special costumes: A Look Back At My 2014 Resolutions & My 2015 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I hope you all had a fantastic New Year's Eve and saw in the new year in style! I can't believe its now 2015 - time really does fly by! I had a fairly civilised NYE with my boyfriend and two of our friends - we went for a lovely Thai meal in Manchester city centre and then headed back to our flat to watch the fireworks and drink prosecco - lovely! As always, I thought it was only right to do a new year post - I know they might seem a bit cliche but I've done one for the past couple of years and for me its a great way to reflect on the past year and set myself some new goals and ambitions for the year ahead. I thought it'd be fun to have a look back at my 2014 resolutions and see if I met any of them, as well as make some new goals for the year ahead! So, here's last years resolutions:

1. Pass my driving test

2. Get my dream job

3. Continue with counselling to improve my panic attacks & self-esteem

4.Worry less

5. Lead a healthy lifestyle by eating healthily and exercising

6. Learn some new recipes and experiment with more foods

7. Continue to enjoy blogging

I have to say, I'm quite proud of myself as I achieved at least 5 of the 7 resolutions I set myself at the start of 2014. I continued to enjoy blogging and recently hit 16,000 followers on Bloglovin which is just incredible - I really am chuffed to bits and can't thank all of you enough for your continued support. I also landed myself a job at a fashion company back in September which is a big improvement on my previous job and something I actually enjoy doing. Okay I wouldn't call it a 'dream' job but my career is definitely moving in the right direction now. I also managed to get my panic attacks and anxiety under control with the help of CBT and hypnotherapy and towards the end of the year, I've been more panic attack and anxiety free than I have been in years. This is the thing I'm most proud of as its something I've battled since the age of 14 and at one point, something I never thought I'd get under control. Looking back, the start of 2014 is a bit of a blur as I was having a seriously hard time with it all but from Summer onwards I made it my mission to not let them control my life and considering I moved cities, moved to a new flat and changed jobs in September, I'm so proud I managed to deal with it all without letting my anxiety get the better of me. This also covers my resolution to 'worry less' as I really do feel I've allowed myself to relax more and whilst I do still worry unnecessarily from time to time, I've really improved and learnt not to stress over things I can't control. I realised I was wasting so much time I could be enjoying by doing so and at the end of the day, what will be will be. That's something I'm beginning to learn in life and I hope to take this new mind set with me in the new year and continue to grow my confidence!

I also managed to learn new recipes and experiment with my food. A few of my favourite new dishes are chicken with a home made creamy garlic sauce, turkey with a ginger and lemon sauce as well as home made turkey burgers! Yum! I'm looking forward to trying even more in the new year and will be putting the smoothie maker I got for Christmas to good use to make myself some healthy breakfast fruit smoothies. I didn't quite manage to meet my goal of exercising more in 2014 although I did sign up to the gym so hopefully 2015 will be my year to really get in to working out. At the moment I've got all the gear but no idea so I need to put Summer body here I come!

The only resolution I'm upset I didn't manage to meet is passing my driving test as this is something I've been meaning to do for years now. However, 2014 was an exceptionally busy year for me with my dad coming to visit in the Summer and moving cities, flats and jobs in September. I'd also lost my provisional license which was holding me back from booking any lessons but I've since got a replacement and have money saved for my lessons so I'm hoping 2015 will be the year I pass. I've never really needed a car until now but since getting my new job I could really do with a car for getting to and from work so fingers crossed it won't take me too long to pass!

So there's an overview of my 2014 resolutions - I think I did pretty well and did achieve most of them! With this being said, here's a few new goals for the year ahead ...

1. Save money.

My boyfriend and I really want to start saving for a mortgage so our main goal this year is to save, save and save a bit more. Its not going to be easy as we've got quite a lot planned for the year already but if we can both commit to putting a certain amount of money away each month, we should be well on our way to having enough for a deposit for the end of the year. I'd love 2016 to be the year we buy our first proper home together so that will be my motivation for saving my money instead of buying that new lipstick I don't really need.

2. Pass my driving test.

As I mentioned above, I really do need to make this a priority this year. I've always been a bit lazy when it comes to driving as I never really needed a car but now being able to drive would make getting to and from work a lot easier, its going to give me the motivation I need to get it done! Wish me luck!!

3. Keep pushing myself.

Since moving to Manchester, I've really pushed myself to go to more blogger events and to meet new people and its given me a new found confidence. I've always been a very insecure person and meeting new people always terrifies me but starting my new job meant I had to branch out and be more forward so I hope this continues in 2015. I always enjoy myself when I do go to events so I need to stop being such a whimp!

There's more things I want to do this year such as the usual healthy eating / exercise, spending quality time with my loved ones, going travelling, continuing to blog and continuing to worry less but the three above are the main goals I hope to achieve. Here's hoping I can reach them!

What are your goals for the new year? Did you manage to achieve last years resolutions?

Lots of love,