My Resolutions for 2021

Published on by theorangutanlibrarian

Well, last year was… different. Like so many of us, for reasons outside my control, a lot of my plans for 2020 didn’t quite work out. Needless to say, I didn’t complete my goals. Because of that I’ve decided to shift my perspective for 2021. Instead of using this time of year to get powered up for the next year, I’m actually going to be thinking of how I can give myself a break.

That’s why, before I get into my resolutions, I’m first gonna talk about the goals I’m notsetting myself. I’ve basically removed any tough goals or anything that’s subject to massive changes like a global pandemic. This year I’ve decided to just go with the flow (for the most part) and won’t be putting down things like a challenging books, poetry or plays (though mentioning it is a bit like a placeholder to my future self that I want to start thinking about these things again midway through the year). And any resolutions I do make will be significantly more chill- for instance:

Bookish

Read 10 Non Fic!

Despite the fact that reading 10 non fic, I’m not going to up this number. Given that I’ve clearly exorcised my non fic demons, I was in fact on the verge of taking it down a notch. However, at the last second I decided there were a few non fic I *have to* read for research purposes. So, this number is just gonna stay as a staple!

10 Classics

This is the first year ever where the number of classics I read went down drastically– from 13% (28 books) to just 5% (11 books). I’m not happy about that and want to fix it! This is, to be fair, quite a doable number, so I may have to up this number mid-way through the year.

5 Rereads!

Because if I don’t put it on the list, I won’t do it. Even though I enjoy this challenge the most!

Read 10 books I’ve been promising to read for years…

This should be fun, because there are an amazing selection of books I’ve been saying I’ll read *for years*. And because I’ve been thinking about this a while, I did a helpful tag at the end of last year. I’m going to be keeping a vague TBR each month to make. this. happen!

Non-Bookish

3 yoga challenges

Yes, I did more of these last year, but this still feels like a good solid number. Doing 3 would be great!  

And that’s all I have for this year! As you can see, I’m definitely keeping it shorter than normal! I have some hidden goals (that I’m not putting up just yet cos I don’t want to pressure myself too much) which I may add in the middle of the year! I just want to give 2021 a chance to show me its true colours get going before I pin my sails to the mast!

What about you? Do you have any plans for 2021 big or small? Let me know in the comments!

62 thoughts on “My Resolutions for 2021”

  1. All of thoses are greats! Maybe I should’ve included rereads aswell- although it’s something I always did growing up, it’s getting way harder to do so with the community..

    I kept the 20books to read; added beat the backlist challenge for 10 of them, and 1-5 audiobooks.

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  4. I constantly give myself the resolution of wanting to read more classics, but this time I’m not because I just want to see where my reading takes me. I know I’ll read a couple because I always do (mainly rereads of my favourites), but since 2020 really showed me what I read in unknown and stressful circumstances, I don’t want to force it. The same sentiment applies to non-fiction too. I think as long as I encourage myself to read the books that have been on my TBR the longest, I don’t feel the need to set any reading resolutions for myself this time round.

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  5. These sound like good and realistic goals. I hope you manage to achieve them. I’ve gone quite light on my reading goals for this year too. If it’s anything like 2020 I’ll be happy just to read anything.

    I’ve also put some books I’ve been meaning to read for years as a goal. Haven’t decided which ones yet but Fifth Season and Lies of Locke Lamore are strong possibilities.

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  8. I love your goals and j especially love seeing Finnikin of the Rock on your to-read list. My goal is try try another audio book. I keep struggling with them, but I think I might have better luck with non-fiction title.

    One of my goals is to start learning Japanese. I keep meaning to try a new language, and I love the Japanese language so I figure I should give it a try haha.

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    1. Thank you! I’m so excited for that! Oh that’s a great goal! I think listening to non fic on audio can be brilliant! Some of my favourite audiobooks are memoirs.

      Oh that’s an amazing goal!! Good luck!! Happy New Year! 😀 ❤

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  11. Good luck with the resolutions! Always good to have. I usually come up with some but then run out of steam about half way through 1 January, but that’s just me. I have a book half-read, right now, which hasn’t been touched since 31 December – ‘Blitzed’ by Norman Ohler, which I missed when it first came out, found a reprint just before Xmas, and promptly bought. I must finish it!

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  18. Sounds so so great!! Even I’m not setting any challenges or TBR for myself as I realised the past year that I changed a lot of my reading preferences to include more reads that were culturally relevant to educate myself.
    OMG I LOVE YOGA CHALLENGES! Which ones have you done?

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    1. Thank you! Ah I completely get that!
      Ahh I love them too- I’ve just done the original a lot, revolution (which was yummy), dedicate (which I didn’t like as much), and Home (loved it!! Doing it again!) Which ones have you done? Can you recommend one?

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      1. I have actually only done a week of Revolution but it didn’t workout for me. I love Yoga by Kassandra and Yoga by Candace more. In fact, I did a 12-minute daily challenge with Kassandra and I felt so good!

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  19. OMG, you are going to *love* The Lies of Locke Lamora. It’s like it was written just for you! I started forcing myself to do re-reads last year, and I’m so thankful I did because I love re-reading even more than I love finding a new book. I re-read 10 or 15 last year. This month I’m re-reading The Hunger Games trilogy, YAY!!

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  20. 2020 definitely made me re-evaluate some things and my resolutions this year are so different! No book challenges… Just enjoying reading! I love the idea of reading books you’d promised to read for ages! I’m always saying I’ll read things and usually forget hahaha

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  23. Your resolutions are so interesting! I like the idea of taking things easy, we often push ourselves to be productive that it can be easy to forget when to take a break or two. I find it difficult to commit to completing something, so looking at your resolutions helped me a little (maybe breaking it down into specific doable categories is the key?) All the best with your resolutions!

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  24. It’s always best not to set unrealistic goals, and after a year we had, taking it easy isn’t a bad idea. I actually started rereading Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy, which I love, love, love!

    I’m going into 2021 with a focus. I created a daily and weekly to-do list to get everything done in a day or week that I wasn’t always able to accomplish. Health, reading, and writing are the main focuses. A few daily things are yoga, qigong, meditation, cardio, reading (1 hour), and 150 writing word count. So far, I’ve been feeling great and forging ahead. Best of luck with all those books. *thumbs up*

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    1. Absolutely!! Oh that’s funny- I reread bear and the nightingale at the end of last year and loved it just as much the second time round!!

      That’s brilliant!! I’m really happy to hear it!! Good luck!! 😀 Thank you so much! And happy New Year! 😀 ❤

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  25. Pingback: December 2020 Wrap-Up / The Year in Review – Life and Other Disasters

  28. omg I just read book thief for the first time!! it was my last read of 2020, and wowwowowow, I was a WRECK. I had been meaning to read it for YEARS, and I finally did, so I’m very happy to have closed off my reading year with such a book. best of luck with all of these resolutions!! xx

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  29. Rereading is one of my goals too! And hooray for the yoga challenges – I really got into yoga last year and it totally kept me sane!

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  30. Totally get the hidden goals and that you’re keeping it light this year with the resolutions!! I’ve never been a fan of them anyway since I’m not good at keeping them and if the last year has taught me anything it’s that plans can fail (and that one should always be stocked with toilet paper 😉). So to quote one of my favourite books, my only resolution/advice for this year is “Stay alive!” (I know you know which one I mean. 😉)
    And you’ll love The Princess Bride!! 😀💗 xxx

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  31. it’s interesting to see the differing ways bloggers are responding to the current health crisis. I’ve seen lots of people, like you, deciding to go for a more simplified and less goal driven reading year. But then some are throwing themselves into every challenge imaginable. I’m heading more to the stripped down version: finish my world of literature project and join in abut 6 reading events but no challenges where you have to make lists of books to read. I never do well with those so why bother…

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  33. Pingback: Mid-Year Freak Out 2021! – the orang-utan librarian

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