Hello everyone and happy new year! I wish you all the happiness and success for 2019! I decided after Blogmas that I would take a mini hiatus from my blog whilst I got back into the swing of things both in and out of work. I feel like now I am back into my normal routine again I can dive back into blogging and share what I've been up to. I'm also very thankful to the collaborations I've had lately which has filled in the gaps whilst I've been busy. I hope you have enjoyed reading them!To kick off this year of posts I noticed that it was two years ago now that I did a blog post on my goals for the year, which has been one of my successful blog posts to date, so thank you very much for your support on that! A bit late to the party than most but I thought I'd share again what my goals are and what I hope to achieve by the end of this year. The idea behind them is not resolutions as such but something for me to aim towards to get the most out of 2019 and also to make sure I equally enjoy myself throughout the year. Let's dive in:
Learn to cook more meals
About 2 years ago I started to gather a few cookbooks of easy to make recipes to learn now to make anything other than pasta and gave the odd few things a go, but this year I want to make more of a conscious effort to learn to cook more of a variety of food. Whether that's something for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'm not saying that every day I'm making something completely different but throughout the months I want to have learned how to cook something new and create dishes I enjoy. I've always had a struggle with food so I've never enjoyed cooking much but I want this year to be the year I find that enjoyment. I've been doing well so far so I hope it will continue throughout the year.
Have X amount of money in savings
For personal reasons I don't wish to disclose how much I want to save but I have a specific goal that I am aiming for which I want to have set aside. If I continue past this number than that is just a bonus.
Continue to save for a house deposit
This one links in with my previous goal. Last year we started to plan saving for a house and visited a few places we liked for ideas on what we are looking for, however I still have a way to go to save up the money I'd need for my share of the deposit so hopefully this year will be the year.
Have a holiday
I had this one in the previous post and I always have it on my list, it's usually a reminder to myself that no matter how busy or difficult life can get, make sure to take a least some time out for myself to relax and enjoy seeing the world.
Learn a new skill
From the previous post where I stated I wanted to take more videos and document more trips and events -which I've still kept up to this day, last year I taught myself the basics of video editing. I've uploaded a few videos on my Youtube channel here. This year I want to learn something else. Although I have just received my certificate for completing Google Analytics Beginners Course, I want to learn something else, whether that links to my goal of learning to cook more, maybe further learn a language (I dabbled in Spanish last year and previous years, Italian) to a more confident level of speaking or take a class in something. Whether this be something I teach myself or an evening course I take for so many weeks. Something hobby based would be fun!
Read more books and have less screen time
I make this goal every year to read at least one book which I did manage to fulfill the past 2 years. Oh how I miss the days as a child and teenager where I could read for ages without feeling distracted! However I've decided this year to try and read a few more as I've got a bookshelf full with half of the contents not been read yet. There's so many evenings where after work I just aimlessly scroll the same tabs on the internet and apps on my phone and waste half the night doing nothing, this year I want to make better use of my time and stay away from the screen and potentially use that spare time to read more.
Complete my Invisalign treatment
I mentioned back in this post in April, that I started my Invisalign treatment. I had intended to do a few blog posts of updates as I went along, however I think once I've finished I will write up a more in-depth post about the experience overall.
I was originally meant to have finished my treatment by around August/September last year but I fudged that up for myself (well done me!...Not!) and set myself back on my treatment, so what was meant to be so many months has ended up being a full year now. Because of this, I don't want to cause myself anymore set backs and finally finish the treatment. Hopefully this time next year I'll have that killer smile I have been hoping for for so long! Fingers crossed!
Have more time to myself/ Put less pressure on myself
Throughout last year I'd find myself feeling so overwhelmed which would come and go during the year, there had been different things going on in my personal life with family and then extra things added on top mixed with days where I felt like there was simple tasks needing to be done and I'd just feel so bogged down by everything where I'd lose motivation to do anything when I had a spare moment to do it and I felt like I wanted to hide away in my room and avoid everything until I felt better but then feel guilty of the things I could be doing. While the things going on in my personal life has got back to being more positive (fingers crossed it keeps that way), I feel like going forward I need to give my life a fair bit of structure on weeks where I feel things are starting to pile up. A simple to-do list can be a big help, figuring out what I'd like to prioritise for that particular week or even just that day can really free my mind of tasks that can be done another time and I feel better for it. I'm not usually one to vocalise everything going on in my mind, my life, etc. but it doesn't mean I don't feel those pressures, I put so much pressure on myself and I have no idea why I do this but I need to keep working on it so I don't go stir crazy but I'm positive I will get there.
Keep regularly decluttering and tidying up my space
This factors in slightly to my previous goal. I feel like this is something I need to constantly be on top of throughout 2019. I can get so used to putting off doing it and when things pile up whilst also feeling overwhelmed by other factors of my life it makes me feel constantly on edge, like I can't settle properly until I know it's sorted. I want to continue keeping on top of it so that if everything else is utter chaos at least my space is clean and tidy which makes me feel instantly calm and relaxed.
Continue to reduce my spending
In my defence, I feel I've gotten better with this over the years but I know I can improve myself even more. I feel that spending money on clothes and dining out especially are my vice that I'm slowly but surely trying to grow out of. Weirdly one of the ways I do this is if I save an item I find to a Pinterest "monthly wish list" board really helpful as it teaches me to be patient and reduce impulsive spending and usually by the time pay day rolls around, the majority of the stuff I saved I don't even want anymore so I just delete it out. I tend to search more for vouchers and discount codes, try and wait for things to go in the sale, look for items on Depop as usually I find items I'm looking for sold much cheaper, only buy things I need and essential items, compare store prices to see where I can get them cheaper, etc. and with trying to learn to cook myself more things I will be reducing the amount of dining out, fast food drive-thru trips and takeaways I consume throughout the year, hopefully.
Try and keep a diary more frequently
Again, another goal I've had over the years to accomplish and I still haven't but this year I want to try and make sure to write at least every week or few weeks just updates on what has been going on in my life, what I've been up to. Especially holidays and trips away, I'm so bad now for not documenting what I got up to that it makes me sad looking back and not fully remembering what we did day by day, any hilarious moments and inside jokes and in depth write ups of the experiences I had. I know I have countless photographs and tons of video clips but I like to have my own thoughts documented somewhere too, so I wish to try and do that more often this year.
Thank you for reading!Let me know of any of your resolutions or goals for this below :)
You can also read my 2017 goals here
