New Year, New Resolutions: Welcome 2019

2018 has definitely not been my year. It’s been a year of challenges and difficulties and even though there has been some amazing high points, there have been some hard moments and some pretty crappy lows. On a global scale, the world is becoming unrecognisable, and uncomfortable; on a personal level, life has been hard, but I have come out of it ready and raring to go. I want 2019 to be my best yet so positivity and productively are the aim of the game.

My final resolution checkin for 2018 was eye-opening, and really made me realise which things are important to maintaining a happier daily life, and which enrich my life on a bigger scale. With this in mind, I am stretching some challenges and focusing on things that improves my mental state and health overall.

So, without further ado, my resolutions for 2019:

Reading

Read at least 100 books: For the last 2 years I have set a goal that was 52 books, a book a week, and I have found myself smashing it, often at the half way point. I know 100 books seems like a lot, but I think it is attainable for me and so I am setting it out from the beginning. When Goodreads allows me to set my 2019 goal on their site, this is what I am going with.

Read 5 classics: I have definitely read more classics over the last couple of years, which is both great and a nightmare. I have read a lot of the ones I actually want to read, but there are still lots more, and now as I am finding a little easier, I am setting some sub-challenges this year.

Read 1 Austen/Brontë: If I can complete this, I will feel better about my classic’s reading but also knock off a 30 before 30 challenge too.

Read 1 Classic in translation: Ideally Russian for a 30 before 30 challenge, but a bit of a push to read different things

Read 5 Non-fiction: I have really enjoyed some non-fiction books over the last 18 months and would like to keep experiencing the best of the non-fiction world.

Take part in, complete, and actively engage in at least 10 readathons/challenges: I love readathons and I take part in a lot, but I haven’t completed each on every time, so I want to concentrate on actively participating and completing more throughout the year.

Keep a reading journal: I love the idea of bullet journalling but it didn’t work with my life. I love tracking my reading habits and goals, and kept a spreadsheet of all the info I wanted to track in 2018 so I have decided that I would like to keep a reading journal in 2019.

Blogging

Find a balance between blogging quality and quantity that I am happy with: I really enjoy blogging, and have really found a rhythm with my blog over the past few months. I still don’t have a true ‘blogging voice’ but I feel like I have more things to write about. I sometimes struggle with the balance between blogging quantity and quality, between writing content that is meaningful and doing memes and tags that bring in views and followers. I’d really like to try and find my voice and find a content medium between all things blogging.

Maintain blogging diversity e.g, travel, and personal, and books: I currently blog about a variety of things, but sometimes slip into a book blogging hole. There is nothing wrong with a book blogging hole, but books are not the only thing I like to write about, so I need to make sure that I keep variety and diversity. Blogmas has helped me think about this, maybe a diary or continuation of the method I’ve used during Blogmas will help.

Utilise scheduling: At times this year, I have fought to get a post out when I want to. I have also planned well ahead and decided what I am going to post in advance. I’ve thought about the time and the day that posts go out, and feel like properly utilising the schedule feature will help my blogging development and engagement in general.

Engage with the wider blogging/bookish/travel community: We all love it when people read, like, and comment on our blog. The problem is that I am really unreliable about being involved and engaged with the blogging community and if I am honest, I don’t really read a lot of blogs because it’s the platform I like to talk on not read about. Yes, being involved helps your own stats, but it’s actually more about enjoying other people’s efforts, writing, and just generally being more involved in the community, and I feel like I can find new ways to engage with the wider communities I am involved in whilst blogging here.

Invest time tidying up my blog appearance/layout: I own my domain and have a personal plan on WordPress that is valid for at least 15 months. I am happy with the idea

Personal

Lose weight: This single resolution is by far the most important for me in 2019. I really want to shift some serious weight in 2019. Fat Friday is something I did in late 2017/half of 2018, and is something that has made me accountable for my health in that time. I feel like I can now do it, and I will be starting a new set of posts to track this and keep me accountable in 2019.

Exercise more: If losing weight is the most important resolution on this list, then this is the second. The purpose of Fat Friday was to lose weight and become fitter, and exercise is a crucial part of both of those elements. I really like the feeling I get when I exercise, it makes me feel better mentally and physically. I also like it when I feel fitter in general. I feel more able to do stuff, to take part, and don’t feel like my size holds me back, so this will be included in the new 2019 health posts.

Travel more in and out of the UK: I love travelling and feel like it really enriches me, but I don’t have enough money to travel in the UK and abroad all the time. I feel like setting specific travel goals is pointless if they put a strain on me financially, so I would just like to make more time to travel more and enjoy the travelling I do, in the UK and around the world.

Complete 5 things from my Bucket List/30 Before 30 list: When I first started travelling and set up my blog, I made a bucket list. As great as it is to do such awesome things, it’s not realistic in home life to be doing this all the time. So, I made a 30 before 30 list to coincide with my bucket list. I think aiming to knock things off both lists is a good aim for 2019, and hopefully thinking about them both will make me look into what is actually on there a little more too.

Craft more e.g. knitting, card-making, cross-stitching: I love crafts, cross-stitch and knitting especially, but go through phases of doing nothing at all. I know doing things with my hands would help me to not snack between meals.

Adulting

Save at least £200 every month: Last year I saved a fair amount of money, but I also used a huge amount of it to go to Disney, so this year, I am going to try and save £2500, which will only be close to possible if I save at least £200 a month. It would replace what I spent on Disney and would help me save for future trips.

Sort my papers, bills, and important documents into a file: Sorting out my car insurance, phone bills, and address details this year has been deeply unpleasant. I have missed opportunities to save money, and I have lost important documents. I have collected the majority of this all into one corner of my room, so I need to sort through it and actually make progress in filing and organising them this year.

Tidy, sort, clean, and maintain my bedroom: This is something I said I would do last year, and something I then completely failed at. The fact is that I find my messy room stressful, so if I can try and sort this and keep on top of it, I can have a more pleasant personal living space to deal with everything that life will throw at me in 2019. I want a space that I am proud of and look after instead of a messy pigsty. I’m old enough now that having a messy room isn’t a childish whim, it’s just a bad example that you’re making of yourself.

Tidy, sort, clean, and maintain the house, and do the decorating odd jobs I have been meaning to do in 2018: I feel like this is a little bit of an extension of the previous point, but also so that we have a more comfortable living space. After doing some of the jobs this year we wanted to do in 2017, the house is now cluttered, and I think a good sort out, tidy up, and deep cleanse will certainly help. Once we have things sorted we can look at all the little things we’ve mentioned doing or sorting, and we can just generally having a nicer home. Who doesn’t want that?

Don’t waste time/Increase productivity: How vague does this sound? well, its a little intentional. I have a tendency to sleep in on days off, laze around the house at the weekend, and just generally spend time doing nothing. That’s OK some of the time, but it means that I miss the opportunity to do things that I want to do more than lie on the couch. Whether it’s through planning, or a change in outlook, or simply saying yes more, I really need to make a little bit more of my time.

I wasn’t really planning to make quite so many resolutions, but, if I stick to them this is sure to be a fantastic year! I’d love to hear all about your plans and goals for 2019, so please comment or link to your own resolutions below. Thank you for sticking with me in 2018, I hope to get to know even more of you lovely people over the next year.

I hope 2019 is a happy, healthy, and prosperous year for you all!