New Year, Same Goal

I truly enjoy the excitement of a New Year but hate when people beat themselves up over resolutions. They create their own misery: swear off dessert, bust ass at the gym, and pinch pennies. I really wish people would use the New Year to pat themselves on the back for what they did accomplish.

I do not make resolutions, but rather I like to set small goals that support my overall mission for that year. Last year on my Instagram, I started setting daily goals for #17goalsfor2017 with the intent to create content for my blog. I carried this ritual into 2018, setting a goal or intention for the first 18 days of the year.

Typically, my Instagram captions are cheesy jokes, fun facts and silly stories. I put my dad humor on pause during this time to be more personal. I visit my 2017 goal of the day, checking in to see if I had actually done what I set out to do. With success, I write a new goal for that day on the spot before I post. I’ve splattered some 2017 successes that I documented on Instagram throughout this post (in unglorified screenshot format.)

Every goal, I crushed in 2017, except for one single goal I set exactly one year ago today.

Goal #11 of last year made me cry when I checked it. Not because I failed, but due to the circumstances. It was to visit the Florida Keys, I never did make it to the American Caribbean in 2017.

I intended to go in the late fall for the boat races. On September 10, Hurricane Irma slammed into Cudjoe Key and tore up heart of my Florida paradise. I become tormented thinking the islands will not look as I remember them. I watched an update on the damage this week on CNN, and many parts still look like Ground Zero. Trash has been piled up on A1A for 4 months, people are still awaiting supplies from FEMA, some are rebuilding their homes while others have given up.

These islands are almost a religious experience for me. There’s been twice in my life where I had my breath taken away from a place that was so beautiful: 1) The Whitsundays in Australia and 2) The Overseas Highway, just before Key Largo where signs tell us to be patient for the passing zone and you see the turquoise water peak through the mangroves.

These islands have molded my adult life: my mission in coral reef restoration (which I will revisit), the evolution of tacky artwork on coconuts, and my first blog “Goin’ Coastal,” which was my learning curve in the blogosphere. I want to find a way to help my kooky island chain. Perhaps a Paint Your Own Coconut class to raise money for relief efforts, any takers?

My #11 remains the exactly the same as last year. On Day #11 of 2019, I hope not to cry but smile looking at my pictures of the Keys in a glorious metamorphosis.

On the bright side, 16 out of 17 goals met. I feel like a deserve a cookie, or perhaps 4. Not a single goal of mine is to give up dessert.

Goal Hard or Go Home, my friends! And as always, live global and stay local.