A Fresh Start

‘New year, new me.’

A sentence I’ve heard people say countless times in these first stages of the new year. Resolutions, new habits, even a career switch is on the “to-do list” to go through the new year as a totally different person.

I, myself, have said it in past years as well. I was planning on completely changing my routines, on completely changing my study-habits, completely changing my way of going about certain things.

Until this year.

This year, for the first time, I don’t strive to become a different person. I don’t know for sure why I don’t feel the need to go through a complete transformation – that, to be honest, will never last anyway – but I think it’s because I feel pretty content with how things are going for me at this moment.

So, this year, I changed the motto ever so slightly:

‘New year, better me.’

I don’t mean to change my life. I don’t mean to go about life from a whole different angle. What I want to achieve this year, is to perfect those routines. To better those habits.

For one, when I wake up, I usually set my alarm around thirty minutes before I actually need to get out of bed. These thirty minutes are used to check on my Social Media, watch a video on Youtube maybe and respond to a couple of texts. I usually also end up playing a game or two on my phone. However, I feel like this half-hour only adds to the exhaustion and is not giving me an ideal start to the day.

Now, instead of completely throwing away these thirty minutes and setting my alarm at the time that I actually need to get into action, I will turn that half-hour of laziness into just fifteen minutes, which is all I need for that anyway.

Secondly, for example, this is the first year that I will be living on my own completely, and this allows me to do my own groceries as well. So, whereas first I would be tempted by all the sweets and goodies available in my parents’ house, now I can decide for myself what kind of snacks I will tempt myself with.

So, it’s not that I won’t give in to my cravings. My tactic is to not start it. Is to avoid craving something. So, instead of feeding into my needs with cheap cookies – I’m a student budget, thank you very much – I allow myself to splurge on mango pieces to satisfy my cravings.

There are countless other examples, but I think these two have been enough to illustrate the way I want to go about ‘New Year’s Resolutions’ this year.

What I find even more important, however, than having these goals set in stone for the upcoming year, is a sort of reflexive behaviour towards the previous year. 2018 has been an incredible year for me, and to find out what made it that special and what made it so incredible will motivate and help me a lot more than just starting fully with a clean slate.

Small changes can make it better, but realizing what went right or wrong – excluding things that are out of one’s hands, such as death or illness of family members or friends – can improve one’s life greatly. Don’t bother trying to build something from the ground every year, try progressing what you’ve been building your whole life.

Of course, there are also some clear goals I have set. As a competitive rower, I have certain things I want to win, certain split times I would like to achieve. I have outspoken myself on those specific goals towards my family and friends, but will not put them on here just yet, mainly because I have no idea what chances we have as we have not one point of comparison to our competition yet, at least not in the boat.

And then the last things I want to mention. The position of this blog in my life is something that I will have to figure out. Recently, someone told me that when you are doing something, you should be able to explain what value it has, what it adds to your life.

This blog, as I am imagining it currently, will be a place for me to express my creativity. My passion for Anthropology might result in me writing a couple of articles on anthropological subjects. Most people around me know I have always loved writing, so I might even put some short stories on here if I’m proud of them. I would love to share my photography on here, just because it enhances a passion outside of my Instagram account.

So, this year will also be about figuring out what place I’m giving this blog in my life. A creative outlet it the best description of my plans, but reality can sometimes be a lot different from any initial plans, so we’ll have to see.

And for now, that is all I have to share about my ‘New Year’s Resolutions’.

Thanks for reading, and until next time.

x.

Semi-Relaunch

Well, how to start? I guess I should say ‘hi’ first, considering it’s been quite a while – over two years, to be exact. For a couple of months, I managed to upload a new blog post every single week. I put my heart and soul into it, took the time to really think it through and bought items to make my pictures look a lot more exciting and professional.

And then, one day, I just stopped.

The reason for this sudden halt to the updating and uploading was not a lack of time or a lack of interest. It was simply because this blog did not have a healthy role in my life at that moment.

I don’t want to get into it too much, considering I’m much more about looking at what this blog is going to be about than about looking at what it once was, but I do want to explain myself a little bit.

In short, when I started taking my blog and my Instagram account very seriously and really wanted to make money doing that, I started to care more and more about the reads, the likes, the comments, the views, etc. and they started to become a measurement for my happiness at a certain point.

As this obviously does not account for a healthy lifestyle, in the sense that it made me anxious and stressed about something that I’m not able to control – I don’t have control over the number of people who decide to “like” my Instagram post – I immediately put a stop to it the moment realization hit me.

It was hard to step away, but I don’t regret it at all.

And after two years, it’s time to look at the future of this blog, rather than to just have it and leave it unused on the sidelines. 2018 has been an incredible year for me (I passed my driver’s test, graduated from high school, started a studies at university, am in the process of moving to Amsterdam, started rowing on a high level again…) and it makes me excited to see how this blog can have a spot in my life in 2019.

As you might have noticed, this post is titled ‘semi-relaunch’, and the reason for that is that this blog will not be what it was before. This blog will not be used to show a more personal side to me. I want to share my passion for writing and photography in a whole different way. So, instead of a blog post, sometimes a sketch or a photo might appear, and the posts might be about much more specific problems and interesting issues that I feel very passionate about.

That also means that updating will not become as regular as they were before.

So, even though I’ve been away for quite some time, I’m excited to see what the future brings for this blog, and I’m excited to share something totally different with you. I am once again inspired to write something and make this blog something incredible.

One more thing: the layout and style of the blog have obviously changed, and I really hope you like it. It’s a style that is more adequate for the new function and content on it.

Thanks for your understanding.

See you soon.

x.