I hate starting with such a cliche, but boy did this year go by fast.
I chose to view this as a positive thing though. Time usually seems to fly when you’re busy or there are a lot of things going on. And this year was definitely full of that.
I have a system, where I sit down every last day of the month and write a summary. Not like a full journal entry, more like bullet points of what I did, what happened, events, programs, milestones etc. I plan on writing more about this monthly ritual, as well as my system for planning a year ahead and keeping up with my goals. But this post is about the past and not the future. Even if you’re not doing this exercise monthly, it’s definitely worth taking the time at least at the end of a year and reflect back on everything.
We all started out with some expectations. Some of us called them goals, others resolutions. Hopefully, they haven’t been totally forgotten by February, so we can assess how reality matched our expectations, what we managed to fulfill and what went wrong or not in a way we thought.
The whys are even more important in this case then the whats.
Take some time to go through 2017. Revisit your fondest, happiest memories. Make a list of your achievements and take some credit, be proud. Assess the not-so-good moments as well. Not to beat yourself up over them, but to analyze, accept, and move on. Think about what you learned this year. How you changed as a person. The memories and thoughts that will flood your brain can also be good indicators as what really matters to you and what you may prioritize in the future.
Related: 5 success habits to adopt in the New Year
Do not neglect this year-end reflection practice. We cannot begin a new chapter and embark on a new beginning without analyzing the past.
Highlights of 2017
+ One of my major life goals for this year was to find a new apartment. We got lucky and found something we fell in love with in February. Moving is a little bit away, as the apartment complex is brand new and still in a construction phase, but I hope it’ll be ready by summer. In the meantime, I spend an awful lot of time on interior blogs and Pinterest. So, get ready for lots of minimalist home decor posts next year.
+ We got engaged in May. I haven’t written about this a lot because I’m probably the world’s worst bride ever. I haven’t even started a wedding Pinterest board to this day. While I’m crazy excited about marriage, unfortunately, the same cannot be said about wedding organizing and frankly, the more I read about weddings, the more frustrated I feel about the insane pressure the whole wedding industry is putting on people to spend an inordinate amount of money on a single day. We’re definitely not going down that route, that’s for sure. Stay tuned for a more minimalist approach (once we set a date).
+ Buying the flat was, of course, our financial priority this year (with a lot of costs rolling over to next year). It might have been smarter from a financial point of view to completely cut back on traveling, but I’m just not able to do that. I’d rather not buy anything for a year than go without traveling – it’s really among those things I value and put ahead in life. So we prioritized shorter trips as opposed to longer, more expensive traveling. It’s good to live in Europe in this case, as it’s full of amazing places, from great cities to stunning natural sights, and everything is so close. We chose to revisit some of our favorite places this year (from Croatia through Amsterdam to London), which we rarely do, but it was great.
+ After years of reading blogs, I finally took the plunge and started my own. It’s been an amazing journey so far and I cannot wait to continue this in the future. I also took on photography, which I enjoy immensely.
+ In my work life, I’ve been slowly starting to focus more on independent consulting and as of January 1st, I’m going full freelance. Not gonna lie, it’s crazy exciting, but also terrifying at times. I’m thinking about sharing some of that challenge here as well, as it’s not an easy one and some of you might be on the same path.
What I learned
Patience and reaffirmation that hard work pays off.
We really shouldn’t be afraid of big decisions.
Some things and people are really not worth even a fraction of my time.
My creative urge is stronger than I thought.
Trusting my gut instincts, having faith in my own path, and not letting anything deter me from it are crucial.
How I changed
I became a lot more focused on (and disciplined about) building good habits and routines. This is something that really interests me both on a practical and a theoretical level.
I became a little less introverted. I’m still not the type of person that easily opens up to people. Sharing online is especially hard for me, but with every single day, I become a bit more comfortable. Meeting some amazing people online and getting some nice feedback was also incredibly inspiring to me. I’ll try to focus even more on and put my effort into connecting with people in the new year.
I became more open to the world. As much as I like personal growth tips, techniques and ways to improve ourselves, I’m more and more interested in how our lives and choices affect the world and what we can do to make it, even a little, better. This mindset shift will be a lot more in focus in my blog as well in the next year.
With that, I’d also like to thank everyone who’s here with me on this journey. Thank you for all the comments, shares, and support. You cannot even imagine how much that means.
I hope you all have an amazing, wonderful, successful 2018.
xx
