2018 Yearly Reflection: What Worked, What Didn’t + What’s Next

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting on the couch at my parents place, in my pyjamas. I’ve spent the last week stationed here. On the couch, that is. And honestly, this quiet time has felt quite necessary. And also, kind of boring. When was the last time I just let myself chill? I keep thinking I should be doing something, but a quick mental scan confirms: Tish, your life is very boring this week. Embrace it. 

The year is almost over–which feels unbelievable to me! How did it go by so quickly? How did so much happen? Every year, I like to write and reflect on my year. It’s really narcissism at its finest: I assume everyone else wants to read about it. And this year is, of course, no exception. (But you’re here, so I must be kind of right? Right?!)

A lot happened in 2018. Like a lot. A lot of good. A lot of crazy. So I thought I’d go through the highlights (and low points) of the year, of my resolutions and see what I got done, what I let drop, and where the f*ck I’ll be heading come 2019.

My 2018 New Year’s Resolutions

If you’ve been around awhile, you might remember I wrote down my resolutions last year on the blog. If you don’t remember–because your world does not, in fact, revolve around me and my ramblings–you can check out that post here. You should know, I take New Year’s resolutions very seriously. Because I love self-competition. (Competition with others is stupid. And no, I’m not just saying that because I lose. Every. Single. Time. It’s fine, I’m not mad.)

2018 was a big year for personal growth. I think the biggest thing for me, was the end of my relationship. I had been with my partner for more than five years, and I’m endlessly grateful that I was able to spend that time with someone who was so strong, loving and driven. She came into my life when we were both discovering who we were. The fact that we ended was sad, but also necessary. We had grown up. We learned that we both wanted very different things.

In this last year, I learned a lot about myself: especially in terms of my sexuality, and my beliefs around love and relationships. These are topics I really want to dive into in the New Year. Topics I’m really excited to talk about.

But here are the resolutions I made:

• Paying off $10,000 of student loans this year using a budget and automatic bill payment system.
  • How Did I Do: I started off strong, making $800 payments per month (yay!). I did, however, end up having to move in September, and that put a halt to my payments. In the end, I paid off $6500. All things considered, I’m pleased!
• Traveling to Barcelona in the spring with Allie
  • How Did I Do: We went! It was awesome. We lived on the beach, drank endless Aperol Spritz’ and had so much cured meat, I thought I might die from lack of greens. It was a fantastic trip, and my first international trip at that.
• Blogging twice a week on Wednesdays and Saturdays
  • How Did I Do: Honestly? Not great. More than once a week seems to still be a huge struggle for me. For most of the year, I was posting weekly, and I was so happy to watch my traffic grow! After my breakup, and my move, I stopped blogging consistently all together. Naturally, it took a backseat to life. I’m hoping to come back strong, but I think, for now, once a week is what I can manage!
• Attending at least one LGBTQ event a month
  • How Did I Do: Another one that I wasn’t able to commit to. I did, however, make it to a meeting at the LGBT centre in November, and I’m so happy that I finally went!
• Moving my body three times a week through yoga, barre, dance, pole or whatever else helps me find flow
  • How Did I Do: This one, I can proudly check off! Considering the craziness of this year, I was able to keep up my workouts pretty consistently, and really saw the benefits: my posture improved, my scoliosis pain alleviated, I felt stronger, sexier. I plan to keep up this workout routine throughout 2019!
• Limiting Netflix to 2 hours a week–you just know this one will be the hardest. But I want to read more, write more, be quiet more.
  • How Did I Do: Not bad actually! Okay, there was the occasional binge (here’s looking at you, Gossip Girl). But I feel like I had so many extracurricular things happening that I was too busy to watch a lot of television–and that was exactly what I wanted!

All in all, this was a good, powerful year. My word for 2018, the theme I tried to keep in mind throughout the year, was Connection. I wanted to have community, a sense of belonging. And I think that’s exactly what happened. I have been completely overwhelmed by the wonderful humans in my life. The amount of people I had to support me this year, the number of people I came to know, to love, absolutely baffles me. It’s made this year, this incredibly hard year, kind of amazing.

My 2019 New Year’s Resolutions

So what’s my word for 2019?

Listen. 

(Did anyone else have a Zelda flashback there?)

This year, I was so grateful that so many people listened to me, helped me, guided me. I want to do the same. So for 2019, I want to talk less (just a little bit) and listen more.

2019 resolutions:

• Talk less, listen more
• Block time. Instead of trying to do everything at once, this year I want to batch tasks or goals and put my energy in, one at a time. A couple of big ticket items on my to-do list:
  • write more
  • join a pole troupe
• Pay $10,000 in OSAP. I know, I know, it’s the same as last year. But the momentum has stuck!
• Write content that matters. I love my blog, and I love nutrition. I love coming up with new recipes. But I’m not going to lie: healthy eating, as content creation, has taken a backseat to other important things in my life. Not that I’m not passionate about healthy eating–I am, and I make it an effort to eat well on a daily basis. But right now, I have been endlessly passionate about love, relationships, queer issues, sexuality. I’m hoping that will come up more on the blog. There are hundreds of gluten-free healthy recipes out there. But I think we could use more queer coverage. Just saying.

Well, that’s it for me, and that will probably be it for 2018!

See you in the New Year! What are your resolutions?! Do you like them, hate them, or simply don’t care? Let me know in the comments below!