Let’s Do Something New for 2022- Why I’m Done With Resolutions…

Published on by theorangutanlibrarian

Thanks for all the kind messages in the last post ❤ Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Let’s hope we all have a good one!

To kick off the new year, I wanted to talk about something I’m going to be doing differently: I won’t be doing any resolutions. Which, considering the fact I didn’t feel like recapping my 2021 resolutions, makes sense.

The thing is, I gave up on my reading resolutions very early in the year. A lot happened and I didn’t bother checking in with them- I just let my mood-reading-freak-flag fly high. So naturally when it came to doing a wrap up… it seemed a bit pointless. Sure, I could randomly tick off and cross off goals, yet if it was all unconscious and arbitrary, why bother? Which got me thinking about my goal setting in future.

The thing is, I’m a naturally goal-oriented person. I love setting myself a target and then running at it full pelt. However, I do think that setting goals when it comes to reading can put a bit of a dampener on things. I end up thinking too much in terms of what I’m achieving and less about what I’m enjoying right now. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m happiest being a mood reader. And reading is ultimately a hobby for me that *I don’t want added pressure from*. If I want to read something right now, I will. I don’t want to ruin that by thinking about what I (supposedly) ought to be reading.

Which also makes me think about how *boring* my resolutions posts were becoming. Because I try to accommodate my mood-reading ways, I tend to play it safe and try to stick to things I’d like to read anyway. That in turn becomes really samey (and doubtless really dull to read). My posts (including the one I scrapped) were pretty much falling into a formula of “I set these really easy goals and then I did them- woohoo!” And that seems daft to write about, considering how all the things I’m excited about were often left of field! I much prefer revealing all the lovely bookish surprises in stats and other wrap ups.

Ultimately, I can’t predict what’s going to happen… and that includes not knowing whether I’ll want to return to resolutions in the future. Right now, I’m going to let the goals go and just read whatever I fancy. Have a cool 2022!

Are any of you trying something new? How do you feel about resolutions? Let me know in the comments and Happy New Year! ❤

38 thoughts on “Let’s Do Something New for 2022- Why I’m Done With Resolutions…”

  1. You’re not doing resolutions this year, I’m doing them for the first time haha we’ve really switched it up. I’m totally with you on the whole pressure thing though. I think I’ve set myself up for things that are fairly easy to achieve, but I’ve also decided not to beat myself up should I abandon some of those goals.
    I hope you are doing well and wish you a happy and healthy 2022!

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  3. I’ve always got goals for my reading, but I never make them “actual”, because of this exact thing. I’m not a mood reader like you, so that tends to help me though. But pressure will kill the blogging and reading mojo quicker than spit, that’s for sure. So I’m glad to hear you’re deliberately trying to reduce that pressure 🙂

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  7. I prefer to keep my goals personal and appropriate to me – like only buying my books from Independents, or actually reading the book that my brother gave me so that I can answer him honestly when he asks me if I liked it! I think it’s good to take the pressure off yourself, after all, reading should be an escape and a joy.

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  9. You go girl!

    Last year, I joined Goodreads. Or maybe it was 14 months ago. Anyway … the site pressured me to “set a reading goal,” and I honestly had no idea how many books I read in a year, so I took a guess and set it for 100. Halfway through the year, it became apparent that that was not realistic, so I revised it to 52 (1 book a week, right? right?). Of course, I couldn’t count re-reads of all or parts of my own novels … anyway, I still ended up falling short by about 8 books.

    I will keep reading your posts as long as you keep using words like “daft,” however daft they may be.

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  10. I’ve definitely become more lax with my New Years goals and resolutions. I had a r tree branch to beat myself up if I didn’t accomplish them (which I normally don’t accomplish them aha) but I had to teach myself that it’s okay, A for effort. I like making the post because I just may surprise myself!

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  13. I stopped making new year’s resolutions a while back and it’s felt like having a weight lifted from my shoulders (which is kind of ironic considering most of my resolutions revolved around losing weight hehe). As much as I still take time to reflect on the year that’s been and ideas I have for the year ahead, I found the pressure of resolutions to be almost like a trap. Especially for something like reading; books are something to be enjoyed not just something to get through because we feel we have to. Wishing you a very happy 2022!

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  14. I’ve been giving myself permission to indulge in more mood reading lately. Normally I try to throw in some more books i think others will be talking about, or that will interest blog readers. Now I’m doing a lot of rereads, revisiting old favorites. I returned a few books to the library that I started and just wasn’t feeling. This pandemic is exhausting, and I think being easy on ourselves and allowing reading to be a fun hobby is something we all need!

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    1. Ah yes I relate to that. Same! I’m really excited about rereads at the moment tbh! (I’ve heard about the new serkis audiobook version of lotr and may just be listening to that soon… 😉) I really relate to that!!

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  16. Great post! I don’t do reading resolutions — I’m so much happier when I go with my mood and just read whatever appeals to me in the moment. The only goals I tend to set are (1) a Goodreads goal, which is just a number and is movable in any case, and (2) I tend to pick a few series I’d like to read at the start of each year (although whether I do or not is always up for debate!). My big resolution (if you can call it that) for this year is really more of a reminder to myself to request way fewer ARCs, because those can pile up so easily, and I hate having to read based on obligation.

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    1. Thank you!! Ah I do relate! And yes I do the same with Goodreads (and change it throughout the year anyway 😂) and that makes sense! Haha I totally get that as well! I’m really strict with arcs for the same reason

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  18. Pingback: Monthly Wrap Up | January 2022 + Reading List | February 2022 – Sorry, I'm Booked

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