Looking back at my 2021 intentions blog, I’m laughing at how I achieved absolutely none of them! From blogging, to reading, to resting, I massively overestimated what I could manage. Here’s the thing: I became a parent and that changed everything. I’m also going back to work next month, and so I need to take both of those things into consideration when setting goals for 2022.

So here we are, folks, a much more realistic New Year Intentions blog.

I would like to write 26 blogs. The target for 2021 was 100. I’m going to try to do one once a fortnight.

I’m going to do the annual reading challenge again. The aim is to read a book every week. It turns out that when most of the books you read are children’s books about 20 pages long, this is not too strenuous. So, I’m aiming to read 52 books this year.

I am planning to write a sermon each time I’m due to preach. In 2021 I wanted to spend 5 weeks writing each sermon. I still maintain that the method I proposed last year is a really good one, but it’s a good method for people with time. Instead, I’m just aiming to get some thoughts out in some way or another each time I’m due to preach.

I will ensure that the Foodbank at church happens each week in 2022.

I am going to block out 5pm-7pm in my diary every single day. That is time with Sophia and Nathan and it is absolutely non negotiable.

I am also going to take all my holidays, be off on my days off and cut myself some slack. The last two years have taught me many things, but this is one of the most important: we don’t do anybody any favours by running ourselves into the ground, least of all our family.

There we are! Please do hold me accountable if it looks like I’m trying to do too much. Thank you!