Happy New Year!

It’s New Year’s Eve!

If you know me or have read my posts before, you’ll know that New Year’s Eve is my absolute favourite day of the year. For me, it’s a time for reflection, looking forward to the future and being grateful for all that I have. It’s a time to put unwanted things in the past whilst creating opportunities to attract better things in the future. I like to think of it as a time for new beginnings, fresh starts or new hopes and dreams for anybody who may need them.

Every year I do my annual reflection of the year gone by, not because it’s a societal expectation (I know some people really hate the annual round up and looking ahead posts that people post on Facebook), but because it’s what I have always done. It’s a clean slate, a fresh start to discard of anything that isn’t serving me, and to get around to anything I didn’t quite manage this year. I have my non-published reflection of 2019 and intentions for 2020 which will, as always, stay private (I bet you are dying to know what’s on there – and you should be because it’s thrilling stuff!). But what good would my life blog be if I didn’t at least touch upon this last year and decade of my life?!

I feel so different now to the person I was in 2010, and I’m still not entirely sure how I still have friends from that period because I was definitely annoying. Maybe I’m still annoying now. I have created a life for myself in Manchester with people in it that I love, and I feel so fortunate to have crossed paths with such wonderful people in the last ten years. Whilst I can’t really say I’m in a dream career, my job pays the bills, pays for my food and the things I enjoy, and for that I’m grateful. I have my health (give or take a few minor issues), a roof over my head, loving family, wonderful friends and a most-of-the-time gorgeous dog (who admittedly, is driving me insane as I write this, barking frantically at nothing so that I’ll go out and tell her to shut up, at which point she’ll drop a ball at my feet because it was all a ploy to get me to play with her because she is a massive brat). This year has brought me an abundance of celebrations and fantastic memories with friends and family old and new. It’s been filled with travel, gigs, festivals, holidays, joy and excitement. My hen do (more on that here) was the best weekend of my entire life. My wedding day brought with it the most beautiful, elated and emotional experiences, that I’m still not really over. I’ve inherited some fantastic in-laws through my now husband (never gets old!), and I am closing the decade and the year content as James’s wife.

You must understand that I’m not writing to brag, but to express my gratitude for everything I have and the life that I live, and to attract more of this in abundance throughout the next year and decade. My friends sometimes joke that its all sunshine and rainbows with me, and of course I might have my head in the clouds from time to time (life’s better up here!), but I’m not an idiot. I know things won’t be as peachy as they are now for me forever. And that’s why it’s even more important to be grateful for what you have now, however small, because there’ll come a time when things aren’t so good. 

For some people, this year has been anything but kind. If you’re reading this and fall into this category, my only hope is that next year will be kinder to you. I’ve watched friends, loved ones, and people I don’t really know face some of the most horrific things that life could throw at somebody. Every day you see and hear of people going through things that are so tragic, you wouldn’t wish them upon anybody. It can leave you feeling so helpless, and I believe that the only thing you can do (aside from being there for these people in any way you can) is to be grateful for what you have. And of course, be kind. Sometimes I see people posting things on social media and I think ‘I’m going to reach out to them and check they’re OK’, but I stop myself because I barely know them and don’t want them to think I’m a weirdo or tell me to mind my own business. But why am I so scared of this rejection? You never know who may need some kindness in that moment. So my intention for the next year is to stop worrying about looking stupid and be kinder to anybody who I think may need it, even if that means somebody thinking I’m a weirdo or being told to mind my own business.

So as always, if you’ve made it to the end of this post then I wish you an abundance of health and happiness wherever you are in the world. I hope you cherish the great things in your life, attract goodness and are graced with the support, love and strength necessary to deal with the not-so-great circumstances you are dealt.

Happy New Year!