New Year Goals // Bonjour 2018

Hello guys and Happy New Year! After Blogmas I got really ill (thank you christmas stomach bug, ew) so I decided after posting so often in December it was time for a break as I needed to rest, in all honesty. I celebrated the New Year in with my friends and boyfriend and it was actually lovely; however now it’s January I feel like it’s time to get back into blogging. Over the past few years I’ve actually done a couple of posts similar to this and ivone definitely learnt over the past couple of years that I’m stronger than I think I am; I don’t make New Years resolutions per se, but I like to have some goals, some ideas for what I’d like to achieve over the course of a year and that seems to work fairly well for me.

Relationships - for 2017 I wanted to really focus on keeping up old friendships, making the effort to see friends whenever possible and work through the fact we’re all busy people with different lives to rekindle some friendships. I achieved that in 2017 so for 2018 I want to continue that, I’ve been messaging my school friends and I’m due to see my uni friend in a couple of weeks, which is an excellent start. What I want to focus on in 2018 is keeping up with my old work mates, some of them I’ve known for six years and I’m excited to see where that goes. In terms of my boyfriend, I’m looking forward to spending another year together, exploring life and the world around us.

Hobbies - I’m proud that I now have a few hobbies, namely reading, photography and blogging which I’ve been able to utilise so much over the past year and I can’t wait to continue those over the coming year. This year I want to expand my hobbies a little more, through scrapbooking (I really want to collate my memories into albums) and maybe starting a YouTube channel, something which I’ve been debating about for the past few months. I’d also like to keep enjoying having hobbies, hopefully this year I’ll be lucky enough to meet some like minded people, for example I’d love to meet some other bloggers in person one day.

Adventure - I want to focus on exploring the amazing city that I live in; London is a city like no other and yet I feel like I’ve barely seen any of it. My boyfriend is Polish and so I have an excellent excuse to start making more of an effort and discovering new places. This is actually something that I had planned for 2017, but that never happened so it’s always good to reattempt a goal. During 2018 I want to discover at least 5 places in London that I’ve never been to before.

Holidays/Time Off - So far, I have three trips planned for 2018; to Rzeszów in Poland for Easter and Christmas with Piotr, to Amsterdam in the Netherlands for my birthday and to Valencia in Spain with my Nana in the Spring so I’m looking like a very busy bee for next year, which I’m really excited for as that means that I’ll definitely be living my life to full during the next year. I’m also hoping for a chilled out, stress free year.

Health - In terms of mental health, over the past year I’ve had one of the best years in a long time. I’ve finally started to feel free, to not panic so often and somehow manage to work my way through life with minimal stress. I’m hoping that 2018 will be just as good in that sense, as yes not every day is amazing but if there are more good days than bad then that is a win. Last year I was always meaning to join the gym and get physically more healthy, however this year I’m determined to get more active as I’ve started being more sensible with my diet.

Work - I’m in a job that I love, I honestly can’t believe I’ve worked there for a year already; here’s to another good year!

Happy Things #3

 

1. My boyfriend bought me a bouquet of flowers and I have no idea why, but it cheered me up when I realised I hadn't missed any kind of special event; plus they look beautiful. Unexpected treats are always a good thing.

2. I'll be seeing my best friend at the weekend for some kind of catch up and/or late birthday celebration which will definitely involve some kind of eating out and enjoying each other's company.

3. Second week my new job, time to keep up the positive thoughts and try and keep learning as much as I can, as soon as I can. I'm very aware that I'm the new person and I don't enjoy feeling like I need to understand everything more. Time is the teacher and the healer, I can do this. First week was good, second will be better.

4. This weekend I'm off on both days, for the first time in what feels like forever; I'm not used to having so much time to think! This weekend I'm planning to actually get out of the house and I'm looking forward to going a local jewellery market with my mama, fingers crossed I'll find some unexpected items for great prices.

5. I'm thinking about getting a new piercing, I'm enjoying looking at the different choices and am excited to make a decision. Piercings always remind me of rebellious university days and I love it.

 

Happy Things #2

1. New beginnings are always hard, but you have to keep going. Even if it's tough and not what you expected, don't give up because it does get better.

2. Being sick is really hard and definitely shows the less glamourous side of your person to your other half; but if you love each other then you realise it doesn't even matter.

3. Working in day shifts and not night shifts, means less dark and cold hours spent awake and therefore a better sleeping pattern.

4. My boyfriend bought me a bouquet of tulips to celebrate surviving my first day at a new job and also just because he wanted to.

5. My dog is forever cheeky and full of cuteness, especially when I come home from work; she never fails to greet me the minute I walk through the door.

 

Happy Things #1

In 2017, I'm determined to start the year as I mean for it to go on. I'm now a strong believer that it is YOU that shapes your future and therefore YOU who needs to take the steps that make things happen. The purpose of this post (and the series that will eventually follow) are to serve as a reminder of all of the positive things that will keep me going on my down days. This blog has become an online diary for me and so I'm choosing to share my happy moments with you.

 

1. EXPLORING. Seeing, believing, living. It's so important to focus on what you enjoy and I love watching the world go by, yes it's a massive cliché, but it's genuinely true. Every time I look around at the city I live and work in I realise how much I've taken it for granted. I want to be a tourist, learn more about trivial things and push myself to enjoy life. Reflecting on the past and present and dreaming of the future will make me stay positive. I'm grateful for being able to live in such an open minded, free society.

 

2. FRIENDS. New, old, lifelong. They're all important and each one of them has had an impact of my life whether I've noticed it or not. Keeping in touch isn't difficult in this modern age and yet we seem to struggle somehow. I want to break out of having too many things to do and get back in touch. Starting with this week; I'm grateful for the support of others when I least expect it.

 

3. CREATIVITY. When I pushed myself back into blogging, it was because after graduating from university I lacked a creative outlet; I genuinely missed the buzz that comes of productivity and using my brain to bring an idea into being. Blogging brought back a lot of that buzz and actually helped to refine myself and also regain a lot of positivity into my life.

 

4. A POSITIVE MINDSET. Recently I've definitely seen a spark within my mind that has somehow, very suddenly, begun to see the positive side of life. Having spent a lot of time at rock bottom, it's refreshing to have found a light unexpectedly at the end of the tunnel. Now that I've found that light, I'm very grateful and genuinely never want to let it go.

 

5. LOVE. It's something that translates into any language, but believe me when I say that love is definitely what kept me alive during those, long tough months at the bottom of a black hole. I'm grateful to the one person who stuck by me through thick and thin, even when I couldn't even love myself. There were days, weeks and probably months where I was the last person who you want to look after or be with and yet somehow I found someone who managed to love even when love felt impossible and undeserved.

 

Goals for 2017

 

I originally wrote a post like this back in 2015, which ended up being a major fail as I got absorbed in my final year at university and never kept up my goals or this blog. Since then, I haven't been massively into New Years resolutions as I never seem to keep them. However, during 2016 I definitely found some inner strength and so I want to try and keep up a positive attitude to life and so I'm determined that this year, I will challenge myself to keep to my goals and basically improve myself.

Relationships - I want to keep in touch with friends more and make an effort to meet up and enjoy the company of others. When you get older it's hard to keep that closeness when you have what feels like a million different things to do. I also want to keep up good relationships with my family and also my boyfriend. I feel like I can really improve on this area of my life, and relationships are built on two people so I need to work at it.

Hobbies - This year I intend to focus more on my creative side, which means blogging, photography, reading, drawing and scrapbooking. Last year I feel like blogging went well and I want to continue using my creativity to find a kind of peace within my mind; being creative helps me to relax and sharing my likes, loves and dislikes with the world on this little corner of the internet has been a really good experience for me. This year I want to build on what I've been doing and try and meet other bloggers and keep being inspired.

Adventure - I really want to get out of the house more and explore the amazing city that is London. The beauty of London is that however much you explore it, you'll always find something or somewhere you've either never noticed or never seen before. My boyfriend isn't British and he's always trying to push me to do more things and see more things and so it's now the time to listen, no more negative thinking or letting anxiety rule, time to get off and enjoy every minute of life.

Holidays/Time Off - There so many places I'd like to see, both in the UK and abroad, but ultimately I also want to keep more time for me, myself and I. Time to think, breathe and relax. The past year was rough and I didn't give myself enough time to rest, this year I intend to let myself rest more and take more time out, even it's a only weekend away with Piotr, it'll refresh the brain and keep my positivity levels up.

Health - I'm not my heaviest weight right now, but it's creeping very close. I don't actually weigh myself often, but physically I feel very unfit and uncomfrotable as realistically many of my clothes don't fit as well as I'd like right now. I want to push myself to drink more water, eat less crap and actually force myself to do some exercise. It's not all about physical looks, it's more about getting my mental and physical health in order. Exercise doesn't only benefit the body, it also benefits the brain. This is probably the most difficult and the most important of all of the goals that I've laid out here; it's something that's been pushed to the back of my mind for around 4 years it's definitely the time to push this goal into gear. 

Work - As I've mentioned briefly in another post, I'm starting a new job literally this month. A proper, salaried graduate job; the kind that I dreamed I would find when I was a final year student in university. Miraculously only 15 months after graduating I actually have a fantastic career prospect ahead of me and I'm determined not to waste it. It feels like the perfect start to a refreshing new year and I am going to make the most of every minute and push myself to work the hardest and best that I'm capable of.

 

Farewell, 2016

I'm sorry about the last minute burst of 2016 based posts, what with Christmas and being ill I didn't use my brain enough to plan ahead and sort out all of these posts in advance. If I'm honest I couldn't wait for this year to be over. I feel a little like I'm reaching a cliché, but I wanted a fresh start, some time to revive, renew and re-energise my life. In 2017 I'm starting a new job, a job that will hopefully lead to a lifelong career and one that I hope that my confidence will continue to grow throughout 2017. In all honesty, 2016 was a strange year, it was half bad and half amazing. I met the love of my life, one of the most caring and thoughtful people that I've ever had the pleasure to meet and love. I also learnt a lot about myself and discovered that I have a lot more inner strength than I ever would have believed before. I spent a lot of the time thinking, evaluating and learning how to reshape my future. I've learnt that I'm the architect of my own destruction and also the architect of my own mindset. I learnt that confidence for me is forcing myself to act confident and then suddenly I am confident. Slowly, very slowly my mental health is becoming much better and I plan to keep this up during 2017. 

 

 

My dog, however spoilt and evil... She always manages to cheer me up with her little diva ways and taking her for walks along the riverside, during those walks I realised how much I find some form of solace in looking around and watching the world. I also realised that I actually live in a nice place and I've been taking it for granted for a long time, I want to explore London more and get to know the culture, the sights and enjoy life more to keep up a positive frame of mind. I've also enjoyed been more creative again after finishing university and working far too much to enjoy using the creative side of my brain. I feel as though I didn't achieve as much as I'd like during 2016, so in 2017 I'd really love to achieve more with my life. I want to keep blogging and continue doing more creative things.

 

 

This year I realised how much I hate flying, although it was worth it to go to Poland and get to know more about my boyfriend and where he's from... I also realised that I'm literally hopeless at learning other languages. I think that I have more of an idea about myself and who I am, what I've become and how I've changed. Sometimes good things happen to bad people and vice versa; as hard as it is, you learn to accept that and not let it affect you anymore. I don't know how I'd manage without Piotr and my closest friends, but somehow I saw the years end and the beginning of a new one, a new start. A second chance to be happy.