What Does 2017 Have in Store?

I don't want to do a new year's resolutions post as like everyone else I give up after January. I thought instead I would do something different. It's more of what I have in store for myself, what I want out of 2017 and what I want to learn in 2017. So here we go here is what I want out of 2017.

What has 2017 got in store for me?

2017, what have you got in store for me that is the big question I think everyone is asking. Well, I would like to think you have lots of exciting plans and many things that will make me extremely happy. 

I want adventure in 2017, I want to see countries that I've never seen before but also go to countries I've fallen in love with. I plan on trying to go away at least 3 times this year. I want to revisit Wroclaw (Poland) after falling in love with the city but I want to revisit cities within England like London and Manchester. I want to travel with people that are important to me who challenge me to take a step out of my little box.

I want to learn something new this year. I want to learn a skill that might be related to my career or even just to develop me as a person. If you know me you will know that I'm not creative at all but I would like to change that I don't want to become the next big artist or become the next strictly dancer but do want to try something new like photography or cooking.

I hope 2017 has a lot of fun and I get to met even more new people. I want to keep meeting new people, 2016 I did that by trying out new things and going to events.

I'm hoping 2017 will help me get out of my student overdraft, as much as it kills me to say it I want to start becoming an adult and save money. At the moment I live pretty much by the pay packet but I want to change that. I want to eventually move out of my mams house and into a small little flat.

What I want out of 2017?

I don't want much out of 2017 I just want to have fun. I felt last year I just went into a place where I like staying in my bed and not leaving for a few day but this year I want to push myself and enjoy it. Towards the end of 2016, I did things I never thought I would including doing my 1st 10K, booking a random trip away without doing any research on it. I want to just live in the moment a bit more.

Even tho I want to live in the moment more, I also want a routine so I become more organised. there was a point last year where I was forgetting what week and day it was because I was so unorganised. I don't want that this year. Before writing this post I have sorted out my tax return, bills and sorted all my paperwork, 2017 will be my most organised year. 

I want to look after my body. This is not a new year, new me type of look after my body. I want to look after my body in a form of feeling better within myself. I want to look after my mental health and focus on self-care. 

2016 I started going to church and I want to keep learning about Christianity. I have a few small courses lined up with the church to help me learn more and I'm excited to see where it goes. 

What I want to learn in 2017

I want to learn more about myself, I want to learn how far I can push myself, I want to learn how to handle my anxiety that I have surrounding my car, but still want to push myself. 

I want to learn how to say no. I got quite bad at saying yes to everything and got myself so stressed and started to not enjoy certain things in my life. As much as money is important so is having weekends off or a few nights to myself. 

I want to learn about SEO and up my blogging game. I started to really enjoy blogging towards the end of 2016. I've also found someone that is interested in what I do and likes to give me inspiration and help with my blog, which I'm hoping will help up my blogging game. 

Finally, I want to engage in the blogging community more, I want to try and get involved in blogger chat, comment on people's blog post and just be more involved I was lucky to be invited to quite a few events in Newcastle but it would be lovely to meet bloggers outside of events.

These are the many things I want to get out of 2017 as you can see there isn't any number or goals it is all about trying to live life in the moment a bit more. Have you plans for 2017 and what does 2017 have in store for you? 

I hope it's as exciting as my 2017 is going to be. 

10 good things that happened in 2016

2016 was a bit of a rubbish year, many celebrities died, we had the whole Brexit problem (it's ok I'm moving north if Scotland goes independent) and I feel like sometimes I live in a society that isn't understanding of others. There is hope for 2017 I think but I thought I would start 2017 with a post about 10 good things that happened to me in 2016. This is a carry on from my 18 things I've learned in 2016 post if you haven't read that one you should. Here are 10 good things that happened in 2016:

1. I helped organise the first This Girl Can award evening in Newcastle. 

I was really lucky and got asked to help organise Newcastle's first This Girl Can award evening after being an ambassador for over a year I couldn't have been more excited to help. It was a great event with over 200 women all there to support each other for the work they had done in their community.

2. I got my first real job.

When I say real job I mean a job that is related to my degree. In April I became Newcastle's Ping Activity Officer, my job involves me looking after table tennis across Newcastle and developing a free program across the city. I love it, I've had my moments with it but I think I've found my feet and can't wait to start 2017 program. 

Me and my colleagues at the launch of Ping in Newcastle

3. I passed my driving test the first time and I got my first car.

This was a big step for me in June I passed my driving test and got my first ever car. Driving for me was more of a necessity than a pleasure. I have a love/hate relationship with cars I'm on to my second car after my first one decided to break 2 weeks after buying it and as I'm writing this my second car is in the garage after breaking down. Who knows I might have a better year when it comes to cars in 2017 but I do like driving and I'm glad I've done it now. 

4. I got lots of amazing blogging opportunities.

I was a lucky girl this year with the number of opportunities I got through blogging. I was able to go to the Mineral House at the Crowne Plaza to do a review of the spa. I've been to a number of ElleFluence event that the lovely Laura runs for Northeast blogger and who I must say is an amazing lady. I've been sent amazing products to try out including some Adidas products from Blacks and even got to trail out anytime fitness in Gateshead.

5. I tried out 2 new fitness classes.

This year I got to try out 2 very different types of fitness classes. The first one was a trampette fitness class that was run by the lovely Nicki at Great Park Community Centre and the other was the Extreme Air class at Newcastle's new Trampoline centre. 

6.  I started going to church.

2016 was about learning and this year I learned that I needed to do things for myself. For around a year, i had been thinking about going to church but I didn't go because I felt that people around me would think differently of me. In August I watched one of Louise's (Sprinkle of Glitter) video about religion and how she had taken the step towards becoming a Christian. I think that was what helped me take the leap and about a month later I took my first step into the church and Christianity, I went to a 4:30 pm service and I never turned back. I've started to find what I was looking for and I think its helped to make me a better person. I even finished a 7-week course called Christianity explored which was a massive help for me, I'm excited to see what my next step is. 

7. I ran my first 10K 

One of the many opportunities, I got this year included the chance to run the Mo run. I talked all year about how I wanted to run at least one 10k this year and I did. You can ready about it here.

8. I went on my first ever winter holiday to Poland.

This was 1 of the main highlights this year. I had never been on a holiday abroad in Winter and I was really excited when my sister agrees to go to Wroclaw with me. It was amazing, I'm in the middle of putting a photo diary together so keep an eye out for that in 2017.

9. I ran my fastest 5K with a personal best of 27.57

The 10th December just before Christmas I ran my fastest ever 5k at Newcastle's Parkrun. I was going for around a 30 minutes finish after not being able to get below that. I somehow was able to not be far behind the 28 minutes pacer and absolutely trashed my last personal best by a whole 2 minutes. I felt that this was one of my biggest achievements this year.

10. I met Mr. M. 

If you've read my 18 things I've learned in 2016 you will know that I was very lucky and met Mr. M. I'm not going to go into loads of details about him because I want to try and keep some things private, that might chance later on but for now I like our little private bubble. What I will say tho is that meeting him was definitely one of the highlights in 2016. We already have quite a few plans for 2017 which I'm definitely looking forward to. 

It's strange because I thought I would find it really hard to write this post hard as I thought that actually not much good had happened to me in 2016 but it shows that even the littlest of things can make you happy.