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| Photo by Rhianon Lassila on Unsplash New year is a funny one isn't it? We make fun and laugh at the whole 'new year new me' saying however I think most of us still look at new year at the time to set goals and at least keeping them by the end of January is a goal in itself. I'm not calling mine resolutions because I genuinely think that when they are called this I don't still to them, because I see them more as a fad. These are the changes I want to be making throughout 2018. 1. Film a second a dayThis is something I've been wanting to do for a few months, but who wants to start a year task on June 22nd! It will hopefully encourage me to take my camera more places, get out more so I have something to show and it will be super cool to look back in 2019 when I've completed it. 2. Get HealthyI literally say this every year 😶 however this year I definitely mean it (lol). I basically am a massive foodie and my life revolves around food. I try to bring it into every situation - we are going bowling, well lets go the pub opposite first for some dinner. We are going shopping? Well do you want to start at Costa so we can make a plan of where we will go. I'm obviously not going to stop eating out, but I just need to make some healthy changes and swaps in my life. Get healthy is also very vague, but heres some things I want to change with it: - Going veggie/vegan one day a week by swapping meat for something else or eating a purely veggie/vegan meal. - Stop drinking diet coke literally all the time. (I don't really drink tea or coffee except one in the morning so I use that as my excuse but that needs to stop) - Cut down on eating out. This relates more to my lunches as I rarely bring my own lunch except for when I cook pasta because I somehow turn into Jesus feeding the thousands. I'm getting a slow cooker for Christmas so this will definitely help as we can bulk prepare meals and freeze it and then take it into work the next day. - Blog my journey as well. This will definitely encourage me both to be more healthy and be better at blogging. I'm hoping to just include recipes, progress or what I've done differently. 3. Become more ethical about my living situationI feel like this is everywhere at the minute since Blue Planet II literally broke all of our hearts. We are already pretty good at recycling but we definitely need to get better, I'm going to get my own water bottle which will again encourage me to stop drinking fizzy drinks and start taking tote bags with me. I'll again be blogging about this because it is important to me, I cried twice this month over the polar bear video and just thinking about it hurts me. 4. Be more consistent/better at bloggingAgain I guess this is a pretty vague one but thats because I don't really know where to go with my blog, so I definitely want to focus more on it this year and make some really good changes. I definitely need to get better at self promotion but I also need to take more photos because thats always my downfall, like oh I don't have a photo for this so I just won't post it. I really enjoy blogging as an outlet and love reading other blogs, so I'm going to just try really hard and make a good routine to balance it with work and life. And thats it! I think they are pretty easy to attain seeing as they are quite vague, but I'm hoping as I'm including it with my blog and seeing differences that it will encourage me to keep going and hopefully achieve more in 2018. What are your goals for 2018? |
Being honest, this year has been pretty rough on me. I've been battling my depression a lot, being jobless didn't help in the slightest and in fact made it worse. I was broke for about 80% of the year, so that made going out and doing anything fun impossible. I've lost friends yet gained some new ones and I can only really thank my family for sticking by me (even though they have too) and my boyfriend who has helped me mentally so much and I have everything to owe him for this year. Without him I don't know where I'd be.
January
January started off in a club, where I saw the new year in with my friends and my boyfriend. It was a really good night and I can't wait to spend it with my boyfriend again. I also finished my temporary job and started looking for new ones, and started volunteering at the NSPCC.
February
Probably my favourite month this year, my boyfriend and I had our 1 year anniversary. We spent it in London and it was so sweet and romantic. I absolutely loved it, it was fancy and cold yet just really nice to have a few days away with him. We went to Harry Potter world on the anniversary day, and also stayed over Valentine's where we had champagne and chocolates on the London Eye and then went to a very fancy restaurant at night. It was one of the happiest times I've felt all year.
March
Didn't really do much. Spent a lot of my time job searching, joined the job center which completely ruined my self esteem and made my depression worse, and just spent the whole month inside saving my money.
April
According to facebook I went out a couple of nights with my friends and boyfriend, which was exciting. Had my hair done and felt like a beast because I did a really awesome green smokey eye. Also How I met your mother ended and it was an awful, awful finale.
May
Went Dublin for my 20th birthday with my boyfriend. It was a really, really nice weekend and so good to get away when you feel like utter crap. It was nice to discover new sights, drink a lot of cider and just chill out with my boyfriend. I really enjoyed myself this weekend. Also went Alton Towers with my boyfriend and he won me a giant toy dog which was awesome and extremely fun to carry back on three trains. Also went to see McBusted with my best friend which was awesome and a great Christmas present from my boyfriend. Was so nostalgic and fun.
June
As far as I am aware, nothing really happened.
July
Went to see Wicked in Birmingham for the second time with my boyfriend. It's nice to get away for a couple of days and it was really refreshing compared to everything that was going on mentally for me.
August
Finally was offered a job after months of trying, and started work. Tried to work pretty much as often as possible to try and build some money up.
September
Work, work, work! It was my mums birthday at the start of the month so we went out, but didn't have many other events this month.
October
Nothing happened.
November
A couple of nights out with just my boyfriend and I which I honestly enjoyed more than ever. It was really sweet just going out together and enjoying each others company and dancing. Other than that, work!
December
Not a huge amount of stuff happened in the first half of the month, but it was my boyfriends birthday on the 21st and we went to the pub for the night with friends. It was a really good catch up and he enjoyed all of his presents. Christmas was great however working in retail kinda sucks over the sales season!
So yeah, 2014 wasn't the year for me, but it's definitely starting to pick up and I have lots of plans to make 2015 a whole lot better. I'm happy to end the year by saying a big goodbye to 2014 and bring in the new year with my boyfriend who has been a massive help to me this past year. I couldn't have done it without him.
Happy new year!
June
As far as I am aware, nothing really happened.
July
Went to see Wicked in Birmingham for the second time with my boyfriend. It's nice to get away for a couple of days and it was really refreshing compared to everything that was going on mentally for me.
August
Finally was offered a job after months of trying, and started work. Tried to work pretty much as often as possible to try and build some money up.
September
Work, work, work! It was my mums birthday at the start of the month so we went out, but didn't have many other events this month.
October
Nothing happened.
November
A couple of nights out with just my boyfriend and I which I honestly enjoyed more than ever. It was really sweet just going out together and enjoying each others company and dancing. Other than that, work!
Not a huge amount of stuff happened in the first half of the month, but it was my boyfriends birthday on the 21st and we went to the pub for the night with friends. It was a really good catch up and he enjoyed all of his presents. Christmas was great however working in retail kinda sucks over the sales season!
So yeah, 2014 wasn't the year for me, but it's definitely starting to pick up and I have lots of plans to make 2015 a whole lot better. I'm happy to end the year by saying a big goodbye to 2014 and bring in the new year with my boyfriend who has been a massive help to me this past year. I couldn't have done it without him.
Happy new year!
Over the past year I have really grown with blogging and have read a lot more about the inside factors that helps a blog grow. Of course, I write because I enjoy writing however I also really want to improve, so I have been photographing more, scheduling posts more and just thinking of better ideas (blogmas for one). Here are a few resolutions I really want to keep up with my blog in the next year.
Keep to schedule
Something I'm bad at if work and life gets too hectic, my blog loses posts. I really enjoy writing but sometimes the afternoon planned to take photos doesn't really work and it's difficult to get into a routine when you feel like shit. I hope this year to keep to my 3 posts a week, and hopefully plan more if possible.
Get outside
Something I really love when looking at other blogs is when they are outside and do a quick fashion post. This has been something I've always wanted but is difficult because a) it's difficult to do on your own and b) I look and feel like crap most of the time. Something I really want to do is grab my boyfriend at the weekend and get a few photos done. It will help with my confidence but also might be easier in the new year when I am staying at my boyfriends more.
Increase quality
Something I am always about is quality not quantity. I often lack in my posts because if the lighting is crap, I'll think no one will like it and no one will care. Next year I hope to care more about the quality of my posts, from photographing in good lighting to just writing better. I hope with a proper schedule I'll be able to keep this up.
Different Posts
Instead of all reviews, from film to fashion I am hoping to venture out and do different things, and blog about them! Some things I have in mind already are few series on my depression, and how I cope and what I do to make myself feel better. This is so important to me because I don't want others falling into the trap that I fell into. I also want to do fitness posts, and even some cooking posts aswell.
With all these in mind I hope I can stick to these throughout the year to help my blog become better, and hope you enjoy it just the same if not more. Thank you for reading my blog this year, I really do appreciate it and love knowing that people care about me and my writings. Thank you.
At the beginning of 2013 I didn't have any new years resolutions. I wasn't in a very happy place, and even though I am still struggling with that and myself, I thought it might help to have a few resolutions, but make them more simple and easy going.
1. Get healthy.
I doubt mentally I'd be able to feel 100% in a year. However exercise would definitely help me start. I want to eat more fruit, try more vitamins and get into running. Not all at once however gradually I'd be happier, even if it's just a brisk walk I manage for the first few months.
2. Work more on this blog
I wanted to be more creative since I lost my scriptwriting ways and thought blogging might help. To an extent, it has and I definitely feel happy when writing and uploading. However I don't think I do it often enough for it to make a huge difference to my mentality. Even if I began to write (and stick to) a blog post once or twice a week, I'd feel a lot better and be able to plan future themes or posts to write. Currently I'm rather lazy on pictures and research, so with a plan it'd really help.
3. Keep a diary
I am hoping to get two types of diaries for 2014, one for actual plans to make throughout the week, and a personal one to write my feelings and emotions throughout each day. These two styles I think will help me quite a lot, as I can hopefully notice patterns when I'm struggling and begin to try to make myself better.
Those are my 3 main resolutions throughout the year. Obviously they are quite personal but hopefully they may give a little inspirations to those struggling to come up with ideas.
What are your new year resolutions?
Emma x
