After years of doubting New Year's Resolutions, having seen it as a relatively arbitrary date where people come up with some goal without a plan to achieve it, I am going all in on the theme this year.
I am very conscious that I am stepping into a new chapter of my life. I quit my job in August, left Newcastle in September after five years there and I have just turned 26, leaving me in no doubt that I'm in the second half of the decade that many claim to be the best of their lives.
If I reflect on the first half of that decade from an emotional perspective, it's fair to say that anxiety played a pretty prominent part. I was fortunate enough to be able to access counselling once and therapy twice and that, along with self-reflection and using various resources, has taught me a lot.
From those bits and bobs, I've built up quite the collection of mental health notes. The idea is to turn those notes into a 'toolshed' of sorts over the next few months, where I'll have those notes filtered and sorted. As well as that shed with everything in it, I'll take the absolute essentials and create a grab-and-go toolbox for those times I need a bit of help in the moment.
The aim for this next chapter of my life (which we'll say is from now until I turn 30) is to build on the work that I've done. My hope is that with the help of the toolshed/box, I can do my best to reduce my limiting beliefs, habits and behaviours and replace them with more positive ones. That means, amongst other things, getting rid of the four p's of perfectionism, procrastination and people pleasing.
I don't yet know how well it will go, but I'd rather know that I hate it than always wonder if I would have loved it.
But there's another, more positive p. Planning. I'm off to Germany! Hopefully. Alongside working part-time as a barista and wading through quite a big to-do list that had built up, I've been working on a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) qualification and slowly improving my fluency in German.
The plan is to head to Leipzig in early Spring, where I'll use my latté art skills to subsidise my income whilst I teach English online. Then in the next academic year, I'll work in a school as an English Language Assistant. From there, we'll see!
There was a little while when I was doubting if I should go to Germany, but as part of this new chapter idea, I've come to realise:
a) it's amazing what can happen when you just get started
b) stalling is an inevitable part of the process and it's important not to let that stop you from doing what you're aiming for.
So I'm giving it a go. I don't yet know how well it will go, but I'd rather know that I hated it than always wonder if I would have loved it.
Whatever chapter of your life you're in, I wish you the best moving forward. [Belated] Happy New Year!
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