A New Year State of Mind: Goals for 2017

Happy New Year!

I’m here trying to grasp the reality of it all. It is 2017 and I will be 42 in just a few months. What the hell just happened? I feel like the clock is ticking. Ticking for what, I’m not sure.

I realized last year that new year’s resolutions are not my forte so this year I am setting goals instead. I may even make a visual board to motivate me daily. Who knows?

To Travel is to Live

Traveling to me is like breathing. It has become an integral part of who I am and I don’t just mean the whole travel blogging thing. So what if  I didn’t get to go to all the places I planned to go to last year. Doesn’t really matter. We’ll just add those to this year’s list. Although I don’t like revealing my 2017 wish list just yet, and run the risk of jinxing it, these are the places I am striving to visit this year.

A road trip through the US’ Pacific Northwest is still on the top of my list of epic adventures to have and I already started saving up for it. Hopefully I’ll be spending my birthday this year hiking up to some gorgeous waterfall or eating my way through Portland, Oregon.. The plan is to start in Portland then take the coastal road trough Cannon Beach and Forks  all the way to Seattle. Any of you have any recommendations for this trip, don’t keep it to yourself. Share!

Other US’ cities on the 2017 list are Chicago, Atlanta and New York City. Atlanta has long been on the list and besides, I have a promise to keep to two special people in my life, Chicago cause I’ve always wanted to see myself reflected in the Bean, I guess and New York City cause it’s well, New York City. Who needs a reason to visit the Big Apple?

As for other Caribbean islands: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Martinique and Aruba are all in the plans. As aways I intend to focus more on traveling in the region than anywhere else for the sake of my blog. Oh, the sacrifices one has to make.

Other destinations on my Must-Do list include Sweden, Iceland and Costa Rica. But you know what? Aside from my long awaited trip to PNW I really don’t care where all I go to this year as long as I go. Besides, I just love a good surprise, don’t you?

Home is where the Heart is

While it’s all great, awesome in fact to travel as far and as wide as possible, it is also good to come home. I may not live in a big city or even in a big country where there is lots to explore, but I’m sure there is still quite a few adventures to be had on beautiful St. Maarten. I intend to be an expert connoisseur of my own island by the end of 2017.

Coloring is Peace

Life is about using the whole box of crayons, according to Ru Paul. I discovered, or I should say re-discovered coloring last year in DC and let me tell you something, there is no exercise more relaxing, peaceful or mind-numbing as coloring. And no, I am not talking about Charlotte’s kind of “coloring” in the Sex and the City movie but actual coloring with crayons or color pencils in an actual coloring book for adults.

Between the Pages of a Book is a Lovely place to be

Last year I discovered “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins and the hilarious “What I was doing while you were Breeding” by Kristin Newman. Two books that I just can’t stop thinking about. It is true that when a book is well written, it is way too short. These were both books that once I got into, I just could not put down. So, another goal for 2017 is to find at least two more great titles to delve into. Any suggestions?

Being Social on Social Media

I love meeting new people. Last year I had the pleasure of meeting a few social media friends that have been inspiring me for while with amazing travel photos and more. I just decided one day to reach out to them and let them know what a great job they were doing, which led to conversations, which then led to actually meeting each other in person. I met some on my travels and others while they were visiting SXM. This is definitely a new habit I intend to keep in 2017 and I have several Insta-Friends on my “To Meet” list this year. There are so many interesting people with very interesting stories out there and the best part is that they are just a few key strokes away.

Of course there are other goals like becoming financially stable, making our little island bar a success, getting more contracts for my social media marketing side project, finally starting yoga, double my IG followers, become a sought after travel blogger and a better pet mom and wife. No matter what I decide to add or remove from the list, it is important to have goals. Goals keep us focused on the future and give us something to work towards.

Having said that, what are your goals for 2017? Are you too planning to travel more? If so, where to and how do you plan to realize it? I want to hear it all. Let’s motivate each other to keep working towards those goals. Share you passion and how you plan to achieve it. You never know who you might inspire out there or get inspired by.

Until the next blog post.

XOXO Riselle a.k.a. The Traveling Island Girl

Live, Love, Travel.