Hello! I can’t believe I’m sitting here writing a round-up post of 2017 already, it literally feels like a week ago that I was writing a post about what I wanted to achieve at 25 and here I am turning 26!
2017 for our family has been a year of huge ups and downs, we’ve had a lot of illness in my extended family. Thankfully though, everyone is doing well, we’re all hoping 2018 will be a little easier on us as a family. Apart from this though, we’ve had some incredible times and made such special memories – Alex’s brother married the gorgeous Sorcha; we travelled more around Ireland – staying in a number of hotels that we had on our bucket lists, including The Cliff House, Ardmore and The Europe, Killarney; I visited some new places abroad – Marbella, Soto Grande, Croatia and London; as always we went to Electric Picnic; I finally got a permanent job – the list goes on!
I have this gut feeling though, that 2018 is going to be a good one, and I’m not just saying that as a stereotypical cliché, it’s just that we’ve ended on such a high that I think there’s big things to come! In the month of December, within my close friends and family circles we’ve had engagements, weddings, new babies, new homes and moves abroad. All in all, I’m so excited for what is to come in 2018!
This week I was looking at the goals that I had made in my new diary back in January, I can’t belive how many of these I smashed – only 1 or 2 that I didn’t quite get to, that’s o.k. though – sure I need something to work on next year! Anyways, on reflection I was thinking about the decisions I made this year – there were a few bigs ones, including moving jobs, houses and many more in between! After looking back at this post I wrote early in 2017 – ” There’s only 1 thing I’m doing in 2017 “, I realise how much more content and happy I am right now. So, with that in mind, here are 4 of the best decsions I made in 2017…
- I consciously stopped comparing myself to others
My whole life I’ve compared myself to others – in my mind everyone was prettier, skinnier, more intelligent, you name it…I thought it! I was talking to a friend recently about how this stemmed from our secondary school days, and how its taken years to grow out of and how toxic it is for our minds. This year though, I genuinely tried to take note of all the things that I’m grateful for, to consciously be thankful for what I am and what I have – essentially to stop comparing myself to others. Of course, to a certain extent we’ll always compare ourselves, just as long as it’s in a healthy way – to encourage ourselves, to motivate ourselves and not to put ourselves down.
2. I let go
This was one of the big things I wanted to do at 25 (you can read that post here). As I said in this post – this was something I wanted to focus on – to let go of the poeple and things that didn’t make me happy. In so many ways this decison was the best one I made. I’ve managed to surround myself with people that genuinely build me up, support me and most importantly make me happy! I’m not saying I’ve fallen out with people but I have prioritised the people and things that are special to me and bring something positive to my life.
3. I moved home
This was huge for me. I’ve lived in Dublin on and off for 6 years – it was great but to be honest, for the past few years up there I was so unhappy. I don’t know what it was, maybe it was lonliness, maybe it was the lack of money from extortionate rent prices but I wasn’t happy. It was such a difficult decision though, because I had to leave my job after 2 years – a school I adored with people who were so amazing and whom still call friends. Moving jobs and house in one go is not something I’d recommend to a friend – it was manic! But I know I made the right decsion, I’m now in a permanent job in an equally fabulous school and I’m commuting from home to Dublin. I see Alex and my family all the time and I’m just so much happier. Ironically, I now actually spend more weekends with friends around Dublin than I did when I lived there – because I don’t feel guilty about not getting home to see my parents or Al. Apart from the money I’m saving (hello adult life!), moving home was one of the best decisions I made in 2017 in terms of my happiness – and that’s everything really, isn’t it.
4. I stopped Caring
This decision came soon after I worked on number 2, above – once I was surrounded by positive, inspiring and supportive people, I realised that for the first time, I was really comfortable in my own skin. Sure, I still want to tone up, work on my fitness levels and would like to do a few courses, maybe even a masters – but overall, I’ve never been so content in myself. If there’s one thing I could tell my 17 year old self, it’d be to stop caring so much – just do you! I was genuinely so concerned with what others thought of me, that I didn’t know who the hell I was! I can now honestly say that apart from my friends and family, I really don’t care what people think of me – as long as I know in my heart that I’m doing the best that I can and trying to be the best version of myself, then I don’t care what others think of me. I’ve bumped into people recently, that I haven’t seen in years, and so many have said, “Lorraine, you seem really happy”. And, I am – but I’ve worked hard to get here.
So that’s it, in a nutshell, 2017 you’ve been one hell of a year but I can’t wait to see what 2018 is going to bring – I’ve got high hopes! As I’ve said before – I don’t make New Years Resolutions but I do set goals, and I’ve got a few big ones in mind!
With love,
Lorraine
P.S. I’ve been seriously upping my game on Instagram lately if you’d like to follow along you can find me here.
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