Hello 2018

Hello Earthlings,

Happy New Year! Whether you're a huge fan of a new year and love the thought of a fresh start or whether it's just another month and you're sick of seeing "new year, new me" posts, I hope this year brings you lots of happiness. Personally, I take a new year and I look at it so positively and think of all the potential and try and set myself goals, but some people see the start of a new year as a kind of "oh my gosh, I'm not doing enough to try and do this etc." and I want to say that it's okay for you to be cool with how you are, it's okay to be making progress but not making progress as quick as other people are, it's perfectly okay for you to tackle this year however you want to. I, for one, would like take use this chance to say that if you need any encouragement or anything to help you get to your goals then I'll certainly try my best, just send a message somehow through whichever social media appeals.

I celebrated the start of 2018 surrounded by some of my nearest and dearest and it was a wonderful way to kick off the new year, topped off by returning home and finding that my dog had been cuddled up on my bed meaning it was already warm and cosy. Thanks, Pip! I find it so fascinating that some people are on the second day of 2018, some have just started 2018 and here we are, all acknowledging the start of this year in our own way. I have loved scrolling through Twitter and seeing so many positive tweets about how people want to better themselves and I'm 100% jumping on this train. 

After Googling new year's resolution, I found a solid definition of: a firm decision made on New Year's Eve or Day to do or refrain from doing something over the course of the coming year. The word "firm" puts me off calling them resolutions as I'll feel bad if I don't enjoy success with them so instead I'm going to call mine goals. So, here are my goals for 2018:

• Starting with the blog, I want to work hard to post content I enjoy and try and promote my blog a lot more than I currently do. I want to work on building a positive community on this little internet space and it being a little hub of happiness for people to enjoy in their day. I want to interact with more bloggers and help share the content of other's. I hope to look back in 365 days and know I've done this blog proud for a year. 

• In general, I want to be more present in the moment. I'm awful for getting distracted on my phone for one thing or another and this year I want to try and be in the moment more, I'm still going to be on social media and using my phone but hopefully less of the time. I'm going to be commuting via bus to uni at the start of this semester and one thing I want to do is make sure I use that time well, whether it's reading a book or reading revision cards, just to make sure it's a little more productive than scrolling through Facebook 3000 times. 

• I want to try and get a little fitter and eat a little healthier, not so much setting a goal of I want to weigh this much or anything but just to feel more confident in myself and look after myself a bit more. In this point I'm also going to mention how I want to improve my self care more this year. 

• I want to be with people more. I often put myself under so much pressure to get x amount of things done in a certain time and don't take time out to just see people. I want to do that more this year, make time to just have a cuppa or something. Yes, other stuff is important such as university work but in the end, I want memories to look back on and I don't want people to say "I don't remember seeing Lia much during this time, she was too busy". 

• Continue to work on myself to discover the person I want to be, I have a lot of interests and I never seem to work on them. I want to put aside to be creative, I have a full magazine series of cross stitching to do that I constantly say "I'll get time to do that soon" when I haven't yet, I have my projects that I got from the Knitting and Stitching show that I'd love to start. I'd love to do some volunteering and try and help people this year, so I know I have made a difference somewhere. I'd like to learn more this year, not just the content available through my course, but go out and learn something new. I want to write more, not just on my blog but write about things I'm passionate about. I want to be happy at every opportunity I can. 

• The final point for now, I want to explore! I have no adventures booked yet, but I want to explore around where I live as well. The Peak District is practically on my doorstep so I'd love to get out a bit more and enjoy where I live as well as exploring new foreign cities and such. 

For now, I'm happy with those goals. They give me something to aim for and something to keep me busy! But right now, I'm going to go and get a cup of tea and continue plodding through uni work. I shall return to my usual posting day, Thursday if you didn't know, this week so will see you again in approximately 3 days, 4 hours, 12 minutes and 3 seconds. 

And again, Happy New Year!

Lia x