a look back & a fresh start

2018 is already upon us, the past year has completely flown by and been one of the most rollercoaster of a year. At the start of last year, I uploaded a post with my goals for the year, as 2017 is now over I thought it was about time that I looked back at what goals I set myself and how I did with them, as well as telling you my new goals for 2018. 

2017 was an amazing year for me, it was full of ups and downs but as the year drew to a close and I looked back on all the things I'd done I realised just how amazing it all had been. 

I thought I'd show you a small collection of some of my highlights of the year. I started the year off by going to the LTA Summit which was so amazing, I got so inspired by this summit and it really helped me to know where I wanted to go with this year. I also registered with Anthony Nolan in 2017 which is something that I'm so glad I did as it's something that's so important but isn't that well known about. I did write a post about Anthony Nolan on my blog so if you wanted more information about that then please go and check that post out! I also went and saw my first Shakespeare play this year which is so great for me as a Literature lover/soon to be student. Although the set up of the play I saw wasn't the best, I know at some point I'm going to go and see another one where I am stood (or more hopefully sat) in a much better place. I've also seen so many artists that I absolutely love this year, gigs are one of my favourite places to be as everyone is there to enjoy themselves and it's like a bubble of happiness for those few hours, so I'm so happy that I got to go to some that I really enjoyed this year. I also feel a lot more cultured after this year, I travelled to both Poland and Paris where I went to so many amazing places but there are travel diaries on my blog for both of these places so I won't go on too much about these. I also went to Disneyland though which to me was so special as I last went to a Disney park when I was about 6 so I didn't have many memories of it so it was like being a child all over again. I saw some amazing thunderstorms this year and alongside this managed to improve my photography skills. Finally I went to an open cinema at my college this year to see Grease which was such an enjoyable evening, this links in with something that I haven't included a photo of but I spent so much time with friends throughout 2017 and that is definitely one of my favourite things that I did during the year. 

Taking a look at the goals I set myself, my first one was to get good A Level grades. As I said in my goals post, I was retaking my AS exam which was my proudest achievement as I got 100% in that retake exam! I am proud of my results and although I didn't get the ABB that I was aiming for I still got into my first choice of university which I'm so happy and proud about. I worked so hard for these exams so this is definitely a goal that I believe I fulfilled. 

My next goal was to get back at the gym, this is one that partially worked, at the start of the year I was doing really well but as the year progressed I found it harder to just get to the gym as I had the stress of exams and other things so it sort of got a bit lost. However, this is something that I'm going to continue working on this year. 

Passing my driving test. This is something I completely missed out on, I didn't take up my lessons again last year, however, I excuse this due to the amount of work I put into my exams. I am still on a gap year at the moment so I am hoping to be able to get my driving lessons back on track this year before I go off to university. 

As I have already reflected on my year, I believe I have achieved working on my happiness which is something that I really wanted to do in 2017. I feel like 2017 has definitely been my best year, but this is something that I feel I can always improve upon as happiness to me is always a journey - but I've already come quite far. 

Linking in with happiness, I have seen my friends more this year, especially my best friend as we had gone for ages without seeing each other when we were constantly at different colleges and working so hard for our exams. Since finishing college, however, we have seen each other loads and are both planning on travelling together this year. 

I think I have done so well with saving last year and by the end of the year, I had £600 more than my saving end of year goal which I was so happy about. This was one where I put two goals in one and the other thing was to go on holiday with my boyfriend and we went to Paris together this year which was such an amazing holiday and I can't wait to go on even more travels this year!

My last goal for 2017 was to read more books, which I definitely did! I finally started using goodreads and set up my reading challenge on there. I didn't manage to complete my reading challenge but I still read 14 books last year which alongside exams is an impressive number for me! I have set up a new challenge on my goodreads this year so if you wanted to follow me on there then my username is beths98!

Moving on to my goals for 2018, I have a lot of things that I want to achieve in the coming year and I am feeling really positive about it all.

1. In September I will be moving to university and this is something that makes me so excited, yet also nervous. I am hoping for all of this to go well and to settle in quickly and be able to do really well in the few months at the end of 2018 that I will be in education again.

2. I've briefly mentioned this already but I want to travel more this year. Me and a friend are already planning going round Europe in about May/June time and I am also hoping to go on holiday with my boyfriend again this year, as I enjoy seeing new places so much. Some of my top places to go are Berlin, Croatia and Barcelona. 

3. As I have mentioned I have a new reading goal for 2018, this one is a bit of a big one but it is to read 50 books. With starting university and studying English Literature, I am hoping that this will be achievable as I have so many books that I need to read on my bookshelf. 

4. Something I think is really important for me to work on this year is my mental health. This is something that I really let slip in 2017 due to exam stress etc. but it is something that I know I need to work on so much and I have so many supportive people in my life that this is hopefully going to be my year to really start feeling better in myself. 

5. A bit more of a fitness goal, I want to start averaging at least 10,000 steps every day. In case you didn't see my what I got for Christmas post, I got a Fitbit for Christmas which tracks your steps, this is how I am going to be seeing how many steps I do and 10,000 is my daily goal so I'm really hoping that by doing this it will start to make me healthier. 

6. I want to get back into photography in 2018. If you weren't aware then I studied media and photography at A Level, however, since finishing college, I haven't really used my camera all too much. I learnt so many skills and I don't want to just forget about all of that so I want to pick my camera back up a lot this year and get back into the swing of taking pictures as it's something that I enjoy so much! 

7. Another thing that I want to improve on this year is my regularity with this blog. Blogging is something that I really enjoy and that is why it is often quite sparse, as I never want to post just for the sake of it. I am hoping to come up with a lot of ideas for this blog this year though so that I can keep uploading on here and become more regular with it as well. 

8. Carried over from last year, I want to pass my driving test. I've got a lot more time to work around this now than I did when I was in college so I am hoping that before going off to university I can say that I can drive!

That is it for my goals of 2018, I'm sure I would be able to come up with a load more smaller things that I want to do this year but these are my main goals and I really hope that this has helped inspire you with what you want to complete this year!

bethany x