Monthly Personal Challenge Link-Up: May Results

I initially planned to have this written and scheduled to post before I left for Philadelphia early Monday morning, but I ran out of time. I'm obviously late to the link-up (though I guess that's not so unusual for me), but I still wanted to participate ... It's the last one of its kind, after all!

I'm really bummed that this is the last one. While it was difficult to come up with (and stick with!) goals at times, these monthly personal challenges pushed me to stay motivated. Writing out my goals and posting them here has really helped ... I mean, who wants to come back to their blog month after month and say, "I didn't accomplish any of my goals"? I definitely didn't accomplish all of my goals all the time, but because they were out there, I at least kept them in mind throughout the month and made some positive changes along the way.

Because of that, I'm going to continue posting monthly goals on this blog. Of course I have my New Year's resolutions for yearly goals, but I think it's nice to select a few major things to work on each month as well. And, really, my monthly goals often align with my yearly goals anyway. The monthly goals just help me chip away at some of those resolutions with more focus.

I'll come back tomorrow to post my goals for June. I would try to come up with something today, but I'm quickly typing this up before I have to start getting ready to attend a friend's wedding. (I'm also not sure if I want to continue this tradition of themed goals, so I need a little more time to think about it.)

Anyway, I'll stop my rambling and post the stuff you came here to see: my May results.

I know I've posted this picture before, but it goes well with May's theme so I decided to post it again.

May's theme was all about reading. My goals for the month were as follows:

1.  Read and comment on blogs more often.

2.  Read at least 3 books during the month.

3.  Get a library card.

I kept my goals very simple since I knew I had some fun stuff lined up for the month (which obviously meant less time for reading). I'm pleased to say that I did very well and ended the monthly personal challenge link-up on a high note!

1.  I'll give myself a pass on this one. I didn't comment as often as I wanted to, but I'm almost completely caught up on the blogs I follow on Bloglovin. I also stopped following a few blogs, which cut down on the massive amounts of unread posts in my feed. My problem is that if I'm following you, I take the time to read every single post you make. I'm glad that I do that (I mean, it would make me feel great to know that at least one person out there cares enough to read all of my posts!), but things can really pile up if I'm losing interest in a particular blog. I solved that problem, but I really do need to focus on commenting more often.

2.  I finished 6 books during the month of May, so I definitely hit this goal! I did start one of those at the very end of April, but the rest were read from beginning to end in May. This makes me excited because I now have a lot of reviews to share for the Show Us Your Books! link-up! (And I'm getting back on track to hit my 50 book goal this year!)

3.  Eric and I both got library cards (he surprisingly didn't have one anymore either), so that's a definite pass as well. I really think the library card has already helped me get through more books than I normally would. I know I can renew them if necessary, but I think having a specific due date has made me devote more time to reading.

I've really enjoyed this link-up, so thanks to Stephanie, Steph, and Ashley for hosting it! And, as I said earlier, I'll be back tomorrow with some goals for June.