Goals – SALLY♡THINGS

Goodbye 2024, Hello 2025.

Yes, SALLY ♡ THINGS blog is still up and running for 2025! The end of the year and start of the new year blog is finally here. I told you that I was playing blog catch up. Since I’m a little behind, we get this cute 2-in-1 post ♡

Goodbye 2024.

In the beginning of 2024, I was parked on the top level of my college’s parking ramp just sitting in my car. Not having a good day at all. I was super emotional about a million different things, both positive and negative. I think I skipped my classes that day because I could not stop crying. I remember it was raining. That day I decided to try to calm my emotions down by journaling and instead of writing about my emotions, I tried to put my focus on what my goals and intentions were going to be for 2024. Writing about something that would bring more positivity forward was the mood that I wanted to try to set. That day I journaled two entries ‘2024 Goals and Intentions‘ and ‘2024 Blog Idea List‘. I think I ended up journaling in my car for three or four hours.

For 2024 Goals and Intentions, I wanted to come up with goals that were deeper than things like exercise more, get up early, drink more water, etc. I wanted the goals to be things that would help me become a better me and help with personal growth. Then when I came up with the goals, I wrote the intentions behind them or how I wanted to go about it. That way it wasn’t just a silly little self care goal, it now held a deeper meaning. I suggest everyone to do the same because it holds more value, is more meaningful and personable to yourself. It gives you a greater feeling when you complete it as well. Out of 16, I was able to cross off 10 goals that I completed in 2024. I call that a win and look, a win is a win!

A few completed goals with their intentions:

୨୧ Take more photos and videos. Print them out, save them, make montage videos, post them or whatever! I want to capture more memories and save/store them so they can be accessible in the future when I’m older.
୨୧ Live life/Be more present. Especially family, they are so important. Be more present in life. Live! Take in moments. Love life again. Don’t over work anymore and don’t over school. Live your best life Sally!
୨୧ Love and happiness ♡ I want to be more loving in everything and I want to remember 2024 as happy. The last few years have not been remembered quite well as happy, so this year will change. Let go of things that don’t belong and be okay with that.

For 2024 Blog Idea List, this was a list of topics that I wanted to blog about and write for the year. It was a list that I could come back to look at for ideas. I came up with 33 different topics and I wrote about 14 of those, but some topics have multiple blogs written about like travel blogs or food adventures. Don’t get me wrong, I do love my food and travel blogs, but some new content is on the way. A little less than half is not too bad, but it’s time to do better this year and I can’t wait to get back into blogging a little more often. I still have this blog “project” or series that I started last year, but I’m still working on writing it. It might not be finished this first half of the year, but my goal is to finish it this year or at least be able to post the first two parts.

Hello 2025.

Welcome 2025! My start of the new years was spent at The Armory with Kaskade and Sullivan King in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I spent my New Years in the most “Feral Festival Sally” way, so you can take that however you want, but I had a really good time. Maybe a little too much fun cause I woke up with gum in my hair the next morning. I have the funniest theory on how the gum got there too. Let’s just say this: I’m a headbanger girly with super long hair and there were a lot of gum chewers around. My hair is known to SNATCH PEOPLE! I also attempted to eat grapes for the New Years, but we did it sooo wrong. Yes, we were able to sneak in grapes at the venue somehow. I ended up being rave mom and passing them out to make sure my friends ate something during the rave. I think I ate 2-4 only, but this was all after the count down. So we all ate grapes to survive the rest of the night basically. It’s so funny to look back at the videos from that night. Thank you Minneapolis for a New Years that I’ll never forget!

For 2025, I want to do the same method with my goals and writing their intentions. I’m planning to repeat the same list and add new ones. I’m hoping to can accomplish more goals this year than I did in 2024. My vision for 2025 is to always live my best life, to be happy, love always and to be better. It’s another year to build the life that I want and deserve. I went in to 2025 as the same me, but a more experienced me. Still the same person, but I have something different about me. I’m still learning if it’s a good or bad thing or if it’s just a phase. This year I am digging deeper into myself and I’m protecting myself more than ever before. I’m also going into things with a different perspective. I posted this before and I’ll say it again here:

If you saw me, you absolutely did see me. If you heard me say something, I absolutely said it and said it with my chest. I’m done with playing the high road. We are not hiding in 2025. Respectfully ♡

I promise that I will be out here living my life for myself. Take it as my ‘villain era’, me setting up more boundaries, or me seeking my full potential, whatever. I said it here.

Here are a few goals and the intentions behind it, that I would like to see myself accomplish in 2025. It’s from both the 2024 and 2025 list.

୨୧ Healing. I want to heal all the parts of me that have been through the ringer over and over again. I want to heal the parts of me that easily get triggered. I accept that if the healing means I end up feeling hateful, then that’s how it ends up. I can’t end everything on love all the time, no matter how much I want that. Let it go and let things play out the way that it does. I was able to do it once, I know that I definitely can do it again. Be at peace and be comfortable and fine with that peace.
୨୧ More journaling and blogging. I know that journaling and blogging helps me with all my emotions, so why deprive that outlet from myself? I’m a person who feels a lot and holds all those feelings. Release it, stop holding on to them for so long. Let them go. I also love to journal and blog, it’s good for me. I have made connections with others through it. I’m no savior, but I’m a person and being a person speaks loud volumes.
୨୧ Love and happiness ♡ This is the 2025 revised version. I want to still be more loving in everything and I want to remember 2025 as happy. The love this year is more me orientated. I choose that love for me, I choose that happiness for my life, for my future. Whatever that looks like, but it’s self focused vs. what I did before. I worked on myself to reach an ‘us’, but this year I’m working on myself to reach a me. If an ‘us’ happens to appears this year, then that is something that fits around me and not the other way around. (No tea here, sorry. ‘Us’ is not a specific person, it’s general use.)

2024, you were wrong, but you were right to be wrong. Goodbye 2024.
2025, your new life is going to cost you your old one. What is meant for you, you simply cannot lose. Hello 2025.

Let’s Check In.

⋆˚✿˖° SPRING IS COMING, Happy March! ⋆˚✿˖°
Let’s take a second and do a check in with ourselves. We’re three months into 2024 and time isn’t going to go by any slower. It’s not too late yet to chase what you dreamt this year will be for you. If you follow me on instagram you might have already seen and done this check in, if not then take some time to answer and reflect.

Let’s get into it:
♡ How are you feeling?
♡ How are mentally overall?
♡ Are you positively taking care of yourself?
♡ Have you come up with your yearly goals and intentions yet? If not, get started even if it’s just a weekly goal for now!
♡ Have you started on your goals and intentions yet? If so, how far along are you?
♡ What has made you happy so far? How can you do more of it?
♡ What has made you sad or mad so far? What can you do to make things better for yourself?
♡ Any new goals you can add?
♡ Reflect on your growth in the last two months and celebrate it.
♡ Reflect on your lack of growth and give yourself a safe space for grieving and acceptance. After, leave it behind and start over. It’s not too late!
♡ Do something you love.
♡ Soak in some sun when you can.
♡ Take a walk, even if it’s a little chilly. Find your green space, be outside for a little.

Remember it’s never a bad thing to do a little reset if needed. Let’s make the best of this year. Happy March, may it bring you lots of love and happiness ♡

MY UPDATE

I am currently sitting in an airport by a huge window and soaking in the sun rays. Even though I’ve been up and traveling since 3 AM, today life is good ♡ I also can’t wait to write a food blog after the trip! It’s been a while since I last wrote one, but I promise this one will be worth the wait. New foods to try for your next trip!

Some people will say I’ve gone quiet, but really I’ve just been very occupied with my life, wellbeing and focused on other goals/have other priorities. I’m at a good place now where I feel like I’m rested and decently caught up with life. I feel more like myself than I have in a while. I can feel SALLY THAT GIRL again. She’ll be in full effect by the end of this year. I calmed down my lifestyle to prioritize school and it’s really my main focus. That’s really the main reason why I disappeared. Michigan has this wonderful program where they’ll pay for your semesters as long as you keep up with their requirements and I’m NOT going to lose that. This is a great opportunity to take advantage of and I’m doing exactly that.

For those that haven’t really worked on your goals for the year, it’s fine cause I haven’t really either. I’ve touched the surface, but haven’t done enough yet to say there was any visible progress overall. Some I goals are in the works, some none at all. SO that’s why we can do this check in together, not feel bad and start working on them NOW! We’re human, life and other things get in the way, we don’t feel motivated, fighting the winter blues are hard, I GET IT. I’m there with you. Two weeks ago was when I finally found my motivation to really get up and be active and make sure I use my time to do things that I love and that help me. I just got out of my funk two weeks ago. I wasn’t even able to get out of it myself, my friends in Wisconsin were the ones who really got me over it and that’s okay. It’s absolutely fine to get help from those close to you that you love and trust. Sometimes what you need is love, attention and support. I will admit that I’m definitely one of those people. After all, we are just human.

I am going to go enjoy this love filled vacation now, (my friends are getting married this weekend!). Enjoy your day, your weekend, your week. And to remember to show up for yourself the best you can. ♡

2023.

New year, new goals? Not really me this year. I want to continue to work on things from 2022 and finish them in 2023 if it’s possible. I want to pick up what I left behind and make them even better and make them for me and only me. New year, same thing, more healing and growth.

2023, I hope you are kinder than 2022. I hope you are filled with more love and laughs. Whether it’s intimate love or platonic love, just more of it please. More love for me. I hope the tears cried from last year watered something special and not just my pillows. If I absolutely have to cry this year, I hope it’s all tears of joy. I hope to grow more from last years things, situations, lessons and people. I want to grow. I hope to find my peace, the real peace. I hope to eventually be at peace. I hope you are filled with time that is just for me. I hope I get time for myself to enjoy and slow down my life. I hope you’re filled with more time in general. Time, I need time, I want time. Maybe if you could also be a little easier with me. I’ve gotten fragile. I would love if you could help me heal instead of showing me what I need to heal from, I think I pretty much got the point or the message. I hope you are filled with travels, with adventure and great captured memories. I hope all the bad days will help me shine just as bright as my good ones. I’ll do the work this year, I’ll do all of it.

We’re starting 2023 a little late over here at SALLY♡THINGS, but here’s an update. 2023, it’s already been a busy one with both good and bad. It’s has to start somewhere right? The new year started with love. Remember more love. With that love, it came with time and with the time it came with healing. I am starting out strong even though it doesn’t feel like it. I’m still here.
2023 is the year to focus more on myself and be selfish with it and to finally take advantage of that. I’ve accepted a second job that is different from what I’m use too, but something that will give me experience in something that I have been getting more and more passionate about. I am truly excited for that and what it’ll bring. I’ve come a long way and I’m willing to go much further.

Stepping Into Unknown Territory — The Truth.

What a time to be me. In a positive way, what a time to be me. I get to step into this unknown territory, this unknown area, an unknown place with these unknown feelings. I get to choose, feel, think, and speak for myself and only myself. I get to choose for myself without having to worry about putting someone else’s responsibilities first. I can finally put myself first.

It’s very new to me. I can’t think of a time where I was able to put myself first — like ever. That’s crazy right? I’ve put others before me — what feels like my entire life. Not anymore. So how does that make me feel? Honestly, it doesn’t feel right, it feels very off. I feel very selfish and somewhat empty. I felt fulfilled by being needed by others even if it drained me or held me back from what I could actually achieve. But hey, at least they still needed me, I am that much. I’m learning to understand that I am much more than that, but I also can be that person for others still. I’m learning to understand that I can put myself first and still take care of others, I just had my priorities backwards. It’s whats making this such a new territory for me. I had it wrong all along and I’m okay with admitting to that.

Who was I to be working three jobs to support not only myself, but three other people who were very much capable of taking care of themselves? Who was I to feel like such a disappointment when I couldn’t help pay bills for someone that made more than me with their one job verses my three? Who was I to feel like a failure for dropping out of school because people were throwing their responsibilities on me and I had no choice, but to take it all on? I can’t help but to feel rage and anger because it felt like I had no other choice. I also don’t want to hold onto those feelings because it’s so heavy and it’s so tiring to hold that hurt in your heart. I want to forgive.

Truth be told, I can finally think of goals for myself and actually work towards them. Before, I would come up with a goal, but I would always fail because I wasn’t my own first priority. I constantly failed at things because I put others before me and I let that eat me up. Eat me up to a point where I gave up on dreams and goals and adjusted living my life around everyone else’s schedules. I’m not entirely mad about it because I learned the lessons that came with, but it makes me sad to look back on sometimes. I poured my heart out and into everyone around me and left nothing for myself. Truth be told, even though I’m happy that I get to move forward and it’s exciting to see myself take these little steps, I have no idea what I’m doing. When you are so focused on others around you, you forget about yourself. I always knew how I wanted to end up in life, but I was never able to think about the details of how I would get there. It was like okay I’m at point A, I need to get to point C, but never thought of point B.

I know I have a lot of work to put forward and to put in. I know before I can fully enjoy what’s ahead of me, I have to learn to let this all stay behind me. Even though I felt a sense of fulfillment before, I have to unlearn it and go through this confusing emptiness. I have to be very cautious in what I do until I actually know what to do. Last thing I want is seeing myself fall into old ways again. This is the truth, this is my truth, this is me.

Another One Of Those Cheesy New Years Post.

H A P P Y N E W Y E A R S !!! We barely made it to 2021, but we did it, it’s here. I don’t have much expectations going into it because I did that with 2020 and HAHAHA. Sorry for the honesty or to rain on your parade, but all your problems carry over into the new year. HAHAHA, LETS GOOOOO.

I did want to come here to remind you to not expect too much and things aren’t going to change overnight, but you do have the power to change things. You just have to really want it and you have to allow it to come. You have to actually accept it deep down. Allow yourself to forgive what needs to be forgiven whether it’s with someone else or within yourself. Allow yourself to let go of things that aren’t for you. It’s okay to not understand certain things, just accept that.

It’s nice to come up with some new year resolutions, I think it’s a nice way to re-guide yourself and give some sort of rebalance to your life whether you end up sticking with it or not. Here are a couple that I’ve had in the past:

◗ Don’t get so caught up with work
◗ Take more time for myself
◗ Take more pictures
◗ Choose whatever I feel is best for me
◗ Trust your feelings
◗ Do whatever makes me happy

Obviously, those are super basic things, but I still find myself pushing them to the side. Things that I still struggle to find the balance of. I wrote those back in 2018 and here they are still on my list for 2021. Don’t only work on your top layers, but work on your base, your foundation. It’ll only make you a better person in the end. Remember to make sure that you are doing it for yourself and not for someone else, it’s more rewarding to do things for yourself. 2021 is about YOU. I hope this year can bring the understanding, the forgiving, and the peace that we all need. I genuinely hope 2021 brings you and I whatever our souls need. I hope 2021 can heal.

SALLY ♡ T