Reflection On My 2015 Goals

I had three goals for 2015, they were:

                                                   1.      Read more.

                                                   2.      Enjoy life.

                                                   3.      Study hard.

While these sound simplistic and not much of a challenge, they didn’t come easy to me. In fact I would say I only achieved one of these goals (Having read 30 books this year, I would count that as reading more). But the point of these goals was not to achieve anything. I wanted to spend 2015 improving myself, and self-improvement is something that continuously happens over a lifetime. I think what helps most with self-improvement though is reflection, so here is my reflection on my 2015 goals.

      1.      Read More: I am really proud of how much I read this year. Being a full time student takes a lot of time and I’m really glad I set aside time to read as much as I did. With this goal I really wanted to expand myself and explore through literature. I’m a notorious for re-reading (especially Harry Potter) and while that’s not a bad thing I wanted to branch out this year. As much as I love reading before this year I hadn’t read many books by my own choosing since before high school. It was fun rediscovering that love of reading and I want to keep it going.

      2.      Enjoy Life: I wouldn’t say I achieved this goal this year, but that’s not to say I failed completely. I can look back on 2015 and remember wonderful times and happy memories. But I also was depressed a lot and there were times I let that overcome me. The purpose of this goal was to try and help me push myself and not get stuck in my mind, but it was hard and I rarely succeeded. Therefore, I don’t count this goal as a success but something I will continue to work on.

      3.      Study Hard: Yes I passed all my classes, some just barely, but that’s not really good enough for me to consider this goal a success. I could have studied harder. I lost my focus, I procrastinated, and often I gave up. The purpose of this goal was to avoid all those things. Doing well in school is extremely important to me and I am disappointed in myself for how I did, particularly this last semester. I can only move forward though; therefore, I have to learn from this and use it as my wake up call. If I don’t study harder in the future I won’t be able to accomplish my long term goals.

Through reflection we can be proud of what we accomplished, learn from our mistakes, and figure out ways to improve. I look forward to 2016 to learn more lessons and to try to do better, and look back at 2015 with pride that I made it through. 

The 30 Books I Read in 2015

I was able to read thirty books in 2015, probably my biggest accomplishment. Although, my mother would say I should have spent more time studying. I did enjoy every book I read this year, but some really stood out to me. For my top 5 favorite books I read this year I will give you my reasons for loving it so much.

1.      The 5^th Wave*

2.      Yes, Please

3.      Dead is a Killer Tune

4.      Dead is Just a Dream

5.      We Should Hang Out Sometime

6.      Eleanor & Park

7.      Fangirl (Author: Rainbow Rowell) The main character Wren, and her twin sister Cath, are off to college and Cath wants to branch out, leaving Wren to feel left behind and unsure of where she belongs. Wren is a writer though, and spends most her time writing fanfiction, escaping into the world she created online. With the help of some new friends Wren slowly starts experiencing college and gets out of her shell. I love this book because the characters were so unique and relatable. I had friends my first year of college who helped pull my away from my laptop and push me out into the world and it was fun to see that reflected in Fangirl. Plus I love a good love story and all the allusions to Harry Potter.

8.      Attachments

9.      Me and Earl and the Dying Girl*

10.   I am Malala

11.   Warm Bodies*

12.   We All Looked Up

13.   Finding Audrey

14.   Geek Girl

15.   It’s Kind of a Funny Story* (Author: Ned Vizzini) This is the story of a boy Craig, who has been feeling pressure due to school and friends and family and became depressed. One night he considers killing himself and instead goes to the hospital and checks into the psych unit. Being in the psych unit he learns that he was unnecessarily putting pressures on himself and his self-worth isn’t determined by the prestigious school he goes to or his intellect. This story was inspired by the authors own hospitalization for depression. While most of the book focus on dark concepts it has a hopeful ending, and struggling with depression myself, I found it to be comforting. It looks at mental health in a real way that isn’t often portrayed in books or movies.

16.   All the bright places

17.   The Opposite of Loneliness

18.   The Astronaut’s Wives Club*

19.   The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

20.   Carry On (Author: Rainbow Rowell) Simon Snow is a wizard who is trying to defeat an evil force. Basically Harry Potter with some twists. The fun thing about this book is in Rowell’s book Fangirl, the main character Wren, writes fanfiction about Simon Snow. Rowell took the book concept she created in Fangirl and wrote a whole book about it. There are so many things to love about this. I love the unexpected love story- it really knocked my off my feet. I love how it’s like Harry Potter in so many ways- give me a wizarding world and I’m happy. Most of all I love how originally it was just a small part of another story the author wrote and then she decided to fully create a book for the characters.

21.   Girl Online On Tour

22.   Life and Death

23.   Fun home** (Author: Alison Bechdel) This is an autobiography written in graphic novel form. It focus’s mostly on Bechdel’s childhood and what it was like for her to grow up.  The reason I love this book so much: Bechdel is a lesbian. There are so few stories out there about lesbians and I really love being able to relate to a character that way. My favorite parts of the story were about Bechdel’s first girlfriend. I always enjoy stories more when I can see myself in a character and that’s why I loved Fun Home so much.

24.   The Cuckoo’s Calling (Author: Robert Galbraith) A detective, Cormoran Strike, is asked to discover what really happened the night Lulu Landry, a famous model, died. This is a good old fashion crime novel and I couldn’t put it down. Also it should be noted that Robert Galbraith is a pseudonym for JK Rowling. Crime novels are so fascinating to me because I love getting the clues as you read and trying to figure out who did it.  

25.   Pride and prejudice*

26.   The Silkworm

27.   The Bad Beginning*

28.   The Reptile Room*

29.   The Wide Window*

30.   The Gospel According to Coco Chanel

*there is a movie/tv show modeled after these books

**there is a musical modeled after this book