Now Christmas is over and the new year is just around the corner I have been reflecting on what I'd like to achieve in 2018. I don't really like to set myself any huge or unrealistic targets for the new year, but I certainly like to feel that I have some goals in mind to which I can aim towards. I personally find it quite motivating and I really relish the opportunity for a fresh start and to hit the reset button on life. I also love that this New Years Day happens to fall on a Monday - the perfect day of the week for a new beginning!
Looking back on my 2017 Hopes & Goals I did pretty well to tick most things off my list. Moving house was the biggest achievement and something I am so glad we did as life has felt so much better for us since making that change. I ticked a couple of huge bucket list trips off my list including Lapland and Santorini, both of which were incredible experiences. And I also surprised myself by getting a couple of new piercings (*I am usually way too much of a squeamish wuss to ever consider such a thing!). Another achievement, which I hadn't originally set out on, was decluttering my life. I can't even begin to explain how much better I feel for that.
So what am I hoping for from 2018!?! I've spent some time pondering and I have come up with quite a list of hopes & goals for next year, most of which are things I have been thinking about for quite some time or they are things I regret not doing already in 2017.
2018 is the year where I want to feel like I take the work that I do more seriously and that starts with opening up my first ever business account. I definitely think this will feel really rewarding seeing the money that I make in my own account rather than it just getting lost in with everything else and I think it will help me to feel a greater sense of achievement with everything that I do.
Ok, so this will be third time lucky for me. I attempted to see them in 2008 in Iceland and again in January of 2017 in Lapland. This January we are off to Norway and this time we are taking things more seriously. We’re hiring a car so that we can drive out to different locations every night we are there opposed to booking one off expensive excursions. I have a really good feeling that this will be the time I get to see them!
I’ve been on an antidepressant called Venlafaxine for the last couple of years and I’ve been tapering off from it over the past couple of months. I still have a little way to go and I’m really taking my time with it so as to lessen the withdrawal side effects, but so far so good. I hope to be completely off them within the early part of 2018. It is a drug which has really helped me but I now feel ready to try again at going it alone.
This is such a cliché goal and I hate even having to write it down, but I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t mention this one. Even though Venlafaxine has really helped me with my anxiety and depression I have gained weight since being on it and this is quite a big factor in wanting to be free from it. I hope once I am med free that I can lose some of the weight that I have gained and I also hope that I can feel more in control of my diet and what I am eating again. I’d really love to get some body confidence back in 2018!
This is something I have been thinking about through the latter part of 2017, I just haven’t quite decided what course to take yet. I have been considering perhaps something to do with plants / gardening or maybe even interior design. I’d really like to do something that’s completely different to my work and something that gets me out meeting new people and hopefully making some new friends whilst gaining some additional skills and experience. Who knows what it could lead to later down the line too!
This is quite an ambitious one and something we’ve been thinking about for a lot of 2017. I’m not really sure if it will happen in 2018, or perhaps the next year, but it’s something I’m really interested in pursuing. We have an apartment which we rent out in Essex and we have been toying with the idea of selling it and buying somewhere in Brighton which we can use as a holiday apartment for ourselves but also let out via Air BnB. I think it could have more potential than our current rental and it also means that we can feel like we have a little holiday home down there too. It would be a really exciting new venture that’s for sure!
In 2016 we signed up to a health club membership where I mostly used the gym, swam and enjoyed the spa. I didn’t really enjoy using the gym and I always had to force myself to go there which I used to hate the feeling of. I also never saw the results I was hoping for, other than feeling slightly fitter in myself. We had to end our membership there when we moved house and we haven’t really done any regular intense exercise since so I’d definitely like to get back involved with something in the new year (*another cliché I know - sorry!). I have always enjoyed classes much more than the actual gym so I think this will be my new focus for 2018. I also find them to be way more social and fun than the gym. There’s a new gym opening up pretty close to where I live in the new year so I’m planning to pay it a visit and check out their class timetable soon. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make some new local friends!
Looking back on my 2017 Hopes & Goals I did pretty well to tick most things off my list. Moving house was the biggest achievement and something I am so glad we did as life has felt so much better for us since making that change. I ticked a couple of huge bucket list trips off my list including Lapland and Santorini, both of which were incredible experiences. And I also surprised myself by getting a couple of new piercings (*I am usually way too much of a squeamish wuss to ever consider such a thing!). Another achievement, which I hadn't originally set out on, was decluttering my life. I can't even begin to explain how much better I feel for that.
So what am I hoping for from 2018!?! I've spent some time pondering and I have come up with quite a list of hopes & goals for next year, most of which are things I have been thinking about for quite some time or they are things I regret not doing already in 2017.
Open A Business Account
2018 is the year where I want to feel like I take the work that I do more seriously and that starts with opening up my first ever business account. I definitely think this will feel really rewarding seeing the money that I make in my own account rather than it just getting lost in with everything else and I think it will help me to feel a greater sense of achievement with everything that I do.
See The Northern Lights
Ok, so this will be third time lucky for me. I attempted to see them in 2008 in Iceland and again in January of 2017 in Lapland. This January we are off to Norway and this time we are taking things more seriously. We’re hiring a car so that we can drive out to different locations every night we are there opposed to booking one off expensive excursions. I have a really good feeling that this will be the time I get to see them!
Be Meds Free
I’ve been on an antidepressant called Venlafaxine for the last couple of years and I’ve been tapering off from it over the past couple of months. I still have a little way to go and I’m really taking my time with it so as to lessen the withdrawal side effects, but so far so good. I hope to be completely off them within the early part of 2018. It is a drug which has really helped me but I now feel ready to try again at going it alone.
Lose Weight
This is such a cliché goal and I hate even having to write it down, but I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t mention this one. Even though Venlafaxine has really helped me with my anxiety and depression I have gained weight since being on it and this is quite a big factor in wanting to be free from it. I hope once I am med free that I can lose some of the weight that I have gained and I also hope that I can feel more in control of my diet and what I am eating again. I’d really love to get some body confidence back in 2018!
Take A Course
This is something I have been thinking about through the latter part of 2017, I just haven’t quite decided what course to take yet. I have been considering perhaps something to do with plants / gardening or maybe even interior design. I’d really like to do something that’s completely different to my work and something that gets me out meeting new people and hopefully making some new friends whilst gaining some additional skills and experience. Who knows what it could lead to later down the line too!
Start An Air BnB
This is quite an ambitious one and something we’ve been thinking about for a lot of 2017. I’m not really sure if it will happen in 2018, or perhaps the next year, but it’s something I’m really interested in pursuing. We have an apartment which we rent out in Essex and we have been toying with the idea of selling it and buying somewhere in Brighton which we can use as a holiday apartment for ourselves but also let out via Air BnB. I think it could have more potential than our current rental and it also means that we can feel like we have a little holiday home down there too. It would be a really exciting new venture that’s for sure!
Start Going To Exercise Classes
In 2016 we signed up to a health club membership where I mostly used the gym, swam and enjoyed the spa. I didn’t really enjoy using the gym and I always had to force myself to go there which I used to hate the feeling of. I also never saw the results I was hoping for, other than feeling slightly fitter in myself. We had to end our membership there when we moved house and we haven’t really done any regular intense exercise since so I’d definitely like to get back involved with something in the new year (*another cliché I know - sorry!). I have always enjoyed classes much more than the actual gym so I think this will be my new focus for 2018. I also find them to be way more social and fun than the gym. There’s a new gym opening up pretty close to where I live in the new year so I’m planning to pay it a visit and check out their class timetable soon. Who knows, maybe I’ll even make some new local friends!
Try Growing Some Vegetables
I'm really keen to try my hand at growing some of my own vegetables next year as it's something I've been thinking about for quite some time. I was initially thinking I'd make a vegetable patch in my garden as since moving we have lots more space outside, however on reflection I think I may start off a bit smaller and invest in a 'Veg Trug' to get me started. I am especially excited to try growing my own pumpkins in time for Halloween!
Now I am looking at this list it seems like quite a lot to achieve! But as I said, I'm pretty relaxed and laid back when it comes to these goals and I'm certainly not the type to beat myself up if I don't reach them. I think most of them are pretty small and achievable anyway!
What are your goals for 2018!?? I'd love to hear some of your own hopes for the new year and I always find it quite inspiring hearing what other people hope to achieve. I'm also supportive of those who choose not to make any at all as I'm a firm believer in there being no time like the present and I agree that if you really want to make a change you don't have to wait until the new year to do it.
Regardless of what side of the fence you sit on, I'd like to wish you all a really Happy New Year and I hope 2018 is a year which is full of love, luck and happiness!
My biggest change for me is to finally be myself, but most of all have some self confidence and have less anxiety about what people think about me. Not to beat myself up when I make mistakes. Great to hear about your ambitions for 2018 Sarah x
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteThese are great goals. Let me know when the Air BnB is up and running I’d love to come and stay, especially in Brighton!
Hope you have a great New Year x
Dear Sarah, Your wish list is wonderful, as if you wrote from the bottom of your 💓. It seems to me very sincere. So I guess you will enjoy the path all along to your New year's resolutions! I wish you luck with everything you start, and when ever you are not sure about something, as someone once said "step back and rethink, take off the pressure, then step in again, and should see things clearer".
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list of goals! I also hope to start gardening of some sort, and to keep better track of my business! This was wonderful to read, I wish you the best this year!
ReplyDeletexx Alyssa
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