16 GOALS FOR 2018

Ok so I failed at the first hurdle, I can't even think of eighteen things I want to commit to this year, but I'm hoping that by stopping when I really couldn't wrack my brains anymore, might mean I'll actually stick to these as opposed to just thinking of things for the sake of a post. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about resolutions, 'new year, new me' and all of that jazz that comes at the start of a new year. Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is a better time to line out what you want to achieve, but something about resolutions feels a little bit daunting - nobody wants to fail do they? I'm not exactly the most committed person, I can barely stick to a skincare routine for longer than a week never mind something that's going to take actual thought, hard work and determination. But, I'm willing to try and though I'm not opting for resolutions this year, I am following in the footsteps of the beautiful Alex and listing out my 16 goals, for 2018.

I'll have to be honest and admit that I really struggled with this, it's easy when you read this to assume someone just batted out eighteen things that they intend to work on, but if you're thinking that of me, you're wrong. As I say, I'm not always entirely focused and thus I know a lot of these will probably have failed by the end of the month. But, these are goals and not resolutions or rules, it's a list of things I want to achieve but, if I don't, there's always next year right?

1. Eat healthily. Cliche yes, but needed, absolutely. I'm done with the baby making so it's time to sort my self out. It's easier said than done and I'm completely guilty of snacking rather than eating actual meals during the day so this has to be my first priority.

2. Have breakfast. I skip it daily as I never feel hungry, but I'm hoping if I push myself now it'll soon form a habit. I know you should start the day eating like a king and each meal should decrease in size as the day goes on, so this is a big place in which I'm certainly going wrong.

3. Create a memory every week. It doesn't have to be anything exciting, it can be a mundane as a sofa day watching movies. But I want to capture everything, and have those memories to look back on.

4. Make shopping lists. I can't tell you the amount of times I've gone to the shops for things, came out with a much lighter purse yet not the items I went in for. This needs to be something I work on this year, I'm sporadic with shopping lists, but I'm going to forge myself a shopping plan, of what day we actually do the food shop, consistently, every week. In turn this should stop the times in which we end up nipping to Tesco for one item and spending £50.

5. Spend time with John. I'm not talking 'date nights' once a week or month. But just actually spending time together properly, eating our tea and chatting as opposed to sitting beside each other glued to our phones, having a movie night, playing a board game - just spending quality time together. I think now with me working from home this will be easier, as I'm trying to 'switch off' more in the evenings.

6. Double my 2017 achievements. I felt that my blog and social media really rocketed last year, and I want to double all those achievements this year. It's a big ask, but she believed she could so she did, right?

7. Organise my folders. The documents on my section of this pc are insane, it's manageable now but it's getting progressively worse and I really want to tick it off my to-do list and keep on top of them. I have folders inside folders and it can be really hard to find what I need to. I don't want to feel as though I'm trying to crack the Morse code every time I search for a file.

8. Take care of my skin. I invested in some high end skin care just before Christmas, and so far, so good with a 'routine', it's slightly ridiculous that I hadn't done this before. I was always more the kind of girl who slapped on a moisturiser when I could remember, and more often than not make-up wipes were my removal of choice even though I had a draw full of the right lotions and potions. I was lazy, this year, that's not happening.

9. Interact more with bloggers. I really, really suck at pushing myself out of my comfort zone. I interact with those who I'm familiar with, and the people who interact with me. This isn't how one makes friends of course, so I need to be a little more outgoing. The same goes for commenting and interacting with other peoples work, I watch Youtube videos, I read blog posts yet it's so rare I actually comment.

10. See my Nan more. We lost too many family members last year for this not to be a priority. My Nan is 70 and she lives alone, meaning that she needs someone more than ever, we're already enviably close and I want to make it my mission that each week we do something together.

11. Travel. I plan to do a post more in-depth about this one, but travelling is something I really want to make a big thing for us this year, for the last year before Noah goes to school full time and up until he turns five, you're legally allowed to take them out of school during term time. We've already got a couple of things booked and I know it's going to be a year for adventure.

12. Get my nails done monthly. I bite my nails, to the extreme, it's a habit and one I don't actually mind. To combat the hideous nails, I need to get some good falsies, now I don't work in Childcare anymore it should be a staple in my month and was one of the first things I did when I began to work from home. This has reminded me to book in my next appointment, it's so rare I get any 'me' time, this is a perfect excuse.

13. Live with having no plans. This sounds stupid, and to most people it's probably welcomed. But quite often I feel like we have to be up out of the house, we should be doing something exciting for the children and we must relish our weekends. This isn't always the case, slow Sundays are amongst my favourite and when I'm in the midst of them I adore it. Planning in a day when we have no plans will be happening a lot more often this year.

14. Teach Noah how to ride a bike. One of Noahs friends can actually ride a bike already, which has probably given me the kick up the bum to teach him. He is so into riding around since he got his new bike and I feel like the worse Mum when we don't take him out on it. By Summer I'm hoping he'll be well and truly ready to release the stabilisers.

15. Use a diary. Right after this post I am beginning the hunt for my 2018 diary. Well, that's a slight lie, I like to keep separate books for separate things, one for my blog, one for shopping lists / meal planning and another that I like to just write to-do lists or any other general errands in. I need to invest in some new ones as I know having a nice shiny one will push me into actually keeping up with writing in them.

16. Try YouTube again. I did dabble in YouTube a year or so ago and while I initially enjoyed it, I soon found I wasn't devoting my attention to anything. Everyone stressed how you have to be consistent, you must have an upload schedule to keep everyone interested. I realised that unless I want to make YouTube my career and have a built up subscriber situation, that isn't necessary. So this year I wont stress and when I want to have a natter, I'll turn my camera on and do just that.