Well, it’s that time again. Today, I’m looking back at 2023 – a year that went by oddly fast.

1. Reengage with blogging and writing. I’ve been updating the blog slowly, but much more active in doing some personal writing. This year, I’ve taken the approach of doing some “personal writing” – building stories with the intention of deleting them. It’s oddly freeing to write with the knowledge there will never be an audience. Win.
2. Build at least a loose plan for the property here. We got a civil engineer to look at the foundation, and followed that up with a full regrade of the property. We’re now working at tearing out the basement, and starting work on the back pastures and yard. Win.
3. Get back to living on a (more active) budget. At the end of the year, I finally managed to catch up our checkbook and start watching the finances. We never really got to the point of ‘active budgeting’, so while we now have a “budget”, I don’t think I can call this a win. Neutral.
4. Build a distributed social media node. I’ve joined up on a couple distributed social media sites, but haven’t yet setup a local node. I’ve been doing a bunch of server setup, but prioritized the degoogling efforts. Calling this a Win as that’s been a lot of work. Win.
5. Adventure into fermentation. Didn’t get started on this one. Fail.
6. Revisiting a goal from 2022 – lose some weight or at least gain some muscle. I’ve been working a lot on my mental health this year. Not much to share here, but at least some progress on the health front. Calling this a Win even if I need to work more physically. Win.
7. Figure out volunteering activities again. I’m still working at figuring this one out. A surprise opportunity came to me early next year, but not much progress. Fail.
8. Finish at least 6 books. I’ve worked my way through a few. I didn’t hit 6, but did some serious reading this year. Neutral.

So, net score for this year is 4 Win, 2 Neutral, 2 Fail. I’m working at recognizing that year long goals can and should change. And sometimes, just focusing on the wins is important.