First and foremost – happy belated new year everyone! I know, this post is comically late, but I didn’t want to break my tradition of writing new year’s posts so here we are! If you haven’t already guessed, life has really caught up with me in recent months. With work back in full force and the general madness that comes with the new year, I barely feel like I’ve had time to catch a breath lately!
Anyway, I know I can’t be the only one who was ready to welcome this year with open arms. Last year I actually didn’t write any resolutions. With my kidney transplant in the works I already had pretty low expectations for 2020, and didn’t want to set myself up for failure by creating unrealistic goals for myself. Little did I know how relatable that would become for pretty much everyone during lockdown… In any case, this year I’m feeling much more optimistic about the months to come. Here are some goals I want to work towards in 2021!
1. Talk about chronic illness more often
Opening up about my kidney transplant last year made me realise a lot of things, but mainly the fact that I don’t talk about my illness enough. Whether it’s online or in real life, I’ve always found it terrifying to open up about my health. Chronic illness has a way of making you feel alienated enough as it is, so I’ve never wanted to make myself more vulnerable by drawing attention to it. But after sharing my story, the number of supportive messages I received (some from complete strangers) was enough to make me teary.
Being sick is a lonelier experience than most people realise. In my younger years I would trawl the internet to read the experiences of strangers, because no one I knew in real life had lupus or kidney disease. Even now, I still find it comforting to hear from others who have been through the same thing and made it out in one piece. And now that I’m on the other side of my transplant, I really want to share what I’ve learnt with others who might find it useful. So expect to see a lot more posts about chronic illness and my experience here in the future!
2. Explore my own country
This goal is very wishful thinking right now, but a girl can dream! At the moment, the covid situation in Australia is pretty unpredictable. While things have been calm here for awhile now, no one knows when another outbreak will happen. And if it does, it’ll probably force the state borders to close at a moment’s notice!
Nonetheless, I think there’s no better time to attempt this goal. In the past I’ve always overlooked travelling around Australia in favour of going overseas, so I’ve only ever explored the east coast. It’s a shame really, because Australia has so much to offer! At the top of my travel list is Melbourne, Tasmania, Uluru… and of course Brisbane to see my grandparents, who I haven’t seen in probably a year now.
3. Get back on my Japanese studies
Once upon a time my Japanese used to be pretty impressive, but four years (!!!) after returning from exchange my language skills have definitely taken a turn for the worse. While I don’t really need to know advanced Japanese for anything in my daily life, it does make me a bit sad! Studying the language used to be a huge passion of mine, but I haven’t kept up with it recently because life keeps getting in the way.
Anyway, I’d really like to start studying seriously again, and take the JLPT N1 exam in December if things go well. I feel like that’s the final boss I need to defeat before I can actually call myself fluent at Japanese, haha! Last year’s exams in Australia were cancelled due to the pandemic, but hopefully things work out this time around.
4. Experiment more with video content
If you’re a long time follower, you may remember that I used to post (extremely cringey) YouTube videos! It’s definitely been awhile since that phase, but I do want to get out of my comfort zone and start experimenting with video again, just for fun. The editing process is always something I’ve enjoyed, but never dived into fully. I guess I’ve always gravitated towards photos because they require less effort, and I’m more practised when it comes to snapping pictures. Even when it comes to Instagram stories I almost exclusively post photos, just because that’s what I’m comfortable with.
For now, I haven’t exactly decided what kind of videos I want to make. But I do know that I want to start posting more Reels, Instagram videos and maybe even revive my dead YouTube channel. Lately I’ve been hitting the wall creatively, so I think a change in medium would be perfect for getting the inspiration flowing again.
5. Carve out more time for myself
I think this goal’s pretty self-explanatory! In recent months, I definitely haven’t been cooking, crafting or just doing the things I enjoy as often as I’d like. I constantly feel like I never have enough hours in the day, but if the amount of screen time I’ve racked up lately is anything to go by, I know that’s not true…
Anyway, this year I want to be more intentional about how I spend my free time. In addition to ‘productive’ hobbies like blogging, I desperately need to start setting aside time for myself to completely unwind. If that means blocking out a whole day to play games or binge a Netflix series, then so be it!
Have you set yourself any goals for the coming year? If so, I’d love to know what they are!
