Happy New Year!

Firstly – Happy New Year everyone!! 😀

After every significant time of year I say that I am going to make an effort to blog more, so come Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, New Years, the beginning of the month, the start of a new season, after a nice sunset, bank holidays ( you get the picture) I proclaim that I am going to actually use my poor, neglected blog.

Although, to defend myself a little, I did have a blog at one point, and then the server it was stored on at the time went bye-byes and I was never able to recover all ten posts (it was a start!)

So now it it’s the start of a new year and I am determined that this is the year! I think when you’re at a bit of a loose end or feeling a bit crappy about yourself, setting yourself some goals and sticking to them is a great way to give yourself a little boost; having a sense of achievement no matter how big or small that you have accomplished something you set out to do is a great way to increase your self esteem and confidence, and overall I think it’s a great way to focus your mind on something positive.

For me 2015 hasn’t been the best year and I am a *bit of a procrastinator and have been known to wallow in my own misfortune.

I really hate New Years Resolutions as I personally think they often unrealistic/unachievable and can be easily cast aside (much the way my blog has been) which kind of links in to my point about setting small achievable goals. I actually remember reading through a magazine the last time I was visiting someone in hospital and finding an interesting article about ways to be positive and strategies in maintaining a happier mind (that was a general gist anyway). I really wish I taken note of this as it had some really good points, and the one that stood out to me the most was: Forgive yourself.

If you set yourself a goal, for instance of going swimming twice a week, and you happen to miss a session: don’t beat yourself up about it. Providing it’s the exception and not the rule, just be kind to yourself. I imagine a lot of people beat themselves up over the small things in life, but at the end of the day, as John Lennon famously quoted – “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

So with this in mind, my realistic goals starting from now are:

– To blog at least twice a month (to start with – just setting realistic targets)
– Gym/swim/zumba twice a week (for now)
– To continue piecing together the scrapbook about me and my boyfriend, Aaron.

I’ll probably aim to do a page once a week. based on the fact that the first introductory page took me a good few hours and even now, Aaron has suggested that we add a few more pics to it! I just have so much stuff lying around from over the years that we thought it would be a nice idea to consolidate it all into a nice scrapbook. Also, a practical idea so it doesn’t all get lost.

For the record I do have tons of goals and things I need to do this year, i.e. jobs, the future, finances, etc – but I want to start off with smaller achievements and also, these goals are more about my own personal happiness and state of mind rather than trying to organise the long term future. I want to be able to do something that I can keep up with every week.