“Winning isn’t everything,” is great but winning something sure feels good and that’s why I gamify my goals. After surviving 2019 and 2020 even the little wins we create for ourselves feel good. In January, I decided to randomly put resolutions on a Bingo Card, thanks to good ‘ol Canva. Occasionally I check in on it and life has been “life-ing.” I’m pretty much navigating life off of, “If I can survive 2019 and 2020 I can survive this moment.”

We don’t speak about 2019.

First, I’ll start with the 2023 good. Publish a new book. This year I was laid off most of the spring/summer, so I actually got to publish a book for myself and a client. Good thing is this wasn’t my first rodeo at being laid off, so I got to work on my personal goals.

I wrote two grants and they were both accepted. I thought I was starting the year off right because I took my annual bonus and paid off my car, bought a mattress, and paid for my vacay. Three weeks after that, I was let go after almost 9 years of working for that company. I did however get a lot of “do nothing days” because unemployment is not a vacay. I reorganized the entire house, including my closet. Likewise, I did purchase all the things to do the cabinets, but I’m still intimidated by the project itself and decided to move it to Q1 2024.

Instead of focusing on everything I didn’t accomplish, I was actually happy/surprised that I got Bingo. I’m raising a glass to finishing reading multiple books. My favorites were anything by Aubree Pynn, 50 Cent’s “Hustle Smarter”, Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” and Peter Moskowitz’ “How to Kill a City.”

Wildly enough, one vacation was already booked well in advance and I had no idea that I would be unemployed, but I guess that was a sign from the universe to go have fun and I did. Universal Studios in my humble opinion was better than Disney World by far. I got to relax. I even made a graph of things I had accomplished while laid off.

Unemployment didn’t pay well, but if the pandemic taught me anything it taught me to create my core values, create boundaries in the workplace and in my personal life, and to always chase joy. Just like I organized my house, I organized my thoughts and life priorities. Funny thing is that the first time I got laid off fresh out of my first job right out of college and that time I drove to the border with a friend and came back and applied for a flight attendant job. The downside to not having a job was I had to find side jobs and make ends meet with less money in a less than stellar economy.

I intended to accomplish some goals that didn’t get done, but January me couldn’t have known the instability that 2023 would bring. I needed that instability though because it brought clarity. Instead of renewing my passport I paid bills, instead of going to a new country I got to embrace Hogwarts with a smile on my face, not worrying about what was next for me. Of course with tight finances increasing my savings, paying off my credit cards, and any other big undertaking with finances was utterly impossible, but I couldn’t fret about those things as I needed to smile about what I could accomplish.

Halloween brought an amazing sewing opportunity and I sewed not only my Halloween Costume by my boyfriends. That three day project was frustrating and a learning curve, but now I feel like I can do anything. Some of the things that didn’t get accomplished made it on the 2024 Bingo Card, and I can’t wait to share that. If you want to go on that journey yourself, here’s a link to a blank card. Don’t forget to make a copy of it before editing it. And if Canva isn’t your jam, just print it and write on. I have no idea what 2024 will bring, but as long as I get Bingo I won and the prize is peace of mind and knowing that things are okay. The instability of 2023 brought me the gift of clarity and flexibility. 2024 has so many more lessons in store.