Hey friends!
2019 is here but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on 2018. I had a conversation with some friends awhile ago about how 2018 had not been that great of a year for me. It was a year of struggling. Struggling with work, pain, and loneliness. Struggling with trying to find myself, accepting who I am, and trying to figure out what healthy means to me.
In this post I am sharing a list of things I did in 2018. It’s easy to look at this list and see only the positive things. I had Brett read it before posting because I wanted to make sure I wasn’t coming off as braggy. Here’s the thing to remember though, I accomplished a lot this year between my personal and professional life but it’s not all rainbows and butterflies. I had a headache or migraine every single day in 2018.
So when you look at this and every other blogger’s 2018 re-cap I urge you to remember that it’s not perfect all the time. I urge you to not compare your list with other’s. Because my list looks perfect but I can assure you that it’s not.
Without further ado here’s my list of what my life consisted of in 2018.
In 2018 I….
- Celebrated 5 years of blogging
- Bought a house
- Adopted Oscar from the animal shelter
- Got promoted
- Crossed Rome off of my travel Bucketlist
- Traveled to Paris for the third time
- Celebrated one year of marriage with Brett
- Surpassed my goal of reading 12 books in a year
- Found a new Neurologist
- Saw John Legend perform a private concert at my work party on the same day as my 25th birthday
- Started a “House Fund” to save for building a new bathroom and re-doing our driveway
- Spent a weekend in Traverse City with friends
- Fell in love with decorating our house
- Celebrated two years at my job
- Helped my parents pick out a new puppy
- Celebrated eight years of kitten motherhood
- Turned 25 and reflected on my 25 before 25 list
- Covered a three month long maternity leave at work
- Started a new medicine that made me insanely sick
- Stopped taking said medicine and started feeling much better
- Lost 10 pounds
- Focused more on self-love and less on the scale
- Struggled with finding work-life balance
- Fell in love with reading again
- Spent more time with family
- Struggled a lot with feeling sad and lonely
- Accepted my introvert tendencies and tried to learn how to work with them instead of against them
- Found a wonderful and supportive group of blogger friends
- Went to countless airshows with Brett
- Traveled around Michigan and other nearby states
- Came to the conclusion that life really is better with a dog
- Started blogging regularly (for the most part!)
Like I mentioned before, it’s easy to look at this list and only see the good. But 2018 was one of the hardest years of my life. I learned valuable lessons and tried to share my life with others in a positive way. I never want to be the person on social media who someone compares their life to.
My 2019 1st Quarter goals will be up soon. I’m going to continue doing quarterly goals instead of yearly goals because I really do think that they work better for me.
What are your goals for 2019? And how do you feel 2018 went for you?
Thanks for reading!
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Life of Hayley 
I don’t think your list is braggy at all 🙂 I think it’s important to focus on the positives in order to not wallow as much in the negatives. It was so great reconnect with you last week. I wish you another great year – and offer you an ear if you want to talk about your migraines. I’ve never had any as continual as yours, but I know what they are like. ❤
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Thank you, Lauren! It was so great to catch up with you and I hope we can continue to chat. 🙂 I think migraines will always be something that I’ll struggle with but it is incredibly helpful to know that I’m not alone. ❤
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That’s a great list of the highs and lows of your year and I love that you are very conscious of both the good and not-so-good parts. It was not at all brag 🙂
I like the idea of setting quarterly goals… I hadn’t thought about that myself but I think for someone like me, that would be a lot more effective and less overwhelming than having big lofty “annual goals”. It would also allow room for tweaking and re-tooling throughout the year to adjust for what does and doesn’t work along the way.
Congratulations on achieving five years of blogging and getting more consistent with it over the last year. I’d like to accomplish that as well…. That and reading more books too 😉
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Thank you! ❤ I love doing quarterly goals instead of setting the regular New Years resolutions. Setting goals four times a year really keeps me on track and reflective on how far I've come or how far I still have to go. And if I do find that a goal no longer applies I can be done with it and move on.
I really can't believe that it's already been 5 years! Thank you so so much! 🙂 Staying consistent is so challenging. It's one of my goals every single year and I just can't seem to perfect it. Good luck with your goals! ❤
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Thanks so much for sharing the good and the bad with us! I love your blog and I’m so excited for your new content this year ☺️ happy new year! Xxx
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Thank you so much 🙂 I love your blog as well! Happy New Year ❤
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It sounds like you had a great year! I think it’s good to look back and see all of the things you did. I’m looking forward to following you and your blog in 2019! 🙂
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Thank you! I agree that it’s good to look back on all you’ve accomplished each year. 😊
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Hey girlie! I love this post because it shows how powerful reflection can be. At first blush it may feel like 2018 was tumultuous, but I love that you found the silver lining despite it all. I hope 2019 is pain free for you!! xo
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Thank you! I hope you have a great 2019 too 🙂
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Love your list 🙂
It’s nice to reflect on all the nice things you achieved. What an eventful year! ❤
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Thank you ❤ It was a crazy year! Hoping for a calm 2019.
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