What I Want To Achieve In 2018!

Happy New Year! I am still taking in that we are in a brand new year! I don’t usually feel anything other than excited when a new year comes round but this one was different for me because I really don’t know what to expect!

BEATING ANXIETY

2017 was an epic year, I battled with my anxiety and won when I attended not one but two college courses in Cake Decorating, in a beginners course then an Improvers course and I couldn’t be more proud of myself! I learnt so much and was able to really use my passion for baking and now decorating to start slowly and hopefully make this into something I could start making money from!

CELEBRATIONS

Last year, my little sister got married, which meant an epic and unforgettable Hen Holiday to Santorini, a tick on my bucket list! There is a blog post sharing this here, here and here! I got to know some amazing girls and had the most amazing time, seeing sights and exploring the island as well as an unforgettable boat trip. This holiday was closely followed by another, the wedding of the year! I watched my little Sister marry her prince charming in a beautiful ceremony in our homeland, North Cyprus! We had the best day and the best holiday with her new amazing In-Laws and life long friends (blog post here & here!)

From one happy couple to another, my husband and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary in July, an amazing weekend in London. I wrote a few posts on this if you want to check it out here & here.

FITNESS

2017 was also the year when I really started taking my fitness and health to another level and I still can’t believe that I have had a gym membership for 18 months and I still go! Watch this space as there will be lots of gym and fitness inspired posts on beautybakingbella.com this year!

WORK

In terms of work, I made one of the biggest decisions I have ever had to make. I gave in my notice after 7 years of working for a great company, but the decision came because I was unhappy in the environment I was working in. I have been in employment since I was 15 years old and the decision to stop altogether was a difficult one to make. I am very grateful that I have such a supportive husband and I know that being a stay at home Mum is a job in itself but I have so many ideas and things I want to make into my work, fingers crossed this is the year to become my own boss!

STRUGGLES

One of the biggest struggles I had in 2017 was with my daughter’s health. Since the age of 2 and a half, she constantly battled with Tonsillitis! She spent so much time on various anti-biotics, she missed so much time at Pre-school and it was affecting her hearing and development. In March 2017 we was finally referred to a Consultant and 3 months later she had her tonsillectomy. The following few weeks of recovery were hard, but she was my brave little girl! Within just a few weeks we noticed her hearing had dramatically improved and her speech has been perfected. This was the best decision we had ever made for her. In September 2017, she then started Primary School, which was another stressful decision we had to make, which actually lead us to selling our home and buying a new one.

NEW HOME

Buying and selling is one of the most stressful things we have ever done (this was our second time too!) We fell in love with a house around the corner from our daughter’s new school. We spent two months on home improvements which meant two months living somewhere else. I have written a little blog post on this here. We were able to move in just before Christmas and even though we still have a lot of work to do, it feels like home already and we couldn’t be happier!

2017 also had some lows for me. Towards the end of last year I fell out with a special person that means the world to me but sometimes things become too much and people change and I started to fall back into a dark place. I have been in that place a few times before and it has taken some time to fight my depression. I know that I will have to work at becoming happier again and my biggest hope this year is that I can have this person back in my life again, in a happier and loving way!

In terms of my health, 2017 was the year that I was finally (after years of being misdiagnosed) diagnosed with Chronic Migraines and Fibromyalgia, which I am now on the right medication for. I will be writing some blog posts on this and how it affects me later on this year. I still need to find the words and strength to share my story.

Thank you 2017 for being a fantastic year of love, friendships and learning! I hope I can take what I got from 2017 and take it into the new year with me!

HELLO 2018!

Here are the things I want to achieve in 2018…

1. Get back into regular fitness and pilates (moving house and christmas messed my routine up a lot)
2. Work on my blog and work to start hitting more blog achievements
3. Declutter negative friends and family
4. Practice regular meditation
5. To start reading more (making more time to sit and do this)
6. Make time for regular family days out with the kids
7. See my close friends more often
8. Practice self-care more often
9. Learn to love myself again!

What are your plans, goals and hopes for 2018? Please share them with me in the comments!

Pinar xo