Everything I'm Trying To Do In The Rest Of 2017

Even though we're approaching the most popular time of year to create goals and aims for ourselves I've decided it's probably just best to tackle the list of things that I want to achieve now as the list is growing longer by the day. And as always, I like to hold myself accountable to these things which typically means putting them into the outside world as I know that if I just keep everything to myself then I tend to let things slip away or tell myself a million excuses not to do something. So here are all the things that I'm going to try and achieve by the end of 2017...

DRIVE ON THE MOTORWAY

I actually wrote about this in a post in August and sadly I've still not plucked up the courage to drive on the motorway. To some people, this might not seem like such a big thing but it is to me. Ever since the beginning of October, my driving anxiety started to rear it's ugly head again out of nowhere even though I thought I'd started to get on top of it. However, things have changed a lot lately as I bought my first car! And I didn't realise the difference it would make to my anxiety, my boyfriend and I had been sharing a car as it made sense when he was on tour but his work routine has changed drastically and we can't do that anymore. So I needed my own car and I went with a little Fiat 500, who is currently called the Josie wagon and I'm in love. Getting in the car and actually feeling excited and much more comfortable behind the wheel has been an incredible feeling. And this means I think I'm finally really ready to get on the motorway. It's not the driving on the motorway that scares me so much it's getting on it, overtaking and dealing with the big roundabouts. But I know that if I keep on putting it off then I'm just going to make it worse for myself and I've already put it off for long enough.

A NEW LOOK FOR THE BLOG

I've had my current blog design for around a year or so and even though I do really like the way it looks aesthetically and the fact that it's really easy to navigate around I want a change. I want to try and make the whole look a lot more minimal but still have a heavy visual presence. I've felt a little stuck with my blog lately as there are so many things that I want to try and do but with daily posting it can make things a little tricky to make big changes. So possibly going offline for a few days will be the best option to get things done. I'm trying my best to remember that taking a step back to make step forwards is a good thing.

EMBRACE A DIFFERENT TIME IN LIFE

As of right now, my boyfriend isn't touring until next year which is not something that I'm used to at all. So he's working at home right now which has thrown our typical routine into disarray and it's been hard to try and get things back on track as we're learning a new routine. Going from barely being together, to together 24/7 when he was home from tours to dealing with different work hours and shift patterns has been challenging. I realise this might be a little bit of a strange thing to write in a goals and aims post but as I've spent so long becoming so used to being in a long-distance relationship. Flipping that on its head has been a big change for the both of us and will take some adjustment. Of course, our precious little pup Josie is thrilled that she's got her dad at home more and I'm pretty smitten with the idea too.

STOP SAYING...

I was actually going to write an entire post about all the lies I tell myself on a daily basis but I thought that might make for a little bit of a strange post. Anyway here are the things that I want to stop telling myself on a daily basis...

I don't have time.
I'm too busy.
I don't know [I've got to stop being so indecisive].
I don't care.
I'll do it another day.

I really want to work towards getting these phrases out of my vocabulary completely as they don't do anybody any good and the more I use them the more I feel my mood slipping.

USE MY TIME MORE WISELY

Time management isn't something I'm amazing at, I hold my hands up. But it's something that I'm constantly trying to work towards because it's so important as the more I manage my time properly the more I'm able to do with my day. Sometimes I find myself sat in front of my laptop all day but I don't seem to be ticking anything off my to-do list so clearly I'm not using my time very wisely. So each day I want to try and get better with what I'm doing and utilise pockets of time as much as I can as I know they make such a big difference in the flow of my day. And as we're approaching the festive season our time becomes even more strained as we're constantly trying to jam more into our schedule.