over that! There is a locals Facebook page for kids stuff that I’ve had some success at.