I've always found hearing everyone's New Year's Resolutions really refreshing and I think it's because passionate and motivated people are my absolute favourite kind of people to be around. I don't care if we have completely different interests and goals - if you're passionate and driven, I could sit and listen to you talk all day about your dreams and what you're doing to manifest them in your reality.
Since I enjoy seeing other people take control of their lives and because I'm a bit obsessed with setting myself goals, I figured I'd share with you some of the things I have planned for myself this year.
Take more photographs
I already take a lot of photographs on my phone, but in 2018 I'm aiming to take my camera and maybe a disposable camera out with me more. iPhone's do have amazing camera quality, but you can't beat the quality of taking photos on a digital camera.
That being said, some of my long term followers may remember that I used to take disposable photos a few year ago now, and post them on tumblr. I stopped doing this because of the cost and length of time it'd take to have the photos developed once I'd initially taken them.
I'm a sucker for anything vintage or retro though and there's just something about disposable photographs that I find so wholesome and endearing. I'm definitely going to give it another go this year because I miss it so much.
Do more alone
I think a lot of people are bothered about how they'd appear to other people if they were seen eating alone in a restaurant, or going to watch a film by themselves, but I don't think anyone should feel self conscious or anxious about it. I genuinely believe that spending time in your own company, is important for your soul and it's something we all should do more of.
Before I started university a couple of years ago, I'd never ventured anywhere further than school and college on my own. Commuting to and from Manchester everyday and shopping there in my free time, kind of made me acknowledge my own independence and I want to embrace more of that this year. As much as I love sharing experiences with my boyfriend especially, I want to push myself to go out and do more - eating at restaurants, shopping and just visiting new places by myself.
Try new recipes
Towards the end of 2017 I found myself making the same meals over and over again, and most of them weren't healthy and nutrient rich. I'm determined this year to step up my game in the kitchen and find some new, healthy recipes that I like and fall back in love with cooking again.
Last year a lot of my food was coming from the freezer section of the supermarket and consequently I ended up feeling sluggish and moody more often than I'd have liked. I know I'm a few days late sharing this blog post, as New Year has already passed, but I'm happy to say I went food shopping yesterday and most of my food was bought from the fruit and veg aisles, instead of me gravitating to the freezers for vegan chicken nuggets, meatballs and burgers.
I've been using Pinterest a lot to find recipes ever since I went vegan and it's definitely going to be something I use more in 2018 for healthy meal ideas. If you're new to veganism or you're wanting to eat healthier, but don't really know where to start, definitely check out Pinterest. It's great for keeping everything you find in one place, so you can refer back to recipes when you need to, without having to take screenshots or photographs.
Inspire people to go vegan
I'm extremely vocal about veganism on social media, which has definitely proved controversial over the last year or so, since I began speaking up for the animals. A few people who would previously leave me negativity for speaking out, have since either gone vegetarian or vegan themselves and thanked me for opening their eyes. Messages like that, along with knowing how cruel and damaging the animal agriculture industry is, is what makes me continue to speak out on pretty much a daily basis.
I already know that 2018 is going to be a huge year for veganism. The movement is gaining so much momentum and there's big companies every week now, announcing that they're bringing out new vegan products and options.
I'm beyond excited to hopefully inspire more people online to go vegan this year. If it's something you're considering, drop me a tweet or Instagram DM and I'll do my best to help you out.
Write
Writing is something I've been passionate about since I could pretty much hold a pen and I want to do more of it in 2018. I spend a lot of my life writing, given that I'm doing a journalism degree, so when it comes to writing personally for myself or doing it creatively, I can feel a bit uninspired and tired. This is one of the reasons I'm going to start blogging again, because I need somewhere to just write for the sake of writing and not worry about the structure and bloody word count.
I'm setting myself the goal of writing at least two blog posts a month, as well making sure I take the time to write creatively for myself. Hopefully I won't burn myself out.
