My goals for 2025 - 2026 as an artist with a chronic illness

My idea of goals has shifted drastically over the years and even more so in the past couple of months. As I continue to grapple with the weight of my chronic health conditions and learn to let go of unrealistic expectations I had placed on myself, I have to admit... it has been freeing. But also terrifying.

Welcome to day 8 of the 30 day blogging challenge that I ambitiously (half)committed myself to at the beginning of this month. I say half committed because I know I might not be able to show up every day for these posts and that is OK! See what I did there? I lowered the expectation I would normally have placed on myself 😉

Since I'm completing this in October, let's do goals that span from now until the end of 2026.

I'm ambitious, so my goals have always been big

To be fair, I am not even sure what to label my condition... is it a condition, an illness...? I know it is hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and I know that I have been symptomatic since I was a small child (likely since I was born). Long before I ever ate a pizza pocket or smoked a cigarette (don't worry I quit both of those a long time ago). So I believe that it's something that's kind of just part of who I am. How can who I am be an illness? Anyway, I digress...

I've always been a very ambitious person. I strived to succeed at everything I did. (Except spots. This hypermobile injury-prone body was never going to be good at sports 🤷🏻♀️). I went above and beyond with all school projects, took on extra tasks at work, created positions for myself in the workplace that didn't already exist, and joined volunteer boards whenever I could. Yes... I was a nerd. (I'm still a nerd. I just hide it better 😆 Maybe not).

As I found myself without job prospects after graduating university and moving to a new city, I took a full time retail job and built a copywriting business that turned into a marketing and coaching business. I created courses and a podcast. I had a plan - a big plan - to become the next Amy Porterfield or Jenna Kutcher.

My lofty goals have sometimes hurt my health and wellbeing

But my health caught up with me. I closed my business more than once, stepped out of the spotlight and slipped into my bed as I nursed my body through one thing after another. But I kept going back.

Maybe if I do things a little slower. Maybe if I take the mornings off to do health stuff and work in the evenings. Maybe if I work for an hour and then take a nap then work for an hour then do physio then take a nap then.......

I just didn't want to let go of those goals.

As I stepped away from my business I found myself trapped in the same routine with my arts. I set goals in my calendar of when I'd release new music. I planned out an elaborate online shop and market table and told myself I needed to have at least 100 greeting cards and 50 ornaments and... it went on and on. I set a goal date for my new book, "Echoes of You" and even started planning a 6 month long marketing calendar. (I'm a little embarrassed about how lofty that goal was 😆).

But all I did was continually fall short of those goals, feel shitty about it, and make myself sicker tryin to reach them.

Goals mean something different to me as a person who is learning to accept my chronic health condition

This has been a very long time coming and has taken a tremendous amount of inner work. Inner work I couldn't have done with the help of therapists, friends, and my incredible husband (and his awe-inspiring level of patience 🙏).

But I am finally creating a new type of goals. Goals that are centered not on timelines but on benchmarks. Benchmarks I will reach when the time is right and my health affords. And benchmarks that go beyond just traditional ideas of "accomplishment."

So here is my 2025-2026 list of goals:

• To finish editing the Echoes of You book when I am able to. I think I will get that done by the end of this cycle but we'll see.
• To finish the Echoes of You music album when I am able. This might mean I need help from other artists. That's OK.
• To take my time and do things right. To create things of quality for the sake of creating things of quality and for the love of the creation instead of creating things to meet some sort of quota.
• To say no to things that don't serve my greatest good.
• To take breaks when I need them.
• To give myself grace if I fuck up on those last few goals from time to time.
• To treat my body well, nourish it, celebrate it, and show gratitude for it.
• To experience life apart from my goals and do things that have literally no objective just for the sake of it. Just for the enjoyment. And show no one. Because those moments will be for me.