Goals for 2023

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I say this every single year, but I can't believe it's the start of a whole new year! 2022 went by so quickly and overall it was a pretty good year (I wrote about my own personal highlights in my previous post). I'd really like to try and make 2023 a good year and since I can never stick to new year resolutions, I thought I'd set myself some realistic goals just to start the new year on a productive, positive tone. Start as you mean to go on and all that😄

1. Make time for the things I enjoy - I want to spend some more time on hobbies this year whenever I can. For me this includes playing guitar, going out taking photos on my camera and blogging. In 2022 my blog became quite neglected despite it being something I genuinely love to do. I love having a little corner on the internet where I can note down all my little thoughts and look back on them in years to come. Last year, I also go back into playing guitar near the end of the year. A new guitar helped to revive my love of playing and it's a skill that I'd like to continue to work on and develop in the new year.

2. Make an effort to see friends and family - something I've found difficult since entering the world of adulthood and jobs has been remembering to make time for friends. We're all so busy with our own lives and everyone is at different stages - some have full time jobs, some are still at university, some have moved out of their family homes and are starting their own independent lives, some are still living at home with their families - it can feel like a lot. I find it so easy to get wrapped up in my own life that I don't make a conscious effort to see my friends. This year I plan on making more of an effort to plan things in advance to give people a chance to plan things around their own busy life schedules. Another thing I've gotten quite bad at over the years has been visiting my grandparents. I'm very lucky to still have my grandparents here and I feel it's important that I make an effort to pop in more often. 

3. Don't take things so seriously - this is something that I think I'll probably find the most difficult. Being a serial over-thinker and worrier, I definitely take things in life very seriously - which can be good in some respects but in others it definitely holds me back from just relaxing and enjoying things as they are. I want to be more relaxed about certain things this year and not worry so much about how I'm coming across to people. I spend so much energy feeling tense in certain situations that I just don't come across as myself so I'm going to try my best to just chill out a bit.

4. Get back into health and fitness - back in 2019, I set myself the goal of working on my physical health which completely transformed things for me. I managed to start exercising and stick to it and I was eating healthier too. 2021 and 2022 were when things started to slip. I found it harder to fit exercise into everything else that was going on at the time and my eating habits also weren't the best - especially in times of stress. This year I'd love to get back into working on my fitness and my health. I'm aiming to try and cut out unhealthy foods (not completely! Everyone needs a treat from time to time!) but cut back in what I'd been having last year. 

5. Seriously work on my social anxiety - this one is probably the most difficult goal for me of all but it's possibly the one I most want to work on this year. I've made some feeble attempts in the past to research social anxiety, read self-help books, try different techniques I'd read about, but I never really put my whole mind to it. As I properly enter the world of adulthood and work and meeting new people and having new experiences, I've realised that my social anxiety has become a bit of a barrier and it's definitely held me back on numerous times. I think this goal also kind of links to number 3 about taking things too seriously. I definitely take myself too seriously that I can never just fully relax around people and be my real self. This is something I'm really going to focus on in 2023!

I think 5 goals is more than enough to be getting on with😄 

What are some of your goals for the new year?

Bye for now, xo