Two Thousand and Seventeen

(Currently dosed up on lemsip)

Skipping all the cliché ‘I can’t believe it’s 2017 already’ and jumping straight into this blog post.

I am a sucker for being nosy, especially when it comes to people’s goals and resolutions. As we etched closer to the new year I was reading a lot of blogs and watching YouTube videos, all relating to reflecting on the past year and goals for the year ahead.  Although, I’m not the biggest fan of New Year celebrations, undeniably it’s the perfect opportunity to set yourself new goals. 

Gone are the days where New Years resolutions were to ‘work on my handwriting’ or ‘keep my room tidy’ (my mum loved that one), it’s much more mature nowadays (sigh).

After much thought, I drew my mind to reflecting on my past year and tried to decide realistic goals for the following year. It’s all well and good setting goals like completing the marathon and learning to horse ride but you want to be setting goals for yourself which are a) realistic and b) achievable.

There’s been many years where I’ve said to myself I’ll learn to play piano and never managed to get round to it. My advice to you is to be true to yourself, what do you want to achieve. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t have to wait till the start of a new year to set yourself goals, but it’s a perfect opportunity to do so. New year, new me and all that jazz.

I tried to keep my goals/resolutions as realistic and true to myself as possible in hopes of actually achieving them this year.

Write in my diary every night

I’m pretty sure I’ve set myself this goal a few times, but I soon forget how good it is for me to reflect and look through my diary on certain dates and see how far I’ve come. Looking back through my diary entries from 2016, it’s all scattered, I’ve written a few entries a week and then there’s a few months gap and then I start again, vowing to myself I’ll continue with an entry every night from them on. Ha. It doesn’t have to be much, but an entry a night is my goal and I really hope to stick by it. Although, when you’re having a bad day the last thing you want to do is relive it by writing about it, it’s really good to read back on.

Live by the 5 by 5 rule

If it’s not going to matter in 5 years, don’t spend more than 5 minutes upset by it.

This is pretty self-explanationary, I need to learn to care less and that is so much harder than it sounds. I’m hoping with this rule I can get better at it this year.

Stay on top of work

When you see the word’s ‘work’, ‘study’ and’exams’ it sends shivers down my spine – okay not literally but it doesn’t make me smile I can tell you that. Recently I applied for a part time job at a department store and I got it! I’m really enjoying it but once my ext semester at uni starts again. I’m really going to need to be able to stay on top of my work, i always go through phases with being consistent with my uni work and other commitments. this year I really want to perfect this, keeping my motivation high and organising  my time well enough, will allow me to keep my job and carry on enjoying it as well as uni. Time management is all about organisation, I’ve started to buy my course books and even started reading a few to get ahead of myself (check me out).

Don’t let the blog slide

Ah, the blog. I don’t want to put pressure on myself to keep up with the blog posts because then I begin to lose the enjoyment of writing blog posts. But i definitely want to try (try being the operative word), to be more consistent without losing the reason why i started it – i enjoy taking pictures and i really really enjoy writing blog posts, as long as I stick to the reasons why I started this blog then I won’t lose the happiness it brings me. My little family has had a few additions in 2016 and a new little one coming this year, means that there is a lot going on at home, but it’s all the more reason to document it. I enjoy taking pictures for the blog and i even more enjoy writing blog posts and I know my sisters will agree me on this. I’m going to try to be more consistent.

Take more city breaks

This is a joint goal with my mum, we always say to ourselves we’ll take a short weekend break somewhere, but never do. There’s so many places around the UK we haven’t visited, taking short breaks throughout the year even if it’s for a few days, is really good to recharge yourself. I hope to take more city breaks this year and hopefully bring more travel diaries to you!

Say yes more

Whether it’s out of my ‘comfort zone’ or I doubt myself, I say no to a lot of things because I’d rather save myself from the stress/anxiety that comes with trying new things. This year, I want to fight those urges to hide away and say no and say yes more. It might mean that I try new things and yes it might be scary but at least i’ve tried it.

That’s all my goals for now, every couple of months I’ll most probably set myself a few more so I might include them in a post later on in the year. I’m currently sniffling away, wrapped in my dressing gown, feeling sorry for myself. The January blues are real.

With love,

Sophie