Same as I have done last year this time, I want to take a moment to write down a few lines looking back at 2018 and revisiting last year’s moments. The end of the year is definitely an obvious (but not necessarily the only neither the best) moment to reflect on what were my achievements the past year, what were my failures, what I feel most proud of and how did I evolve throughout the year.
Blog. 2018 has been a full year of blogging and running the Instagram account for me. Last year this time is really when I decided to take blogging more seriously and since then I have been posting regularly – weekly and even more often at times.
While I have not built a huge blog, I am very proud of having built a small world of my own where I get to inspire myself to lead a better life. Choosing to dedicate part of my free time to blogging while I am working full-time is quite a commitment but it brings me so much joy, I could not be happier for having started doing this. I sometimes struggled with sharing too much and not being present in the moment, and keeping that balance is a fine line that I strive to become better at in the coming year.
Studies. 2018 has also been the year when I have made the decision to continue my studies. This was something I had wanted for a long time – ever since I graduated – but I was not willing to give up my full-time job. In November I have officially started my Master’s degree in International Management, which I am studying remotely (online). So far I have been able to balance work, studying and running the blog quite well and I am excited to keep doing the same in 2019. I am the type of person that draws energy from doing a lot of things and I thrive on navigating challenging problems. I have only become aware of this in 2018 and realized that I need to take advantage of that, otherwise if I incline towards the other spectrum of not doing much, it all snowballs into becoming lazy and decreasing my energy levels. Understanding a little bit better how I build my energy has been a highlight and it has helped me be, do and achieve more this year.
Career wise it’s been a year of stability and building up the foundation of my career and my work persona. I can’t say that this years has been a breakthrough in terms of progress, but I think I have grown more into who I am both personally and professionally and I have managed to stay true to myself. 2018 has also been a year of self discovery and finally acknowledging my own strengths. I guess it comes with the overall time spent working – I have been working full-time for four years already – I was finally able to put words to my strengths and uncover them and this brings me immense joy.
I am also immensely grateful for my day job. As you know, I am doing consulting in a tech company and I get to work with high level executive from the biggest companies in the world. While not every day is great, I am beyond thankful for having such a good job where I can keep learning and I get to have flexibility and grow every single day.
Fitness wise, while I haven’t managed to get back to my super fit routine, I did manage to get some stability and some progress throughout the year. I am most proud of the fact that I have incorporated yoga in my routine and this has helped me to stay more grounded mentally but also feel more in shape physically. As years pass by, I value more and more the feeling of a healthy and fit body that is flexible and strong and I want to make sure I keep building good habits for the years to come.
I have also somehow manage to lose about 5-6 kg in the last year without much effort. I attribute that to slowly sort of cleaning up my eating habits – but never fully, I enjoy eating too much – and to also doing yoga at home, sometimes daily, sometimes a few times a week. While my relationship with the gym has been on and off throughout the year, the consistency I have had – or sort of – has definitely helped me achieve progress by the end of the year, which is something I am completely amazed at.
Personal life. When thinking of my personal life, I am beyond grateful for my relationship. While I don’t like to get into much detail about this, I think that having a loving, stable and supporting relationship is something that has given me room for growth in all aspects and I feel incredibly lucky about having it.
Among the things that I wish I would have done more of this past year are reading, being a better support for my family and spending even more time with my mother. This year I did manage to organise a quick getaway with my mom – we went to Barcelona for about four days – and had a great time. As years run by, I feel like I need to pay more attention to my family and spend even more time with them and this is something that weighs on me more and more.
Goals. My 2019 theme is confidence. I want to be truly be confident with the way I am, both personality wise as well as physically, always be myself in all settings and never settle for less. I want to further grow into who I am and being unapologetically me. While this is something that I am sure is not just a year’s work, I do want to improve in this area and see the effects both in my personal and in my work life and lay the grounds for the years to come.
Since I have started blogging I have learned that if you put your wants on a piece of paper or type them onto your computer, you tend to revisit it and start thinking about it more and more and then you find yourself taking actions towards it in an organic way.
Also, linked to the above,a fun fact with regards to my Wishlist for 2018 that I posted last year this time – click here to see it – is that it has pretty much all materialized. Since I had only listed the material items I wanted, I guess it was easier. Nonetheless, the learning here is that if you want something just put it out there into the world and sooner or later you will get it/make it happen.
If you are wanting to reflect on the past year but don’t know where to start, this article with 31 questions to ask yourself before setting new goals is a great way to start reflecting and jump-starting your learning.
And now tell me, what is your balance for 2018 and what is it that you want to change in 2019? What have been your greatest learnings and what are the goals you are setting for yourself? It’s always great to share, you never know who you might inspire to follow suit.
I’m wishing all of you a beautiful New Year’s Eve and a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2019!
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