At the end of the year, I like to take the time to reflect on the ups and downs of the past year. I think reflection is such an important mode of self care to celebrate our accomplishments and ways we can improve in the coming year. 

This year has not been super eventful, but I feel very grateful for that. 2018 was one of the most difficult years of my life. In 2018, my Nana passed away between the time I graduated high school and started college. I really appreciated a quiet 2019 in light of how chaotic 2018 was.

My biggest accomplishment in 2019 was starting my blog. I know this sounds cheesy, but starting my blog truly changed my life. I love taking the time each week to write a post and share my thoughts on beauty and wellness. Starting my blog was so terrifying for me to put myself out there, but I absolutely love blogging.

I am also proud of my fitness journey this year. I won’t go into too much detail since I did a fitness update two weeks ago, but I’m so happy I got back into working out. While my fitness journey has not been one of steady progress, it’s been so good for my mental health to get back into exercising whether it’s going to the gym or pilates class.

In terms of traveling, I went to San Diego three times this year to see my family. Over the summer, my boyfriend and I took a road trip down there and had so much fun hanging out by the beach. The second time, we went down there to celebrate my sister and brother-in-laws’ beautiful new house! My third time was celebrating my first Christmas away from Reno with my family. 

My boyfriend and I also got to go to three different concerts. We went to see Anderson .paak during our San Diego trip, Leon Bridges, and Tyler the Creator. I really love seeing artists live because I can truly understand their music and who they are as a musician. My favorite concert of the year was Anderson .paak. In the coming year, I hope to see more female artists!

Another highlight of the year was declaring my major! I’ve been an undeclared major for the first three semesters of college and I finally declared about a month ago. I don’t know whether my specialty will be public relations, journalism writing, or graphic design, but I feel excited that there is some sort of path leading to finishing my degree. 

It’s fun to reflect on the good times I had this year, but I think looking back on the hard moments is equally important. Over the summer, I started working at my first retail job 20 hours a week on top of school. It was a really difficult adjustment for me. Trying to balance school, work, my blog, and my personal time is so overwhelming and it was especially difficult when I started that job.

Another tough time in 2019 was in October. I felt pretty depressed and lonely. My parents were traveling and my boyfriend was working so October mainly consisted of me sitting alone in my house, working a lot, and studying my way through midterms. Sometimes depression hits for no reason and I think it’s okay to say when we’re struggling, even if nothing is really going wrong.

I highly encourage you to take the time to journal about your past year. Journaling is such an easy way to reflect on what’s been going on in your life. Even though I did a reflection on my blog, I will still take the time to journal and do a more personal reflection as my form of self care.

What is something you are proud of or learned in 2019? What are your goals for 2020?

**READER SURVEY 2019

It’s been a year since I started my blog and I am finally ready for some feedback. This anonymous survey will take less than 5 minutes. It would mean the world to me if you took the time to share your thoughts with me! Thank you so much for reading my blog <3 You can take my survey here if you’d like!