2018: The Year of You

Hello guys and welcome to a new year! Yes, 2017 is finally over. I don’t know if it was just me, but 2017 was full of struggles and hardships (mainly school wise) and I am glad to leave it all in the past and go into 2018 with a new and refreshed perspective, as well as a replenished drive of motivation.

But I will always remember all the wonderful things that happened last year, and I hope that you all do too and bring these with you as little balls of light when everything seems like it’s getting darker.

A new year can mean so many things, but it mostly means forgetting the past and going forward to new and better beginnings.

But something that people often neglect to focus this drive for positive change on is themselves and the little factors that make up a uniquely wonderful you.

So here are things that I would like you to try and do this 2018:

Let go of failing relationships

Let 2018 be a blank slate and leave all of the baggage you had in 2017. That includes all the self-doubt, the inhibitions, the insecurities, and most importantly the relationships that aren’t making you happy anymore.

One thing that I absolutely love happened last year that I would like to share with you is that I finally let go of a friendship that has been failing and falling apart, and I finally went off to new friendships that have actually made me happier and more grateful.

The last friendship has been failing since 2016, but my mistake was holding onto it with everything I’ve got and completely forgetting that the world still turns regardless of whether you are with it, while the person on the other end of said friendship couldn’t even spare me the time of day because she finally found new friends and decided to leave me.

I held onto this false hope that my ‘friend’ would come back to me, but she never did and I finally accepted that and decided that I’ve been part of the living dead for too long.

Don’t be like me and reduce yourself to being a dead zombie just because the other person isn’t bothering with you anymore. Don’t drag your entire life down for just one relationship. Don’t put your life on hold for someone that doesn’t even see you.

You are more than that and it’s that person’s loss if he or she isn’t seeing what an absolute treasure you are. So pack up your stuff and go to people who will value and cherish you for the amazing person that you are. You will feel a whole lot better and the metaphorical rain cloud that has been hanging over your head will finally turn into a beautiful rainbow.

Let go of the inhibitions and the what-ifs of your life and be more spontaneous

Now, hear me out. I’m not telling you to completely be reckless and go drink and forget your education or job or anything like that. I’m simply saying that you must have said no to a lot of opportunities because you were worried.

This 2018, you should try to say yes to more things even if it scares you. Don’t let your worries suppress what your life could be. If a friend asks you to go out on the weekend and you’re worried because he or she is bringing along other friends that your my know, just say yes and see where it goes. You might even find yourself leaving with newly formed friendships.

Just welcome a little more spontaneity in your life and see where the opportunities take you because it will surely be more entertaining than a life filled with no’s and regrets. Life is meant to be your growth and you should spend your youth exploring and having fun and taking risks.

Just grab those opportunities with both hands while they’re still coming to you and make the most out of them while you’re still young.

Let 2018 be your year

You may have been too busy caught up with the motions of everyday life that you have completely forgotten to take care of yourself, may it be emotionally, physically, or socially.

This new year, just take a little time in every day for yourself and just make sure that you’re taking care of yourself properly. Have a nice cup of tea and read a book to calm your mind and really put everything into perspective. Just spend a day in bed and just relax to give yourself the rest that you really need.

Believe me, I of all people know what it’s like to push yourself to your absolute limit because you may not want to regret not putting everything in the future, but I also know that people have their own limitations and breaking points.
Just make sure to have some time for bettering yourself this 2018 and make sure to not be completely swept away with all your busy tasks in a day that you completely neglect caring for your being.

Maybe you can finally enroll in a gym and work on your physical fitness, or you can finally sit down and write in your journal to just reflect on the things and really feel grateful for each one. Just make sure that you focus on you and nothing else in that moment that you isolate yourself from the busy noises of the world turning.

Take more pictures

Pictures are like memories frozen in a tiny frame that can be cherished forever. Pictures usually mean that something amazing is happening to you that you would want to remember and smile about in the future, so this kind of goes off of the previous point which is basically me telling you to go and find your own adventures.

But this point is me telling you to make sure to remember and document these adventures. Pictures are a great way to always cherish a good memory and somewhat look back into everything that happened to you.

So this new year, just take more memories with you wherever you go. You don’t even have to print these out. Just bust out your camera on your phone and just ask everyone to gather around you whilst you snap a selfie. Or even just take a picture of a calming scenery that you found absolutely breathtaking and you just want a way to flash yourself back into it and feel it soothe you once more.

Pictures are just wonderful remnants of wonderful memories that you should definitely have more of this 2018.

Forgive and Forget

I’ve already said this in the previous parts of this blog but I will be more than happy to say it again if it will mean that you remember it: Leave all the negativity in the past with 2017.
I’m not only talking about bad relationships anymore but also any rotten emotions that you’ve been harboring with you last year. Just liberate yourself and let go of all of that bad emotion because if you don’t, it will bring you closer to falling apart.

This new year should bring forth and brand new and better you; more spontaneous but still responsible, knows how to revel in the good moments, and ultimately released by all of the bad things that you’ve been chained to.

You have the power to introduce more positivity in your life if you just forget all of the shadows that have been clouding your mind.
You do whatever you need to: confront someone about something that’s been bothering you, apologize for something that you feel awful about, tell someone the secret that you’ve been burdened by. Just make sure that it’s all in the name of liberation from your demons.

Leave all of the bitter thoughts and rotten vendettas forgotten into the shadows of the past and just attract light as you go forward into the unknown that 2018 is wonderfully abundant of.
And on that note, that ends the five things that I would really like all of you to start doing this 2018.

 This could be a start to your list of New Year’s Resolutions because these are actually wonderful promises that you make to yourself as you’re faced with the amazing promise of a new year, so just grab everything and be enthusiastically greedy with all the good things that will undoubtedly come your way.

I would love it if you guys updated me of your progress over at my Twitter or even in the comments, like just drop by and say that you’ve been doing more of something that’s made you feel a hundred times more positive about yourself. I don’t care how small it is, as long as it makes you feel like a better you.

Let this 2018 be the birth of the best version of you as it presents you with a million promises of good things and opportunities to build the you that you’ve always wanted to be. Don’t let anything from your past drag you down because none of them is worth a minute of this wonderful year of you.

You deserve every amazing thing that is going to happen to you and never doubt that you do. But if bad things happen, never give up trying again because obstacles can serve as stepping stones to your dreams and goals.
Bye Bye Loves,
Olivia