Happy 2018 everyone! I hope you’re off to a great start this year and I wish you a year of happiness, good health, love and success. This past year was a whirlwind. On one hand, it felt like it flew by, but once I took a few minutes to sit down this past weekend and build my 2017 recap post, I realized that a lot happened last year. I learned about myself and grew into a stronger person, was challenged, failed, succeeded and discovered what makes me genuinely happy. We survived 2017, and I couldn’t be more excited to turn the page into a new chapter today and see where the next 363 days take me.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve made New Year’s Resolutions. Have I kept them? 98% of them were broken. Last year I decided to take a new approach to resolutions and select a word to live by for the year (read post here). I chose ‘Focus’ because I wanted to focus on taking my blog and styling career seriously—which in result meant taking some personal risks, saying goodbye to stable paychecks and corporate routine. But in the end, it was so worth it. I wanted to focus on myself in the best possible, most selfish way. I said goodbye to friendships/relationships, situations and habits that weren’t benefitting me and spent the year diving into work, the blog and creating a community around me.
I worked my ass off, and I’m pretty proud of what I accomplished in 2017; you can see some of my favorite moments in my 2017 recap post. It was the perfect starting year for me and I gained the confidence to go into this year with a better game plan. For my 2018 resolution, I chose the word – Balance.
I am happy that I dove 110% into work in 2017, but to be honest, I lost all balance throughout the year. Once things picked up in the summer, I stopped working out, eating as healthy and sleeping as much. I stopped making time to do things that weren’t work related and was glued to my laptop, work and social media about 20 hours a day. It became exhausting and I finally accepted that I cannot maintain the energizer bunny mentality that I once had in college. I’m in the unique position right now that I’m not tied down to a desk job, not in a relationship and I have the freedom to travel more, make my own schedule and still put myself first.
I wanted to choose the word balance so I focus on creating a more balanced routine in my life. It can be hard to put down work when I can’t just “leave” my work at 6pm and go to part 2 of my life. Last year when I decided to go with the word themed resolution, I didn’t really set any specific focus-related goals, so I wanted to integrate that back into this year.
I made two lists, a personal goal list and a business goal list for 2018. I’m not going to share everything, but here are a couple of my personal goals this year to help create a more balanced life:
- Create a Morning and Night Routine
- My life is crazy and unpredictable, but I know I only really have control of my morning and night routines. I have always been the person to hit snooze 5 million times in the morning and allot myself just enough time to zoom through my apartment and run out the door. I’m a night owl, so I normally stay up way too late working (2 or 3 a.m.) until I can barely form a cognitive thought. The past few weeks I have been reading and trying out new routines and really like them! I am going to try my hardest to have a bedtime, have a work cut-off time and not start or end my day with social media.
- Schedule Non-Work Related Events and Activities
- My biggest struggle post-college was taking time to do things that cut into “work” time. Why go to the gym when I could spend that 1 1/2 hours working? Happy Hour is rarely a phrase in my vocabulary, and weekend activities are normally few and far between. I want to integrate these back into my life. I love volunteering, seeing friends and even zoning out and going to the gym, so I need to make sure I allow myself to do that.
- Travel!
- I felt very fortunate this past year to travel as much as I did, and now I have the travel bug. I have a handful of places on my list this year that I want to visit, plus I have trips scheduled almost every month for 2018—time to pack a suitcase and put my email to OOO.
- Journal
- I stopped journaling in college because I felt like I was spilling everything to my mom, sister and friends, and then I took advantage of using the blog as a diary. But, there is obviously a huge filter on what I publish on SAK, for work or even things I say to friends. I want to dive back into personal journaling and write out high/lows of the week, set goals and take the time to put pen to paper each week.
What are your goals for 2018? I have found that choosing a themed word for the year has been more successful and helped me set reachable and realistic goals for the year. I’d love to hear your goals for the year and I’ll keep you guys updated throughout the year with my goals! xo
