I hope you had a great holiday season and a great new years! I wanted to take a moment to reflect back on 2019 and share some of my thoughts going into the new year.

2019 – Looking Back

2019 was a year of personal growth for me.  I didn’t have any major life events or big changes.  I didn’t go on as many trips as I usually do.  I didn’t go out as often as I liked – but I still had a great year! 

As I always say, don’t compare yourself to what you see on social media.  I’m sure you know many friends who got engaged, married, had a baby, changed jobs, moved to a new home/city, or traveled the world.  I’m also sure you follow people, like myself, who didn’t do any of these things either! 

That’s not to say I didn’t accomplish anything. I accomplished A LOT. One of my biggest accomplishments, and something that I am proud of, is how I dealt with adversity and set backs. I was faced with challenges in a number of areas in my life, including blogging, but I didn’t let that stop me from moving forward. I learned from each one, and kept going.

Looking back on this year, I realized my favorite memories are the imperfect ones. When I looked through my phone at my photos, my favorites ones are the bloopers because they remind me of the challenges and obstacles I overcame- with the friends and family who were their beside me.

So, cheers to the bloopers of 2019 and the ones to come in 2020!  Without them, our filtered achievements and milestones wouldn’t taste as sweet as they do.  

2020 – Looking Forward

If you read my past New Year’s post, you know I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions, but I do have thoughts about the energy and mindset I want to carry going into 2020.

For Christmas, I received The Living Well Planner which I highly recommend to anyone, especially fellow bloggers. The layout is AMAZING – making it super simple and easy to break down the entire year and organize your life! It has yearly, monthly, and weekly goal and project planning exercises that help you break down your goals into the steps and actions you need to take achieve them. It even has sections to help you take control of your finances, map out your schedule and plan your meals––all in one place place! 

The first section of the planner is organized in a series of questions to help you uncover and set long-term goals for the year. One of those asks you to write a motto statement. I thought long and hard about what I wanted this to be as it will help shape my mindset and be a phrase I refer back to for guidance throughout the year.

I ultimately chose “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Super cheesy, I know. It reminds me of all those posters hung almost everyone classroom in America, BUT teachers do it for a reason! As we get older, it’s easy to get complacent with our lives. We stay in jobs and relationships that no longer fulfill us. We orbit in routines that no longer serve us, but we feel safe in. Pretty soon, we’re going through the motions of life, but not actually living it! Initiating change is UNCOMFORTABLE, but it’s necessary to pursuit happiness and a more rewarding life.

So this year, I want to make a conscious effort to shake things up in all areas of my life! I want to be more open and personal on social media. I want to plan more trips and explore new places, even if it means doing it alone. I want to try meeting people in new places and be open to dating men that I typically wouldn’t go for.

So here’s to a new year, and a new decade. 2020 is ours for the taking so let’s set the world on fire! xoxo