I’ve made it a bit of a tradition here on my blog to do some reflecting on the past year and set some goals for the year ahead. And while it’s nearly the end of January 2024, better late than never, right? So after the rollercoaster that was 2022, I was ready for change and positivity in 2023, and I feel like that’s exactly what I got.
I don’t want to sound too waffley, but to put it simply, 2023 was one of the best years of my life that I can remember. For starters, I got engaged and moved house, which are both pretty gigantic life updates, as well as have the dream holiday of hopping around Italy. But I also feel like I really grew as a person too. I did a lot more things outside of my comfort zone – a talk in front of local businesses, was a guest on stage in a comedy show, and started a regular feature on local radio – started to feel just that little bit more confident and found so much joy in the little things. It really was a great year for me and I’m so grateful for every thing that came my way!
But now, let’s take a look at the goals I set myself for the year at the end of 2022 and see how I did…
1. Read more
I set myself a target of reading one book a month, which definitely didn’t work out. But that being said, I definitely did read more in 2023 than I have done in recent years. Doing an English degree really beat the love of reading out of me, so I’ve slowly been trying to claw it back and I think I’m well on the way. In fact, I’ve already read two books this January and I’ll hopefully have finished a third by the end of the month!
2. Go to more workshops
I love a good workshop, so I tasked myself with going to more in 2023. I’m not sure I’d say I achieved this, even though I did go to a good handful of workshops. I probably would’ve liked to have gone to more, but some that I did do was polymer clay jewellery with Moon & Jewel, resistance inks with Katie’s Design House, and Christmas wreaths with Beauquets. What I didn’t think about with this goal was the cost, so that was a bit of a barrier for me.
3. Get back into blogging
I started the year off strong with this one and wrote lots of content that I’m actually really chuffed with. But as the year went on, I slowly petered off a bit, and that’s because life just got busy. With juggling my job, freelance work, planning a wedding, moving house etc., my blog fell by the wayside a bit. And it nearly got to the point where I thought about deactivating because it was costing me money! But because of that, I spent some time reminding myself of why I started a blog in the first place and so while I didn’t do a lot of blogging at the end of the year, I knew I’d come back to it when I had the moment (hello!).
4. Start home hunting properly
So I suppose this one gets a half tick. When I set this goal, I had every intention of buying a house. But as 2023 went on, it became very clear that the housing market was a mess and it wasn’t something we wanted to jump into, even though we were in a good financial position. That being said, we were desperate to move out of our house, and we ended up finding an amazing place in Norton to rent. And so here we are!
5. Be more confident
I worked on my confidence and anxiety in 2023 by stepping out of my comfort zone, but also taking time to acknowledge how far is too far out of my comfort zone. For example, I very nearly didn’t take part in the comedy show at the ARC, but knew that I’d kick myself if I didn’t, and when I came off stage, I was full of adrenaline! It was such a great experience. I’ve still got work to do, but I definitely think I made progress in 2023.
What are my goals for 2024?
So looking back at those 2023 goals, I think I was semi-successful – could’ve been better, could’ve been worse. Now 2024 is going to be another pretty big year for me. I’m turning 30 (eek!) in March and getting married in October, so it’s all change and huge milestones. So with that in mind, here are my goals for the year…
1. Learn to relax
I have such a hard time with having non-productive days. I constantly feel like I should be doing something, even if there’s nothing to be done. So when the weekend rolls around and we’ve got no plans, I feel utterly terrible if I spend the day not doing a lot. But this is something I’m desperate to change because I’m so busy throughout the week that I kind of need down days to actually be down days.
2. Spend time away from my phone
I’ll hold my hands up and say I’m glued to my phone, and I don’t mean to be – it’s just the way of the world. But I love having hobbies and doing things that give me that little dopamine hit, and I’d like to do more of them in 2024. Whether that be reading, cross stitching, embroidery, baking or something else, more stuff away from my phone would be great. I’ve got a painting by numbers that’s calling me!
3. Keep improving my confidence
Slowly but surely, I want to get to a place where I feel confident. I want to be more assertive, know how to say no, and basically know my worth. I suffer so badly from imposter syndrome, so I’m hoping that pushing myself to be more confident will help with that too.
4. Get to a place where I feel good fitness-wise
I’m excited to get married, but one of the things that has really been weighing me down is my lack of body confidence. It made dress shopping an incredibly difficult and seemingly impossible task, and I’m determined to not be stressing about it on the day. So I really want to get to a place where I feel good fitness-wise, not just because I want to feel like a queen at my wedding, but also because I’d like to feel healthy and strong in general.
5. Be a tourist in the North East
I’ve realised that I don’t know the North East as well as I thought I did. There are lots of places in Teesside that I want to go to in 2024, food spots and attractions, but there are even more further afield. I’m spending some time in Northumberland in February and March, so I’ll be sure to tick some things off then, but I want to actually get out and explore throughout the year.
And so there we have it! What have we learned from this post? That I’m feeling really happy and content at the moment, and that I’ve set the bar for 2024. I’ll meet you back here at the end of the year to see how I got on with it!
What are your goals for 2024?
