2018 New Year Resolutions

Sunday 31st December 2017



The last blog post I'll write in 2017, this one is about my 2018 New Year Resolutions.



Last years' resolutions:

- Continue planning my novel: I've made really good progress so far with my novel, I've planned the plots for my books, written character profiles, and have begun to build the world. I'm so proud of what I've done so far and I need to keep at it!

- Blog more: I did really well over the summer with my blog but I've rejected it more and more. I need to keep going with it, which means I need to do more things worth blogging about!

- Read at least 30 books: I love reading but I don't do enough of it. I've written down the books I want to read this year, but I'm certain the list will extend!

- Get fit: I'm not bothered about losing weight, (I've already lost a fair amount already), but I am ridiculously unfit and need to sort it out.

- Get healthier: being allergic to dairy means I'm not eating cheese, chocolate, or drinking milk so that's helped out a lot, but I still eat crap like crisps. Well no more!

- Travel more: I just need to get out of my home town as much as possible. There's an infinite amount of places I can go so I just need to throw on my backpack and off I go!

- Save money: I spent too much money and I need to stop.

- Pass my driving test: I started to learn a few years back but I got confused over driving manual (I have dyspraxia which affects my coordination) so this time I plan to learn automatic.

- Writer a letter to myself and open it in 10 years: for the first time in my 20s (albeit I'm only 22, nearly 23), I'm completely content with my life. I think it’ll be interesting to read a letter when I'm 32 about my life at 22.

- Donate blood: I'm scared of needles but I love getting tattoos and piercings. Donating blood can't be that different… Right?

- Get another tattoo:
I need more.

- Stop apologising all the time: I read this article about saying “thank you” instead of “I’m sorry”. It's worth a read and definitely something I'm going to start doing.

- Make 2017 better than 2016: 2016 wasn't a terrible year (for me anyway!), in fact it was one of my better years. However, there's always room for improvement and I'm determined to make 2017 AWESOME.

Looking back at this list, I achieved 8/13, which is pretty good! I've continued, and finished, planning my novel and am now onto writing the first draft. I've blogged a lot more, but haven't done much over the last couple of months due to being really busy and ill. I've become fitter and healthier than I was last year but have still got a long way to go before I'm happy; I've also lost weight which was a nice benefit of being healthier! I've travelled a lot more, I've been to Ireland and been to Bath, as well as my usual trips to London. I got two more tattoos this year; an incredible typewriter thigh piece and a small book tattoo on my left wrist. I've stopped apologising all the time, only doing so when I genuinely need to apologise. And I can say with confidence my 2017 was a hell of a lot better than my 2016.

I didn't read 30 books, I read 24; considering how busy I've been, I thought this was quite good! I haven't saved much money, but have saved significantly more than I did last year. I didn't take my driving test, and I didn't donate blood due to the tattoos I had done.



So, 2018 resolutions?

- Read more books than last year; rather than setting a specific number, I aim to read more books than I did last year. Even if I read 1 more book than I did in 2017, at least I would have achieved my first resolution!
- Put money aside for important things; money for a deposit, for a car, emergencies, etc. Having money to fall back on is an incredibly reassuring thing.
- Travel; flying isn't something I'm particularly comfortable with, but I don't want that to stop me from visiting all the amazing places on my travel bucket list.
- Continue writing; whether this is writing my blog or my current novel or any other creative piece, I want to carry on writing to keep my creativity and imagination alive.
- Study more; I was accepted onto my Master's course but I deferred for a year to concentrate on my current job, but even if I choose not to undertake my Masters there are plenty of online courses I can do to keep me studious and develop my knowledge.
- Accept what's happened and move on; I'm bored of worrying about something that has already happened. So I've had a bad day. So I made a mistake at work. So I forgot someone's birthday. So someone's annoyed at me because of their own issues. Accept what's happened and move on, whether this means shrugging it off, fixing the problem, or sending a belated card and/or present. What's the point of dwelling on something that you can't go back and change? You can't change what's happened but control how you deal with it.
- Finally, do something that makes you proud; follow Heather Small's lyrics of "what have you done today to make you feel proud?" Maybe it'll be getting out of bed earlier than usual, or not being as grumpy as the day before, answering a text quicker than you expected, meeting up with someone you haven't seen for ages, or maybe it'll be accomplishing something you thought would never happen.

7 resolutions. I'm not going to bother with the whole "be healthier" "lose weight" "drink less alcohol" "go to the gym more". Boring resolutions. I can't believe I had two of those as my resolutions last year! My resolutions are more generalised and ambiguous; even if I only accept one situation and move on I still will have achieved one of my resolutions.


2018 feels like it will be a good year. Let's see, shall we?

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