Goals are different from resolutions. I always fail within the first four months, or I never start my diet, never join the gym, never do what I decide to force myself into doing. With goals, I feel everything is more achievable – it’s something to work towards and you can’t beat yourself up if you don’t quite get where you want to be.

2016 was a tricky year for me, there were some miserable moments and some fantastic ones too. Although it was a bit of a roller coaster ride, 2016 somehow managed to start me on a path of positivity and hope. Maybe things weren’t really that bad, maybe I wasn’t really that bad and maybe my life, and Luke’s weren’t as woeful as I previously thought. I’ve never considered us to be hard done by, but I do have a poor opinion of myself most of the time. This is something that has started to change within the last 6 months and hopefully, I will continue to grow into who I am over 2017 and come out of it a better, happier and healthier person.

My goals for 2017 mainly concern mental health; specifically social anxiety and just general day to day anxiety. The rest are all about self improvement (and not specifically about changing who I am!) and, of course, my goals for blogging/social media/online presence.

Goals For 2017

Life:

1. Agree to more social events and opportunities that arise. They’re bloody scary, but I know I can do them…even if I do need the next day to sort of recover.

2. Don’t be afraid to discuss worries with trusted people – I have finally figured out that if they have the same amount of respect as I have for them, then there should be no problem talking to them about problems I am having.

3. I need to accept that there will be down days, and when these down days come, I need to learn not to feel terrible or profusely apologise to everyone – instead just accept it, ask for a cuddle and deal with life one step at a time.

4. Get fitter and healthier. Last year I worked a lot towards losing weight and becoming fitter, however, in the last half of the year, work outs went from every other day to pretty much never. I need to jump back on the wagon and get squatting!

5. Take Luke out more. More walks, more adventures, more attractions and more events.

Online:

1. Post more consistently on the blog. I don’t post as regularly as I did in my first year of blogging. I’ve found blogging too much and not blogging enough tend to have the same effect – the blogging burnout. I want to avoid that this year and keep things regular and balanced.

2. Grow my social media! I’ve never focused spilt on growing my numbers on social media and it’s something I’d really like to do, so long as it still involves engaging with my followers. I don’t have a specific number I’d like to hit, but a steady growth over the year will do me quite happily.

3. Sort out admin bits on the blog. There’s lots of “behind the scene” bits and bobs that I have been meaning to get on with that I’d like to get out of the way this year. I know it sounds a bit silly to make this a goal, but these sorts of things take a lot of time and focus to get through and you really have to be in the right frame of mind to crack them out!

4. Focus on revamping older posts, fixing affiliate links and making better pinnable images for old and new posts.

5. Schedule posts, get myself out there a bit more – a bit of self promo! I’m awful at this, but I really want to up my recognition, engagement and page views.