2018 has lasted approximately 5 years. I'm not even exaggerating, we literally had an OLYMPICS that we all just forgot about. So much crap has happened this year that has made me lose a little bit of my faith in humanity, so here's what I feel like I've taken from this year.
Trying to be confident and face your fears is always the best way.
This October I moved to Birmingham, much bigger and much busier than where I'm from. Luckily I got to move up and live with my boyfriend but it was still pretty daunting to start a new chapter as big as this one. The reason we moved up here was to start university and I was terrified to meet new people and make new friends, I didn't see myself as a particularly confident person and I got into my own head a little too much, worrying about what people might think of me. The first day of Uni I decided to pretend I was super chill and confident, I spoke to loads of people and made loads of friends! When I look back on it I realise I wasn't putting on this confidence I just actually decided to suck up my fear and try to face it. If I hadn't channeled confidence at the start of Uni I wouldn't have made such great friends and had such a good time as I have so far, so I'm glad I was able to realise this early on.
Self sufficiency is hard
As I already said I moves out this year which was a big transition for me. Cleaning has particularly gets on my nerves but probably for reasons different to others, I like things to be very tidy and clean, this means vacuuming and getting rid of crumbs is something I like to do quite often. Before I only really had to keep my bedroom clean but now I have a two bedroom flat to keep in tip top shape, beds must be made and clothes must be away everyday otherwise I feel like I can't get on with other things I need to do.
Clothes washing is something I didn't think would be a big deal but I appear to run out of socks quite quickly. Another problem I ran into is trying to do as little washing as possible, this means I mix colours, whites and darks in the same wash, this morning for instance, I put a load of washing in the machine and now all my boyfriends white socks and my white bed sheets are bright pink, whoops.
Food shopping is another thing that doesn't seem hard, it's actually quite fun to be able to buy whatever food you like. This problem is actually walking home with food shopping. We don't have a car and as it's only a 15 minute walk to Morrisons we don't see the point of getting the bus or an Uber, but those 15 minutes walking back from the shop is awful.
Keep things exciting
Moving in with boyfriend has been wonderful, I love him and getting to wake up together everyday makes me super happy. The only thing is trying not falling into habits of just sitting around watching TV and just co-habiting rather than spending time together making memories. Sometimes we don't have too much to share with each other as we literally spend all the time together, especially now the weathers getting colder and going outside sounds horrible.
To combat this we try and plan days out wether it's meeting up with friends or planning a cheap date night. After dressing up a little to even just go to the pub for dinner we always feel closer and it just feels more special than staying at home. Saying that though, some of my favourite date nights have been making an el paso taco kit together and eating it on the sofa while watching a movie.
Friends and family are super important
Moving cities means missing everyone. I have such a tight family and such good friends who I love very much and knowing that I can't just pop in and see them whenever I like is really hard, but when I do get to see them every minute is precious. This year I saw people so close to me go through so much and every bad thing bought everyone so much closer and made me appreciate what I have. Making a conscious effort to just message people to make sure they're ok and just have a catch up lets them know that you're there.
Self love and care is vital
This year I've tried to step up looking after myself, both mentally and physically. Instead of forcing myself to be happy all the time I just started being nicer to myself and showing myself love. Simple things like having pamper days or having days where I know I can just do nothing and know that that's ok. Forcing yourself to feel a certain way isn't healthy, if you're sad letting yourself feel sad is natural and completely normal. Cutting off negative people and thinking about you isn't selfish or mean, it's a progression of self respect, you should be your main priority.
I have become a completely different person throughout this year, there's been so many experiences both good and bad that have shaped me into who I am now. This doesn't mean I am the woman I'm meant to be but what it does mean is that I am shaping into the person I want to be. This time next year I might be a completely new version of myself and I'm excited to know who that'll be.
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