I used to have a hidden category on my previous blog with personal goals. I would spend some time around New Year’s Eve to reevaluate the year and post what I want to achieve next year. I never made them public because some were too personal, like steps toward battling anxiety.

I read a cool post by Ian Stewart today who writes about a framework for defining good personal goals called SMARTER. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and the ER for personal goals is Exciting and Risky or Reviewed, depending on the source.

Multiple of my personal goals from 2023 were around personal fitness and one of them was to hike to Cherni Vrah (2290) from Dragalevtsi (925). I was a universe away from doing that in 2023. At that time, I still had difficulties climbing the 6th floor of my building.

I got there today for the first time in 10+ years. I didn’t achieve the goal because my starting point was at around 1780m but it still felt so good. This goal is definitely SMArtEr. The summit is at 2290 so I only did 510 meters of denivelation and about 10km of walking. I’ve managed to also do the other part, Dragalevtsi to Goli Vrah (925 to 1820m). Despite the higher denivelation, it has rest stops and more air, so it’s about the same difficulty.

Now I need to glue them together. The goal is not time-bound. It can happen next week, next year, or never. But it’s a goal and I’ll pursue it.

Did I say how excited I am for reaching the top? It snowed there. I walked over patches of melting winter snow. I met people. I ate beans with Челядинка, didn’t even know people cook with that. It was nice. I even saw a single hail with the size of a plum. Does one hail count as a hailstorm? Anyway, this is the bean soup with Marasmius oreades, charred flat bread, and tea.

Cheers.