Life: Five Things I'm Grateful for so far this Year

Life: Five Things I'm Grateful for so far this Year

Monday, 10 April 2017

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FRIENDS AND FAMILY 

This one is pretty much a given in anyone’s list, right? I wouldn’t be where I am today without the continued love and support of all my friends and family. Everything’s working out so nicely for me at the moment, but it’s nice to have an amazing support network behind me if things go to pot!

OPPORTUNITIES

2017 has started off incredibly well for me, in terms of the countless opportunities I have been offered. I have a fantastic group of colleagues at the school I’ve recently started at, I’ve been offered a position for September at a school that ticks all of the boxes for me and I’m continuing to progress and make connections with publishing houses and countless brands for my blog. I am incredibly proud of myself and these achievements.

REUNIONS

Meeting up with friends who I haven’t seen in a while has become a theme of this year. I spent a week travelling through France and met up with two of my friends out there. When I got back, I met up with one of my best mates from college in London. I’ve also regained friendships with people that I thought were completely unfixable and I have never been so grateful to have these people in my life.

PHOTOGRAPHY

After Christmas, I used the money I’d earned doing overtime hours to buy myself a beautiful new Olympus PEN camera. Having a camera that is as good as this one has done wonders for my photography and I’m really enjoying going out and taking photos of all the things I’m getting up to. I’m making memories and have a means of recording these memories- what more could I ask for?

BOOKS
This one’s a bit of a given too, really, isn’t it? I’ve read some amazing books so far this year and I’m looking forward to reading even more as the year goes on. 

What are you grateful for at the moment? Let me know in the comments! 

Life: Why I'm going to be living 2017 for myself and myself alone!

Life: Why I'm going to be living 2017 for myself and myself alone!

Tuesday, 10 January 2017

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I have a habit of putting everyone I know before myself and my own needs. I’m not necessarily saying that this is a bad thing. I’d actually even go as far as to say that it’s one of my better qualities. However, there comes a point where it all gets a bit too much and you have to start thinking of yourself and what you need, for a change.

This starts in 2017 for me.

I’m going to travel around Europe as much as I possibly can in 2017. I’ve sacrificed a lot of things over the last few years of my life; most of these things, I’m okay with. I’m not okay with the travel I’ve missed out on. A lot of it was fear of the unknown: I’m okay with the unknown, now. I have a weekend in Paris with one of my closest friends planned for the beginning of February and then a little semi-solo trip to the South of France planned for the end of the month. I’ve booked a flight out to a city on one side of France and then the Eurostar back from Paris at the end of the week with a stop off in a Southern city halfway between. That’s as far as I know so far. I’m buying a rail pass for the week, booking into the nicest looking cheap hostels I can find and praying for the bloomin’ best. I also have the opportunity to meet up with a very old, very close friend of mine who’s now living down in London. It’s been about a year since I last saw him so I’m really excited to have a much needed catch-up.

I’m going to stop saying yes to things to please others. The amount of times that I’ve done something that I don’t want to do over the last few years because SOMEONE ELSE wanted me to do it is alarming. I’m going to stop feeling guilt-tripped into taking on extra shifts when I’m exhausted after a 60-hour week. I’m going to stop agreeing to meet up with people who don’t replicate the effort that I put in. I’m going to stop feeling guilty for doing things that make me happy. 

I’m going to stop hiding my hobbies and the things that I’m good at. Until last month, very few people were even aware of the writing work that I do; work that pays a good amount each month and leaves me feeling the most fulfilled. If I achieve something worthwhile and worth sharing, I’m going to share it and stop worrying about what other people will think or say. My achievements deserve to be acknowledged and acknowledged they will be.

I’m living for me, and me alone.
That is my 2017 resolution.

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