Monday 21 December 2015

Did I Complete My 2015 Goals?

At the beginning of this year I set myself 6 goals that I hoped to have completed by 2016. Now, they’re a bit of a mixed bunch and I haven’t completed as many as I would like to have done. So let’s have a look at them more closely!

1. Finish Writing a Novel


Completed? No..


On New Year’s Day I started writing a novel using one idea that had come into my head the previous evening. I worked on that idea for weeks and have thousands of words written in one of my notebooks. I gradually became bored of that idea and well, talked myself into believing it was rubbish, and, inevitably, I stopped developing it. I still have the notebook and what I had written and am slowly writing it up onto my laptop, so that I remember the whole story and to find out exactly how much I had written!

However, in about May I had to write part of a story as part of my English GCSE coursework. I created a set of characters that I completely fell in love with and a setting with themes that really meant (and still mean) a lot to me. After writing the initial 1,000 words for my controlled assessment I began to develop the story of my characters. I began to get to know them and now have a ridiculously good understanding of each of their personalities. I have watched the younger ones grow up and they are now nearly adults. I feel so protective and maternal over them and I’m in no doubt that at some point I’ll end up shedding a tear or two as they reach certain milestones in their lives.

That second project is now at 27,132 words and I hope to carry on with it in 2016!


2. Complete My GoodReads Reading Challenge!


Completed? Unlikely (I completed it on December 31!)

I set myself the target of reading 55 books in 2015. And out of those 55 books I have managed to read 52. At my current rate of book-reading, I doubt that I will manage to read 3 more books in 10 days, but you never know. I’m still happy with the amount that I’ve read, I’m pretty sure that it’s the most I’ve ever read in a year. So I’m quite proud of that.

(I ended up reading 56 books! Gotta thank audiobooks for that!)


3. Smile More


Completed? Yes!

This year I have really worked hard on my self-confidence, self-esteem and overall happiness. Being in new surroundings among people who you have only known for 3 months can make anything 10 times more difficult that it needs to be. I used fake smiles as often as I could, to trick myself and others into thinking I was happy. See, the ‘fake it till you make it’ saying is something I truly believe in now. After weeks, or even months, of pretending to be positive and confident I actually found that I became that character I had wanted to be. My smile became genuine.

4. Be Happy Within Myself


Completed? I’d say so.

This one kind of leads on from number 3. In fact it’s basically the same. Never mind… I’ve finally accepted who I am this year. I’m comfortable with my looks and my body and know that if anyone says anything bad about that then to ignore it - because nothing I can do can change the way I’m built.

Obviously, I still have moments when I feel insecure, but I won’t let that from stopping me achieve my goals.


5. See My Friends More!


Completed? Yeah.

Now, by this I meant my Welsh friends - the ones I can only hope to see a few times a year now that I am living nearly 250 miles away from them. But I have managed to see them as often as possible - admittedly some people I haven’t seen at all and some people only once or twice, however I have seen quite a few of them quite regularly. One person I’ve seen at least five times and I spent an entire week with some of my friends in Lake Garda. I personally think that I’ve done quite well on this one.



6. Practice photography/my violin more


Completed? Kind of.

So, with my increased workload and more frequent exams I haven’t been able to practice my violin as much as I would have hoped to. However, while I haven’t learned my scales or perfected my exam pieces, I have played a lot of other stuff. I played in my school’s production of Sound of Music last (school) year and am currently rehearsing for West Side Story in February. I have played in a string quintet and trio both in Year 11, where we performed in various school events.

Since starting my blog I have had to take more pictures, in order to make my posts look prettier than they would otherwise have done. I’ve taken any more pictures than I would otherwise have done, but I don’t know whether the quality of them has improved or not.


So about 4.5 out of the 6 completed. Not bad, I'd say.

Did you complete your goals for 2015? Tell me in the comments!





No comments

Post a Comment