A Reflection of 2019 & My Goals for 2020

Hi beauties, hope all is well. How the hell are we in a new decade already it only seems two minutes ago since it was 2010 and your girl was about to turn 18 and finish college. Fast forward ten years later, I’m about to turn 28, I’m a mother, been back to college since, started this blog and still winging it at life and adulting. In this post, I’m going to reflect back on 2019, share my highs and lows, what the year taught me and share the goals I hope to achieve in 2020.

The Highs

One of the main highlights this year yet again even though I know it’s so cliche was watching my daughter grow and turn into this amazing little polite girl who makes us all laugh it’s amazing how much she’s grown and changed over the last year, she’s now started nursery and starts school this year. Her talking has come on loads and she’s now a little chatterbox who I can’t get to shut up. Another main highlight was moving house, 2019 was finally the year we moved into a better house for our family and we love it here. I also went away for a week down to the east coast at my nannan’s caravan it was strange going down there as a family and with my own daughter as I spent a lot of my teenage years down there. It’s crazy how much life can change in a matter of years, isn’t it?

The Lows

2019 saw me still coming to terms and accepting the loss of my uncle, its got a bit easier as the time goes on I’m having weeks now where I don’t cry or it’s not on my mind but at the beginning of 2019 it was tough and I’d have weeks where I was just crying and feeling really down. Another low point was I felt I experienced some sort of bullying in the workplace which made me feel really down and would get upset and not want to go to work and helped trigger my anxiety.

What 2019 Taught Me.

2019 Taught me that it’s OK to not have to do everything perfectly and not too take to much on. A couple of months in 2019 I felt really down and was probably a nightmare to live with and the reason why was because I was doing too much and put this enormous pressure on myself to be perfect. I was working 7 days week, more hours, just moved house and trying to be a good mum. In the end, it got to me so I had to cut back my hours and just accept that while a toddler was about my house was never going to look like a show home.

I also experienced the dreaded mum guilt. I felt guilty all the time about working and leaving my daughter with her grandparents and when we had quality time together I was busy trying to tidy up or manage this blog. I saw an article where Drew Barrymore summed mum guilt up perfectly she said when Im with the kids I stress about the dishes on the side not been done and when I’m doing the dishes I worry that I’m not spending time with my kids. I think as mum’s we will always have this guilt no matter what we do and the mum shamers don’t help that (but that’s a whole different story and rant). I don’t think a perfect balance exists and if it does I’m yet to find it. What I’ve learnt that the dishes can wait till she’s in bed, the memories I get with my child, however, can’t.

Goals I met in 2019

• Moving Out to A Better Home – finally after years of being one of my main goals In April 2019 was finally the month we moved into a home that suits us better as a family.
• Make time for my partner more – one of my goals last year was to find time to spend with my partner whether that was date night or just cuddling up on the sofa watching a box set on Netflix. I now try to find time in an evening to watch a programme with him even if I do fall asleep (sorry, not sorry).
• Build a business – 2019 was the year I went self-employed as a cleaner so I’m halfway there to building my empire.
• Meat-free once a week – In 2019 I wanted to consume less meat and once a week have no meat and we discovered it was easy as long as fish counts as meat-free. I got back into cooking and even like salads now.
• Travel more – In 2019 I wanted it to be the year we travelled more, while I didn’t get on a plane this year. As travelling abroad with a toddler does not sound like my idea of a holiday. We decided to do a stay-cation instead and we all enjoyed it as the weather was nice and not too hot and there were loads to do to keep a 3 year old entertained. I also visited one of my favourite places on the earth (up to now and I’ve travelled a bit as a kid), York. I would love to live there one day. We also visited various cities around us like Sheffield, Leeds, Huddersfield, Doncaster etc.

Goals I didn’t meet

• Healthy lifestyle – I think in terms of this there is and probably will be always room for improvement, I did and still do walk quite a bit though.
• Eco- friendly lifestyle – I made a few improvements such as less meat and recycling where possible but there’s still so much more I could do.
• Saving more – This year I didn’t save in fact quite the opposite but I did move house so it’s justified right.
• Blogging goals – last year the blog took a back burner because well life got in the way and I lost my passion for it. Hopefully, 2020 will be the year I rediscover my passion for blogging.

My 2020 Goals

• Healthy lifestyle – I’m hoping 2020 will be the year I develop new habits that are healthier such as drinking more water, walking 10,000 steps a day and exercising 3x a week and sleeping up to 7 hours a night.
• Meat-free at least once a week – I’d like to continue this goal from last year until it becomes a habit I just think of automatically when shopping and eating choices.
• Eco-friendly lifestyle – I mean it’s been talked about everywhere at the moment about how we can all make changes to save our planet. I plan to recycle more, be more mindful when buying products, use my reusable cups when I can and use my plastic bags when shopping seen as I have a cupboard full of them.
• Manage my time more effectively – if you were to ask anyone who knows me there will tell you I’m disorganised and has no value of the time I’m always late. So in 2020, I want to learn how to manage my time more effectively and stop procrastinating. I have a 3-hour time slot in the afternoons which if learn to manage my time effectively I can get my goals for the week complete.
• Be more organised – I want to be more organised so I not rushing or panicking which triggers my anxiety. I found that at the end of last year making a to-do list for the week really helped. Now to pug some other things in action to help me achieve this.
• Read more – as a child I loved nothing more than sitting down and reading a book. As an adult, I fell out of love with reading as I found myself just constantly scrolling through social media instead of getting lost in a book. Last summer I read the I heart Hawaii book and rediscovered my love for reading so I want to at Learn to read a book a month in 2020.
• Home improvements – I want to make improvements to our home like get a new sofa, decorate and do the garden this year.

Blogging & Career Goals

• Continue building my business – In 2020 I would like to gain a few more clients.
• Be more organised and post consistently – I would like to manage my time more effectively and be more organised so that I can get blog posts up on the same day and same time every week.
• Become more comfortable talking to the camera
• Improve my photography – at the end of last year, I got my first DSLR camera and discovered I liked taking pictures of nature. I would like to improve my skills especially when it comes to flat lay and maybe even take my own outfit pictures.

what are your 2020 goals ?

Thanks for Reading

Nicolle 💋