Like many people, the start of a new year brings new goals for myself. Who knows how long they will actually last, but we’re all full of a little optimism at the start of the new year and always say this is our year to accomplish those things we’ve always wanted to do. While I do have my own personal goals, I thought it would be interesting to write down what I hope to accomplish in my reading/traveling for 2022. Here’s what I’ve been able to come up with so far!
1. Read Minimum of 100 Books
This isn’t necessarily a reach for me as this tends to be hit every year since I’ve been tracking what I read on Goodreads. Now this does include a few books I didn’t finish if I was truly was not enjoying them. I like to mark them as finished so I don’t waste my time on them again.
2. Visit Friends Across the Country
At the moment I have friends all across the United States, and I want to do a better job of visiting them in their new home city. I hope to visit to some friends out in Ohio, Boston, Miami, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Washington this year.
3. Read More From Different Countries
I need to do a better job of being The Library Abroad and reading books that are either set in different countries or the author is from that country. I spent a good part of my day printing out maps of each continent and spending hours researching books from every country in the world to add to my to read list. Once I read a book from a certain country, I will color it in on my map. I hope to have a pretty filled out map by the end of this year.
4. Start up Weekend Adventures Again
One of the things I loved about living out in the Pacific Northwest was definitely my weekend adventures I did. Checking out different parts of Washington or even doing weekend trips around surrounding states was great way for me to get out of my apartment. Even though I have lived in the Midwest for most of my 23 years, there is still so much I haven’t checked out, so I am making this one a priority this year.
5. Figure out Instagram Better
For those who do not know, I did create an Instagram for The Library Abroad back in the fall. At the moment I am mostly posting book reviews and what I hope to read that upcoming month. I follow a lot of different Bookstagram accounts, and I just need to work on making my page more appealing with the very limited graphic design that I know. I do post more book reviews on the Instagram then I tend to post on here.
6. Check Off One More State and Another Country
A while ago, before I even thought about creating a blog for my traveling, I set a goal to visit all 50 states by the time I am 30. After my cross country drive back to Chicago, I have been to 41 states. As of right now I do not have any trips planned to see one of those remaining states but that is definitely one of my top goals. I also want to start traveling to different countries. So the plan is to do one big trip each year traveling to a new country. Still figuring that one as well hahaha.
7. Take Advantage of the Book Clubs that I am in
I went from being in 0 book clubs to 3 by the end of 2021 and I am quickly realizing that I enjoy that quite a lot. Book Clubs are neat in the sense that you often get to read a book that you might not have picked up on your own. Even if it might not end being my favorite, I do always enjoying reading something new. The 3 that I am in are very casual which I think helps out a lot. I recently started a book club for my extended family and it is so interesting hearing the different perspectives from the different ages in the group.
8. Work on Blog
I want to do a better job of posting on here as well as start reorganizing my blog so it’s more appealing to look at. Which means taking different Word Press courses to try and understand technology. I’ve started only posting the books that are amazing on here but I want to do a better job of posting the books that I might have given a 3 or 4 star ranking instead of just a 5. Is it bad that the only way I can describe what I want to do is I want to make it pretty. So we are going to make this blog pretty!
I want to thank everyone who has the taken the time to read one of my posts these past few months. I hope to keep growing this blog and keep encouraging others to find joy in reading and traveling.
Until Next Time, The Library Abroad
The Library Abroad 
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