My Aims for the New Year

I’m sure many of you will agree that 2021 has been a bit of a whirlwind. I can’t believe how quickly the new year is approaching. My three month course has now come to an end and it really does feel like the new year is a sort of new beginning for me.

I have sorted somewhere to live, I have a part time job to help me keep ticking over, but aside from that, my time and my energy is my own. It’s both exciting and scary, but I really want to make the most of this year, push myself and really see what I can achieve.

I don’t want to set myself new years resolutions as such, but what I do want to do is make some changes to the way I live my life and how I focus my time and energy. There are three main areas that I want to focus on:

Reducing Waste:

This one covers quite a few different areas. Food waste, general waste and clothing.

I used to be a sucker for fast fashion, but this is something I have curbed over the last few years. The majority of my clothes are bought from charity shops, or if I do buy things new, I try to get them from small, sustainable businesses. One thing I am definitely going to be making a conscious effort around is who I partner with on instagram and the gifting opportunities that I accept. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities that I receive, but I am also aware of the fact that in the past I have said yes to things that I either already have, or really don’t need.

Also falling into this category is making more of an effort with my shopping and to stop just making the convenient choices. Cooking from scratch is something I’ve always enjoyed and it is definitely getting easier to buy veggies not wrapped in plastic. But it goes further than this and includes making sure I try remember to take my reusable cup for those spur of the moment coffees, looking at different options to plastic packed cereal bars when out hiking and making sure I waste as little food as possible when cooking.

I’m going to get back into the habit of making weekly meal plans and sticking to shopping lists. I’ve found that this both helps reduce my waste and means I end up spending a lot more. I will also be going back to eating mostly vegetarian

Buying and Living with Less:

This definitely links quite closely to reducing waste and is something I have already been working on, but do still have a long way to go. I already know that I have too much ‘stuff’, moving house four times this year has certainly confirmed this to me.

Growing up, I was always an impulse buyer. I would get in idea of something in my head and I’d just have to have it, instantly. Thankfully, I have somewhat managed to move away from this and definitely think more about things before I buy them. Will I use it? Do I really need it? Could I get it second hand? One of my biggest downfalls is books, especially when recently I haven’t made time for myself to read any of them. I have a mix of piles from charity shops, recommendations from people from amazon and presents.

This one also involved me continuing with my journey of reducing what I already have. Over my several moves I have sold a few bits on ebay and facebook marketplace and I have passed somethings on to charity shops, but I still have too much. I am one of these people that finds it difficult to let things go and always have that niggling feeling that I might need it one day (Some of my biggest problem areas are tupperware, clothes that no longer fit and old electronics).

Investing in Myself:

This is a big one for me this year. When I say investing, I don’t mean money…more time and energy. I seem to have got very caught up in trying to help other people recently and have kind of forgotten that it’s important to focus my energy on me too. Obviously the instructor course was a big investment across all areas, and it has certainly has helped me build my confidence, gain skills and push me well out of my comfort zone. But moving forward I want to make sure I give myself the time and headspace to focus on figuring out what I want to do with my time and how I want to earn my money. I want to spend more time reading, exercising and try and get into more meditation and mindfulness practices. Any recommendations on books or podcasts would be gratefully appreciated. I am also determined to finally spend time learning how to use my camera…This is something I’ve been telling myself I’ll find time for for years now!

This certainly isn’t a case of ‘new year, new me’, I’m actually starting to quite like the person I’m becoming. It’s just about making little changes to help me on my way and start to feel more fulfilled with my day to day life.