REFLECTING ON THE YEAR GONE BY: MY 2017 HIGHLIGHTS & GOALS FOR 2018

TIME TO REFLECT

2017 Highlights And Lowlights & Thinking Ahead To 2018

With all the Christmas excitement passing and New Years Eve creeping ever closer, it felt like the perfect moment to push pause, reflect on the year gone and take a moment to share some of this years highlights and of course some goals for the year ahead too.

2017 has to have been the fastest year yet, I remember in April wondering where the first few months had gone, and now as the year is coming to an end I can’t quite believe how quickly it’s flown by, but also how much has happened in a year that I mistakenly thought was somewhat inconsequential. Looking back It couldn’t have been further from that, from personal achievements, life milestones to simply tons of great moments, 2017 has been packed with some big and noteworthy moments worth remembering!

Of course as with everything, there are always lows, and probably my most significant low was being diagnosed with bowel disease, specifically Ulcerative colitis (Chrons being the other form and one most people know best). You may remember this post here from the beginning of the year when I finally got diagnosed after a year of severe suffering and a lifetime of issues, but it was a bit of a wakeup moment for me. Whilst I was so glad to know what was wrong, it did mean some big life changes were in order and mostly reducing my stress levels. I toned down my blog, changed my attitude to work and have managed to gather a huge amount of perspective which has certainly helped me manage stressful and pressured situations. But in 2018 there’s a lot more to be done, starting with getting better at taking my daily medication & secondly tackling my diet in a slightly more significant way to see if that may help. My plan is to effectively cut dairy and gluten & reduce my meat intake as I know these could be hindering my colitis, and perhaps my migraines too (which I’m convinced are linked)!

But it’s not all lows, as I mentioned 2017 had some very surprising, unplanned and quite monumental highs too, so without further ado …

2017 HIGHLIGHTS

–

TRAVELLED MORE

–

Travel has always been a huge passion of mine and a really important part of my life. It’s my happiness fuel and I couldn’t do without exploring more of the world each year. After ending 2016 in Thailand, I started 2017 in Hong Kong and the Philippines on an incredible adventure with 6 of my favourite girls. It was a trip to remember & such a brilliant way to start the year.

Of course I also had my annual ski trip in Val and multiple visits to Paris and Brussels with my job.  I also visited San Francisco for the first time with Jase as I surprised him with a long weekend for his thirtieth birthday. We had the most amazing trip & vowed to see more of the West coast soon.

We finished the year with just under two weeks in Morocco exploring Marrakech, the Atlas Mountains and Essouria (I have more travel posts to come from my trip) and a return trip to my favourite UK staycation destination, Soho Farmhouse which was our most magical trip their yet.

–

BECAME A HOME OWNER

–

The biggest life highlight this year has to be the fact Jase and I bought our first home together. In reality it all happened quite quickly without tons and tons of planning, and swept us up for the first half of the year. But in July (after making an offer in February – the s.l.o.w.e.s.t. thing ever) we finally got the keys and after two weeks of intense DIY (we moved a masonry wall, re-plumbed, moved some electrics around, sanded and painted the floors and fully decorated the entire place) we moved into our first ever owned home together.

We bought a Victorian ground floor flat in the beautiful West London village we’d been living in for the last 4 years together, and 8 years for me. We sacrificed size for location, but bought a place that has huge potential.

Jase is an architect so we already have planning permission on our side and rear extension which will add a second bedroom and a much much larger lounge and kitchen. We’re hoping 2018 will be the year we begin work … just the small issue of finances to overcome.

The House buy also marked the launch of my interiors category, you can see all our home interiors posts here.

–

CAREER HIGHS

–

After vowing to reduce the pressure at work and reign in my stresses, I felt 2017 would become a rather unremarkable career year for me. But that couldn’t have been further from reality, because in November I finally got the promotion I’d spent the last two years working towards and achieved a career goal which when I started working I never dreamt of achieving. Let alone at 29. I’m now managing partner and sit on the leadership board in my company. And with my company merging in the new year, we’ll become the second biggest global media agency in the world so a really exciting role and time for my career. I couldn’t be more delighted, and it really does show that working smarter and not harder is the way forward.

–

Of course there are always other moments in life which feel special and momentous in your world. From some of my closest friends expecting babies, others getting engaged and even married, to some living on other sides of the world. This year I was fortunate enough to be made Godmother to some of our closest friends beautiful baby Seb, I couldn’t be move in love with him or more honoured to be his godmother.

2018 GOALS

–

A HEALTH RE-BOOT

–

I want to get back to my happy weight in time for my 30th birthday. It’s been a useless new years goal every year but this year I really mean it. I want to feel my best, feel my most confident and look my best as I turn thirty. I want to put myself first more and really take the time I deserve to look after myself, to exercise, to eat well and keep myself well!

I’ve struggled with my ‘health’ and prioritising my wellbeing in the last 4-5 years. My career took over a little and I just found myself getting ill (migraines mostly), putting on unwanted weight and generally stopping exercising and playing the sports I used to love so much.

I really want 2018 to be the year I create good habits, get my health back on track and start to look after myself. My aim is to start back with regular exercises, 3 times a week ideally, and i’m also going to change up my diet and move towards a more plant based diet which I hope will help my migraines and colitis.

–

BLOG SUCCESS

–

You may have noticed that I didn’t really talk about my blog within my highs. This last year has felt like my career and personal life have taken a little bit of prioritisation – which in reality was about time I let things loosen a little bit with my blog. After relaunching my blog at the end of 2016 and changing my approach to blogging at the same time (I stopped blogging daily and decided to spend more time on making each post the best it could be) 2017 felt a little less momentous. I did get to work with some of my favourite brands sporadically, but I certainly worked with less than I had done years prior, something I want to change in 2018. I have big ambitions for my blog next year, I’d love to see it really step up it’s pace growth wise, I want to work with more brands and really try and achieve more of my blogging goals in 2018 – making content that you guys love, relate to and want to read. As well as, of course, keep up the quality i’ve worked so hard to achieve over my six years of blogging.

I finally accepted the importance of instagram and have been working so hard on it for the last 18 months. As with everyone who’s experienced the irritations of the algorithm, i’ve had some major highs and lows. The constant depression of it never growing no matter how hard I work (sometimes I don’t even feel my photography is seen by my followers, let alone any new people), with bursts of motivation to really make something of it. I’m ending the year with a big boost of motivation, after some wonderful fellow bloggers have supported my account by sharing it with their followers (genuinely means so much and has made such a positive impact) my page is finally starting to grow and I really hope 2018 will be the year I actually ‘make it’ (by my terms, i’m not expecting miracles, haha) on instagram. I would love to surpass the 20k mark and really start to build my blog and instagram work up!

I’m also determined to try and bring a little more of the ‘everyday‘ to my instagram and my stories (as well as my blog) as I know people really love seeing more of the day to day.

–

RENOVATIONS

–

This time next year I would absoutely love to be living in our newly renovated home, having completed all the works we’ve been planning and dreaming of.   Fingers crossed.

Alongside, of course, continued travels and delivering in my new role at work.

–

I’d love to hear your highlights & goals for the year ahead. Leave them in the comments below x