2021 Intentions and Goals

Hi, friends. Hope you are hanging in there and taking care of yourself. Since the Wednesday capitol attack by white supremacists, I have been doing lots of thinking and reflecting. I am focusing on things I can control and actions I can personally take.

PERSONAL

WORD OF THE YEAR: – In recent years, I see many people choosing a word of the year. For 2021, I choose the word “REST.” I am terrible about taking a break without feeling guilty. Every time I am not actively working on a task, I feel like I should be doing something productive. It’s awful and unhealthy. Allowing myself to have downtime is something I have been working on during quarantine, but I want to really focus on this.

FROM PREVIOUS YEARS: In the past, some of my new year’s resolutions have been measurable goals and actions. I actually recently came across a Google spreadsheet titled “Personal Goals”, and it was interesting to see what the priorities were for 2018/2019 Ju. Some, though, have been more of a mindset/attitude, and these things I am carrying into the new year. These include: being generous with my time and money, being more present (single tasking, less screen time), reading diverse books, and spending more time outdoors.

BLOG

My one goal for Better with Ju this year is to “create authentically and consistently” (quoting Morgan Harper Nichols). I’ve always said I want to blog about whatever I want to blog about. In reality, I am often worried about “engagement” and the number of likes (particularly on Instagram). Though I never post anything I don’t want to post, there are definitely times when I go back and forth about posting something because I am unsure if it’s “Instagram-worthy” or “post-worthy,” which is silly!

I joke that I take my life very seriously (which is true most of the time), but I want to have more fun with the blog this year. After all, this is not a job for me, and I should keep it fun. With that said, I want to write about different things on here and bring back Monthly Mumbles (which I introduced last year but never wrote Monthly Mumbles #2). Some of the post topics I have planned for this year that I am excited about: Female Friendships, Favorite Books by Asian Authors, Favorite Books by Black Authors, Shinblings Rank Korean Buldak Ramen.

On a more serious note, I plan to continue to amplify voices of color on my platform, whether it’d be a local restaurant I am loving, content creators whose work I admire, or authors whose books I read. And it remains my goal to be authentic and transparent with everything I post about and share.

Here’s to a whole new year!