2018: My Year Of Doing More

So it’s the end of another year and quite honestly I don’t know where the past 365 days have gone. I know everyone says this every year but 2018 seems to have flashed by in an instant and yet again we’re here in that strange time before the New Year starts and we all drop back to reality. They say it’s a sign of getting older, that the years pass you by quicker, but I’m not so sure, I think it’s more of a sign of being busier and cramming more into our days.

It’s at this time of year that I always like to set myself some goals for the next 12 months. Not so much resolutions, but tangiable goals that I can work towards throughout the year that give me an added sense of acheivement by the time December rolls around again. Over the past few years I’ve been doing this more and more. I’ve found that actually writing these things down holds me so much more accountable and it pushes me to do the things that would otherwise be outside of my comfort zone.

At the end of last year I sat down and worked out everything that I would like to achieve by the end of December 2018. Some of these goals would be a little easier, some more important and others would stretch me and push me outside of my comfort zone. But there was one over-arching theme of everything I had put on my list, I wanted to actually do more. Instead of just saying “I want to go on a solo trip” and then backing out because I could think of 100 reasons why I shouldn’t do it I wanted to hold myself more accountable, stick to my word and do more of the things that felt so intimidating to me. I didn’t want to be sitting there in a years time thinking that I could have achieved so much more if I had just gone for it and actually followed through on more of the things I had put on my list, so 2018 became the year of me doing more.

This past year I have travelled more, including trips on my own and to places I had never been to before. I’ve become more confident with my personal style, trying out more combinations and having more fun with fashion (because that’s what it’s all about anyway). I’ve put more time and energy into my blog & Instagram and finally feel like I have my hobby back. I teamed up with a friend and we launched a podcast despite having literally no idea how to even record one (and believe me, we’re still trying to figure it all out!). I’ve prioritised my wellbeing more, taking the time to find the types of exercise I enjoy more, fitting it into my schedule in a manageable way and sorting out my diet so I’m more conscious of the foods that my body simply does not cope with very well. And then of course there were the slightly more life-altering things like moving out in the Spring and quitting my job in the Autumn. I decided to prioritise seeing and speaking to friends more and getting into a better habit of putting dates in the diary. I also finally got my ears pierced, something I have now been going on about for far too long. Some of these things were terrifying and no matter how fun they were they pushed me well outside of my comfort zone. The girl who was scared of everything got on a plane to the other side of the world and climbed down to a waterfall, a couple of years ago I never would have believed you if you had told me I’d do that. Some of the things were more gradual and made my day-to-day life that little better. But something these all have in common was that they pushed me to do more and the experiences were great.

In the past 12 months I have ticked off nearly everything on my goals list (when I am writing this I have approximatly 2 weeks left of the year and still have 6 books to read to hit my target so we’ll see how that goes…). I have also taken so many more opportunities as they have presented themselves and made so many more opportunities for myself. Even the things that seemed borderline impossible last December, such as traveling to a new continent, were things that I was able to do. And yes, of course, some of these things were circumstantial but there’s a large part of me that would have still backed out of some of these ideas had I not been pushing myself on with the idea that this was the year of doing more. Having that idea stuck in my head for the past year has made me so much more accountable for following through on the ideas that I have. Some of these are bigger such as traveling more and launching a podcast but some are much smaller, like finally getting my ears pierced and making the social media that I consume more positive and motivating.

It can feel a bit overwhelming when everyone starts talking about their goals for the next year and everything they want to achieve. That habit of comparison can easily creep in and make you doubt yourself and what you are really capable of. I don’t subscribe to the idea that you can only set goals on 1st January and after that it’s pointless, I set mini goals for myself all year, but I do think that theres something nice going into the New Year with a sense of direction and using the time when things are still a little quieter to recalibrate, take note of what you have achieved and work out where you want to be 12 months from now. Having an overall goal in my mind all year has pushed me to achieve so much more and I can honestly sit back and say I am proud of what I have achieved this year, and that feels really good. If you haven’t had your best year then that’s fine, but don’t let that put you off thinking that 2019 can be better than you had dreamed of.

So my year of doing more is over, and boy have I done more than I expected I would, but I have loved it. Having this theme all year has been really benefical to me so I’ve decided to do it again next year. For 2019 I want it to be the year of me believing in myself and my ability more because that is definitely something that I need to work on.