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Have we all survived Christmas and the whole Crimbo Limbo we’re currently in? It feels like it has been absolute ages since I last properly sat down and wrote a blog post, but I really wanted to do a little reflection on this past year, as we’re slowly nearing the end of this year and this decade! I cannot believe that this decade is soon over, this is the decade I probably treasure most in life as I did most of my growing up in these past years. I graduated high school and uni this decade which is just crazy to comprehend!

My last year at university

2019 didn’t start off too great to be fair. Back in January I got the news that I wouldn’t be able to graduate university in February, which I anticipated. I remember feeling so disappointed in my dissertation and myself and felt very sad about it all when I first got the news. January wasn’t really a good month mentally because of that news, so I let myself calm down a bit so I could work on my mental health before throwing myself at my uni work again. With new found motivation and courage I started rewriting my dissertation in March, I had lots of help and eventually handed it in at the end of September of this year. In October I got the great news that they had approved my dissertation and in November I had my presentation, which was the final task before being able to graduate. Obviously it went well, as I am now a Communications graduate.

A year of working on my mental health

This year was also all about working on my mental health, as I had neglected my own feelings for most of 2018. The reason being I was so focused on uni and graduating, that I kind of lost touch with myself and felt down and super stressed a lot. It was not the best as my skin was horrible, which also resulted in me feeling horrible in general. It’s why it was so important to me to work on myself. I set boundaries when it comes to work, reset my priorities and made myself my number one priority. Life threw me some curveballs at the beginning of 2019 and it was hard to be positive during that time of the year. I slowly found happiness again by reading books again, going for walks in nature on my own and by going out and seeing my friends. I only made time with and hung out with people I want to hang out with, and doing just that has made me feel stronger mentally.

Obviously I still have bad days and insecurities. I don’t lie about that either and often share those days on Instagram with you. But it has really helped me to write down what I am grateful for every day, even though my day has been so sad, horrible or anxious, I now find light in every day whenever I feel a bit dark.

And finally: I started properly going back to the gym again with my friend! This is probably what I am most proud of this year besides graduating. I am such a sloth and love being cosy in and around the house. My friend really pushed me by going to the gym and by doing something slightly outside of my comfort zone and we’re now nearly at the end of the year and we still go to the gym weekly (if it’s not Christmas anyway). It’s always hard to go to the gym for me personally, as I just have not found the kind of exercise I enjoy yet. But I have found that being active really contributes to my mental health and makes me less anxious, so my new found motto in life is: you will never regret going to the gym afterwards. Who would have thought that to be my motto of 2019, am I right?

Travel

2019 has not been the year where I travelled as much as I would like, but it has still been lovely on the travel front. In March my cousins and I jetted off to Lisbon for our first ever girls weekend trip as a trio and I absolutely fell in love with that city! I honestly think flying to the sun in March was the best thing that could have happened to me, because after that I had rediscovered my happiness and gratitude again. Lisbon was so beautiful and all the people were so incredibly kind. You can read my Lisbon travel guide here.

Then in September I went away on my summer holiday with my parents, which was exactly what I needed after putting in so much work to finish my dissertation. We went to Marbella, which is basically our home away from home and always feels so lovely to come back to. During that holiday we did nothing but eat, relax, read and sleep. The sort of holiday I was after!

My little corner on the Internet

Finally I want to talk you through everything that has happened online this year. I feel like this is the first year in a little while where it felt okay to take a step back from my blog and Instagram to work on my own mental health, but in my case this also meant that lesser blog post went live. I tried to go for more quality instead of quantity for my blog and I have had some time to think about what I want to do with my blog in the future. I signed up for the Grow & Glow classes and am determined to focus more on Vix’s classes next year so I can make my blog an even better corner of the Internet for you. I'll tell you some more about my 2020 goals in another post soon.

Obviously I have you to thank for still wanting to listen to all of my life rambles and such on here and on Instagram. We are a community that is really growing and I absolutely love that! I feel like we’re all friends here. From the bottom of my heart I want to say THANK YOU for making my 2019 even better. I honestly appreciate you and the time you spend reading my blog or looking at my posts on Instagram so much, I’m also always up for a chat if you feel like something is bothering you or if you have any questions!