A Reflection On 2024

I hope everyone has had a lovely Christmas and a day filled with love and making memories. As the year comes to an end, I thought I’d take a look back at some of the goals I set and whether I achieved them. This year has definitely been a rollercoaster, but one where some of my favourite ever memories were made. It was definitely a year of unexpected things I never thought would happen, some bad, some good, but a lot of positives to take away as well and into 2025. I tend to always reflect towards the end of the year and although I understand why that can be seen as a negative, I get a lot of positives out of it as it helps me to see positive outcomes, the progress I’ve made towards goals and what I need to refocus on. It also helps me to revaluate as to whether those goals actually matter to me anymore. Although I may be slightly disappointed if something didn’t quite go to plan, I think you can then look at that goal and see how you can break it down to be more reachable. So let’s take a look at some of them..

Read 12 Books

One of the things I wanted to do this year was to read 12 books. This was a slight fail. For the first 3 months, I was definitely on track and set myself the target of a book a month, which I achieved. However I got really stuck on a book for ages, it wasn’t bad, I just don’t think I was in the right frame of mind to read it and actually I didn’t finish it in the end. After stopping and trying to restart that one a few times, I decided it was probably best to start a new one, so I’m currently on my fifth and I won’t be finishing that by the end of the year. I’m still happy that I’ve managed to make time for something that I wanted to get into though, and I feel better for it. I love reading, as it allows you to escape into someone else’s world. I think I may try and do some book reviews on my blog in the future if that’s something that interests you. I will be keeping this goal for next year as it forced me to make time for something I enjoy. If anyone has any thriller recommendations, please let me know!

Experience Being On A Plane

One thing I have been wanting to experience for ages is to have flown on a plane somewhere. I have never been outside of the UK and so this was pretty high on my list of things to do, and it happened way sooner than I thought. My nan and grandad kindly paid for me to fly to Belfast as an early Birthday presents back in February. I went with my nan, and we stayed with a friend who lives there, and it was honestly one of my favourite memories ever, and I will treasure and hold close those memories forever. We did so much in the time we were there, from museums including the Titanic museum, to Giants Causeway, and even some exploring outside of Belfast. Everyone we met was really friendly and it’s a place I would definitely pay a visit to again. As for the flying, I loved it! I found the whole experience therapeutic, and it’s really cool flying at night time too, and seeing everywhere lit up. Airports are also great places to people watch and again everyone was really friendly and helpful, it wasn’t stressful at all.

Give Back More

Not something that I really mention as I don’t like to seem like I’m showing off or bragging in any kind of way, but I am forever grateful for what I have and what I gain and I’m fully aware that there are many who aren’t as fortunate. This is why I wanted to give back more this year, but not just this year. It’s something that I want to continuously do as long as financially possible. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to do it as much as I wanted to this year, but I still managed to donate toys to a children’s hospice and a hospital ward who treats children with cancer. I also donated to Cancer Research and Alzheimer’s. Next year, I would like to add a mental health charity to that list as well as one focused on men’s mental health. I would also like to donate to a homeless charity too. I just want to help people, but I know it’s not always physically possible. In the future, I’d like to do something that will raise money for charity, I’m not sure what, but it’s something to think about.

Declutter

Decluttering was something I wanted to tackle this year. I have accumulated a lot of clothes, shoes, bags and other bits and bobs, that I definitely could cut down on and although I did make a dent in this, I still have areas I need to do. I feel like your kind of in an endless cycle of decluttering though as you receive and buy things throughout the year, despite only trying to buy things that I need or will get a lot of use out of. My baking cupboard is definitely an area I need to look at as I feel like I can’t always find what I need as I have so many cookie cutters that it’s ridiculous. It’s one of those jobs that I keep putting off, but I know that I will feel so much better after I’ve done it though. I feel like I need to find a better storage solution for it as well, but it’s difficult because things are such awkward shapes. I am rambling on now. I feel it is true, though, when they say a tidy room is a tidy mind. I know that’s not the right saying, haha, as I always get sayings wrong, but we’ll roll with it..

Add More Colour To My Wardrobe

I really tried with this one, and I would say I’ve achieved this. I have worn black ever since I can remember. It’s a colour I feel comfortable in and a colour that goes with everything. Don’t get me wrong, I still wear a lot of black, but I’ve made a conscious effort to change that by introducing browns, blues, greens, and even my favourite colour pink. (I hate pink!) Arguably, you could say some of those are still dark colours, haha, but I feel it’s still a step forward in the right direction, and I’m counting it as a win. I’ve mainly just looked at different colour tops to wear with black bottoms, but I have recently branched out and got some beige colour trousers too. I think at the end of the day, it’s what works for you and finding a colour pallet that suits you. As well as different colours, I’ve also tried to introduce different prints as well, leopard being one of those which red works very well with I’ve recently found out. A lot of it is trial and error though, and black will always be a colour I go back to, but it is nicer to have more colours to play with.

Redecorate The Living Room

It’s been a long process and a goal that I wasn’t confident was going to be achieved this year, however apart from a few finishing touches, and some new furniture, our living room is finally finished, and what a difference. It’s quite quickly becoming my favourite room in the house, and it feels so much warmer and inviting now, I really do love it. It sounds like a year is a long time to do a room up, and I agree it is, but it wasn’t something that was properly started until towards the end of the year and you never know what will crop up as well. One of my favourite things is probably the flooring. We took out the carpet and replaced it with laminate, and I’d say that made the most amount of difference and has made the room appear brighter. Another feature I love is that we picked up these beautiful green velvet curtains yesterday, which now blend all the colours together. Now that this room is pretty much finished, it’s given the bug to do another room!

As you can see from some of the goals I’ve shared, there are positives to take from each one despite maybe not completing them fully. The important thing is that I made progress. Try not to be too hard on yourself when looking back at your goals, and don’t compare yourself to others. One thing I am proud of is getting back into blogging. I had a lot of self-doubt about starting up again, but one of my friends encouraged me to get back into it again. Although I may have been quiet on here recently, I haven’t neglected it. I’ve been playing around with this blog since June, seeing what different things people are and aren’t interested in, kind of like a trial run. I have also now got a logo! What a difference something small can make, I love it. Thank you to you, the readers, who inspire me to carry on.

I guess all that’s left for me to say now is have a happy and safe New Years Eve no matter how you’re spending it. I hope next year lives up to all your dreams and ambitions. See you in 2025.

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on..” – Hal Borland

Amy x