2018 in Review

Wow, I hadn’t realized how long it has been since I blogged. 2018 was not the best year for me. I felt sick, depressed, and burned out through most of it. But some good things did happen. Hayden and I moved out of his parent’s basement and got ourselves a house. I got the puppy I’ve always wanted, a border collie-toy poodle mix named Piper. And I officially resigned from a job that was toxic for me. My wheels are already turning with excitement for all the things I’ve been wanting to do for the past year but couldn’t because of how terrible I felt 99% of the time.

  • Illustration I made of our house shortly after we moved in
  • Piper the pupper
Goal #1: Complete “Training Your Inner Warrior” Course

I wasn’t planning on this being a goal for 2019 because I had never heard of it before, but then I saw an advertisement for it saying it was free in January, so I figured I would give it a shot. It’s basically a course for understanding your brain better and developing habits. Since the goals I was planning on working on are daily goals, I figured this course would be good to start with. I’m only 5 days in, but I like it so far. It gives you a daily word to think about and 3-4 VERY simple tasks to work on each day. The website is a little dramatic, but here’s a link to it if you’re interested: Training Your Inner Warrior.

Goal #2: 100 Days of Vector Illustrations

Once I finish the Inner Warrior course, my plan is to start a 100 day challenge. One reason why I resigned from teaching middle school is because I will be working as a freelance graphic designer. To hone my skills, I was inspired by this artist who did 100 days of vector illustrations. I plan on incorporating this into my morning routine to get me creatively motivated for the day (If you are as fascinated by morning routines as I am, this is a great read: Daily Rituals). When I’m done with this challenge, I want to do 100 days of poster designs like this or this.

Example of vector illustrations
Goal #3: Home Improvements

Because I now have a home of my own, I am stoked to turn it into my sanctuary. My Saturdays growing up were filled with yard work and home improvement projects with my dad, and I look forward to continuing that tradition in my own home. I am also obsessed with Marie Kondo’s tidying book and new Netflix series, and can’t wait to develop our own system that works for us. Hayden and I were both overly consumed by work in 2018, so I’m excited to be able to have more time to organize our home and do some much-needed updates like finishing painting and installing new carpet. Maybe it’s the feeling in me that I need to keep up with the Jones’, but I’ve started creating vision boards for what I want each room in our house to look like.

  • Master Bedroom Vision Board
  • Living Room Vision Board
  • Kitchen/Dining Room Vision Board
Goal #4: Blog Once a Week

To help keep me accountable for my goals, my last goal is to blog once a week. I took a break from journaling last year because I was in such a bad mental state that every time I tried to write I would start crying and spiral into depression. So this year, I hope to pick that up again and record some of my thoughts digitally on here. My other hope is that by blogging, I will feel less of a need to consume social media because I’m creating my own media. I had a poster made for me by Caroline Kelso once upon a time that says “Create more than you consume.” It’s been a mantra in the back of my mind for a while now, but I’ve never felt like I’ve made progress on it. You’ll notice that most of my goals are focused on creating, so maybe this will be the year! To help me accomplish this, I’ve made a content calendar for the year so I already know what I want to write!

Create more than you consume
Bonus

Another mantra I want to hold onto this year (also by Caroline Kelso) is that I have enough and that I am enough. I’ve made it the background on my phone to remind me every day. It’s something I struggle with because we’re meant to improve and become better people over time, but we’re not meant to beat ourselves up about it. So hopefully this year I can show myself more compassion and feel more gratitude for the things and qualities I do have.

You have enough. You are enough.

As always, thank you for reading! Leave a comment and let me know what you thought! What are your goals for the new year? I would love to hear from you. Stay classy friends,