Goals - A story written in five-ish minutes

Every year on the 4th of October I have a look over my goals. I check how far I've come, what all I've managed to achieve, and what all I want to achieve in the coming year.

This year is no different. I took a day off, had a strong cup of coffee and two eggs for breakfast, then sat down behind my desk and pulled the folder “GOALS” from the first drawer.

I licked my right index finger, rubbed it against the thumb to moisten it, and started listing through the many goal sheets I have worked through the year. I’ve made it tradition to go through all of them to remind myself that my goals were achievable and that nothing was impossible if you worked on it consistently.

I started jotting down my goals back in high school and the first goal I had written down for that year always brought a smile to my face. “Get a girlfriend”, it read. The smile vanished as soon as it appeared, however, because the little square box next to that goal had no checkmark in it.

Going through my past goals and revisiting my memories was very much an emotional rollercoaster. Seeing written down goals such as “beat depression” always made me feel uneasy, despite knowing there was a checkmark next to it two years later. On the same note seeing my goal to get married from six years ago fulfilled made me feel immeasurably happy.

But every year looking through the many of my old achievements, and adding next to them my newest ones, there is this one feeling looming over me I cannot get rid of. That despite all I have achieved, I might actually only be running in place.