Goals
We have now officially survived the first month of the New Year! Hurray to us! I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to keep up with a few of the goals I set. If you follow my YouTube you’ve probably already watched my 2024 Goals video. But if you don’t, my sort of overarching theme for this year is cultivating a Cozy Booktrovert Life. I’ll talk more about that in a bit. Some specific areas of focus for me are:
Reading:
- Mood read. Read books I want and DNF books I’m not enjoying
- Read a total of 50 books
- Rainbow reading challenge. I have rainbow colored stickers for my planner, and I want to read books that have covers that match them.
Writing:
- Finish editing and revising my debut novel
- Self-Publish by end of the year!
Other:
- Make time for all my cozy hobbies (writing, reading, gaming, crafting, etc.)
- Keep driving! Get comfortable with driving to more places than just work and home. Like the nearest bookstore and craft store!
I’ve made some progress on these goals, and I’m proud of it! I’ve read 6 books in January, and I’m working on two more. I’ve read a book with a white cover for the Rainbow Reading Challenge (Into the Woods by Tana French). Check out my January Wrap Up video for details! I’ve kept up with driving, even though I had my first ever fender bender after the first (second really) major snowfall of the winter. I was tempted to take a break from driving after that, but I talked myself out of it and have persevered! I’ve also made a new plan to work towards for my novel revisions, and I’ve been making sure to spend time doing some of my hobbies (focusing on knitting and gaming).
Another sort of unofficial goal that I’ve set for this year is to be more regular with my blog posts. Last year, life got the better of me, and I found I just didn’t have enough time to keep up with the posts I wanted to make consistently. So, this year, I decided I’m going to alter my blog format a little. What does that mean exactly? I’m glad you asked!
Blog Refresh!
When I started this blog in 2019, it was mainly to do book reviews and connect with other bookish people. But I’ve since expanded my Bookshelf Bunny alter ego to include other platforms. Mainly Instagram/Facebook, and YouTube, with a minor presence on TikTok, Twitch, X, and Vocal. (You can find all the things in my LinkTree.) Through these platforms I’ve met some amazing book friends, made connections with talented authors, been provided with ARC’s and book copies in exchange for reviews, and had all sorts of awesome book recommendations. It’s been awesome, and I enjoy the creativity involved in video and photo posts. These other platforms are where I have been able to best realize what I was looking for most in the bookish community, and so that’s where most of my energy has gone.
But I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a way to sort of draw all my content across all those platforms together a little bit. Then I thought, why not use my blog to do that? Make it a sort of central hub for all my content.
One Ring to Rule them All!
My primary focus will always be on books because that is my favorite cozy hobby. But I also want to expand my blog into exploring my other cozy hobbies, too. Mainly because I’ve come to realize that many of the bookish friends I’ve made over the last few years also tend to share some of those other things. It all coincides nicely with my theme for 2024 of Cozy Booktrovert Life, so I figured why not? This could be a good way to help me focus on that theme and share some of that joy with like-minded people.
Theme for 2024
Which brings me to…What exactly do I mean by Cozy Booktrovert Life? Let’s break it down.
To me, “cozy” brings to mind moments of calm. Being comfortable and content. Being purposeful about doing things that put me in “the zone.” That place where we lose time because we are so engrossed in what we are doing. Maybe that means getting wrapped up in a fluffy blanket reading a good book and sipping on a warm drink. Or, maybe it means sitting down in my home office surrounded by my favorite things and playing Sims 4. Most of the things I love to do in my spare time are considered cozy hobbies.
“Booktrovert” is a fun word. A mashup of book and introvert. I saw it on a t-shirt once and fell in love with the concept. It also happens to accurately describe me. “Book” is obvious, reading and stories are my first love. As for “Introvert,” I am unapologetically that. It’s not that I don’t like people. But being around people for a while leaves me tired, drained, grumpy, and extra anxious. When I look back at my childhood, my intrinsic introversion is so obvious it’s funny. For example, when my dad took my brother and I to a park to play I would insist on finding a different one to play at if there were too many kids. I liked to find a quiet place to be by myself at recess as a kid, I remember hiding in the janitors’ closet and playing with toys I brought from home or reading. When I was older my introversion was a little harder to spot, but it was still there. I became very good at masking it, because as I grew up it was clear that being quiet was somewhat frowned upon. I remember being frustrated that phone calls were so daunting and that it was so hard for me to be as “bold” as my peers. But I still spent lots of weekends to myself, or read my book in the library at lunch. It wasn’t until my young adulthood that I actually understood what introversion and extroversion really was, and since then, I have fully embraced it as a core part of who I am.
Like most of us, I have a lot of demands on my time. When I don’t take those moments to myself, my anxiety spirals, my mental health suffers, and I’m not at my best. I keep that up for long enough, I full on burn out. I learned years ago to say “no,” to set boundaries and not to fill my calendar so that I can better care for my mental and emotional health. I’ve become pretty good at giving myself pockets of time to recharge. I guard my evenings and my weekends pretty jealously. But often, in that time I’ve carved out, I just become a lump on the couch doom scrolling. I want to use that time better. I want to be purposeful with it. I want to seek out “the zone” as much as possible. That is what I mean by cultivating a Cozy Booktrovert Life. It’s putting down my phone and opening my book instead, but it’s also getting crafty and creative by knitting or sewing, playing cozy videogames to unwind, and writing stories of my own. It’s doing all those little things I love instead of being sad that I don’t have time to do them. I do. I just need to utilize it!
In Conclusion
So, moving forward, you can expect some fun things from this blog. At the end of every month I’ll share not only what I’ve read, but also highlights from my various social platforms you might want to check out, and an update on how things are going with cultivating my Cozy Booktrovert Life. I’ll share what I’ve been playing, what I’m crafting, and what I’m writing, too! I’m excited to share this journey with you!
Bookshelf Bunny 