Welcome to a new post!
We are about to hit the end button of another year already, and I can't quite believe it yet. This year seems to have gone by even faster than 2015, even though I often wished it to be over sooner, to be completely honest with you.
2015 was one of the best years for me because I got to explore so many more places and learned so many things. I somehow had that feeling at the end of the year that 2016 wouldn't quite be my year, and I can now say that I was a little right and a little wrong with that thought. Yes, many horrible things happened this year globally, I had a few low moments personally too, but in general I still had a good time. I often felt a little stuck this year, but at the end of the day I can still say that I worked a lot on myself, and I learned a lot of things. I tried new things, I discovered new things. Yes, 2016 was not my favourite year, but it also made me reach things that, maybe, I wouldn't have been able to reach for otherwise.
With the start of this year I also decided to finally invest in a better planner than the pretty ugly and cheap ones I usually had and would stop looking at after like a month. I knew the amount of money I had spent on it would definitely make me use it a lot more, and it definitely worked. I didn't leave many weeks empty this year, and I am very proud of that because that prevented me from producing a lot of sticky notes mess. This might not work for everyone, but if you would actually want to take another try at planners and you keep on failing, try getting a more expensive planner maybe, one that is cut exactly the way you need it to, and maybe that will finally set you off on an adventure of full year love for that planner. I personally find the Leuchtturm ones great as they give me a space for each day of the week but also plenty of empty space where I can put my long to do lists, thoughts and notes and even drawings if I feel the need to.
At the very end of 2015 me and some friends actually decided to start a little tradition of going for breakfast every few weeks or months, and that was really enjoyable. It meant I had to get up very early, but it was definitely worth it. You don't always need a night in the cinema or out in a club, sometimes a breakfast is enough. Try it out, it's awesome, trust me.
This year was also the year of exploring the world of gift giving a lot more. I had been wanting to give better presents for a long time, and I finally started putting more thought into it in 2015, but 2016 was definitely the year that I finally found what works best for me.
Throughout the whole year whenever you get an idea what to get someone for their birthday or Christmas, write it down immediately in a place where you know you will able to find it when you need it. It's a lifesaver!! That way a lot of thinking is already done.
Before you go shopping, try figuring out beforehand what you want to get who, or at least a loose idea, and write that down on a shopping list you take with you if you know you won't be able to remember it all. Don't get everything in one go, just because you feel like you need to. Don't stress yourself (unless it's a day before Christmas and you have still got to buy 2464341 gifts for people), and when your shoulders seem to fall off and you are tired af, go home and come another time. Always remember your budget, and if you find something else for someone that you didn't have in mind but you really want to get, rethink all your present plans for that person and whether you can get it or not.
And personally my favourite and best tip, if you love a little bit of crafting and you don't care if it will take slightly longer, do DIYs and personalized things. Pinterest is your best friend here. I have found some quite awesome things there, that I would have never come up with myself.
I am quite the creative person anyway, so I enjoyed nothing more than working for hours and hours to make someone an awesome photo album to remember forever. Some of you might think that's crazy, but if you enjoy crafting in the slightest and you keep buying presents, you should definitely have a look into this. Wow, can you tell I got a little bit passionate about that this year? I better stop, and go onto the next point, before your ears fall off..
Many many people died this year, and I am feel very grateful for the fact that none of my closest people were taken too. However it felt like this year, whenever I opened a news page, another famous person had died.
Most of them were ones that I didn't have quite the close relationship too, so I'm really sorry to the fans of all those other amazing actors, singers, etc, when I say that the one that definitely hit me the hardest was the one of Alan Rickman.
Yes, I don't think I watched many films apart from Harry Potter that included him, but I always thought he was awesome. I never knew much about him, but as Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood and is still following me, I always had a connection to him, and I still haven't quite realized that this beautiful human that made me hate Snape so much for many films even though I knew what he was actually up to, is gone. Rest in peace, Alan Rickman. Rest in peace, all those other amazing souls that lost their lives this year.
As we are talking about death, I cannot not mention the bowl of terror that was thrown at the world this year. People were killed in Munich, in Berlin, in Nice, in Syria, in the USA, and yes I know that these are not all of them, but if I wanted to mention every event and every country, we would sadly be here for a long time.
It's so sad to think how we are destroying this planet. Not only are we killing the environment and animals, but we are also killing ourselves because some people think violence is the only solution of our problems. I deeply wish that we can put an end to this in 2017, or at least, take a huge step forward. Rest in peace.
2016 was also the year I finally decided to redecorate my room, after still having tons of posters up, and definitely not being happy with the look of it anymore. I felt like my 13 year old self was still trapped in this room and I couldn't really show who I was. I spend a lot of time browsing online and with little money I completely redecorated my room, without moving a single piece of furniture. Gladly me and my parents had already changed the furniture for the past few years, and now that most of it is in shades of purple and white, and my walls and shelves are filled with things that I enjoy looking at, I feel a lot better being in here.
That's definitely a tip for 2017 - if the look of your room or your flat or house doesn't feel quite right anymore, change something. It makes a huge difference whether we feel confident and content in a place or not.
I had been wanting to join a gym for a little longer, so I finally took that step with a friend in March, and signed up for 6 months. I totally got into training plans and I loved using all of the machines, and yet it still didn't feel quite right. I'm definitely not the kind of person that likes being watched by people when I work out, or at least have a feeling of that, even though this year I cared a lot less about what other people thought of me.
Especially towards the end of my contract I kept lacking the motivation to even go there, and I found so many excuses not to go and workout at home instead. I definitely learned that I prefer working out on my own or around people that I feel comfortable working out with.
That doesn't mean I hate the idea of a gym - definitely not. In fact, I love the idea of a gym, I would just need a gym for myself. I know that sounds selfish, but even if I quit my contract, I still miss all of those machines even though I didn't even try half of them because I didn't want to be watched whilst trying to figure out what to do on these things.
I have now opted for getting myself a mini equipment for home, so I am going to work with that until I hopefully will one day be able to either pay for a home gym or a personal trainer haha.
In April me and some friends finally took up the theory lessons for our driver's license, and I don't think I have ever been more exited and nervous at the same time than before my first driving lesson. I gladly passed my theory test in May, and after tons of driving lessons that I did definitely not always enjoy, I finally got my driving license in September.
I also don't think I have ever felt more relieved than in that moment. I actually enjoy driving most of the time, but driving lessons, especially during the time I had to park like a hundred times a day, were definitely not my favourite thing.
In May, I finally took a train back down to meet my internet bestie, and together we went to see 5SOS in Munich, and had the best time. It was definitely a different experience to last time, and even though I am a little sad that the pictures didn't turn out as awesome as when I had been standing pretty much in front of the stage, I bloody loved it. I really wish concerts weren't so expensive, because if they weren't, I would be very likely to be road tripping all across the country pretty much every weekend to see someone else live.
After quite a few months of blogging I also decided to finally give my blog the makeover that I had been itching for. The first design was nice, but I was never quite happy with it, so I am really glad I did that. I'm still not quite happy with it, but that probably comes with the fact that I haven't quite understood everything technical about blog designs yet, so that's definitely something for me to work on in 2017, so I can have an even more awesome makeover without spending money on it.
In August me and family took sort of a little spontaneous weekend trip to Berlin. It wasn't our dream holiday, but we just needed to get out of here at least for a little while. We walked so many kilometers, and I took so many awesome pictures, and we had a great time, even though I don't think my legs and my back ever hurt so much. I'm really glad we went, because we usually never go for those touristy, sightseeing trips.
I even went up the Siegessäule which is 60m high even though I am freaking scared of heights and nearly peed myself when I got onto that platform on top that was literally not even a meter wide.
Over the whole of the year, particularly the second half, I have had the pleasure to celebrate quite a few 18th birthday parties, as 2016 and 2017 are pretty much the years most people I'm friends with, including myself, finally become official adults...or something like that :D. I've had the best time going there, having a few drinks, dancing and chatting away. Most of us haven't really celebrated our birthdays with a huge group of friends for the past few years, so I am glad we all finally did that this year, and hopefully I wasn't the only one that had a great time going there.
During the process of writing this blogpost, I also read another beautiful post on 2016 reflections, by the beautiful Emily Bashforth. Check it out if you want to read someone else's thoughts too, because her post is a good one! It also reminded me to reflect on how I did with my hobbies this year.
Well, to be honest, I have very mixed feelings talking about that. I did a lot more reading and I really enjoyed it. However, I do need to remember that I shouldn't buy a 5 book box set when I know the books are hella long and I have already seen the TV show and pretty much know everything that is happening for most of the books and it will bore the hell out of me.
On the other hand, I did read some pretty great books this year. In the end I have read exactly 30 books that I wanted to read out of my 30 book challenge for the year on goodreads, which I think is pretty good, compared to 2012 and 2013 when all I read were One Direction and Little Mix autobiographies. I'm still reading two books, and as one of them is a Christmas one, I am going on a reading sprint tonight so that I can hopefully finish it before the new year and add it to this year's reading challenge.
As good as that is, considering how much I used to read when I had more free time, 30 books is not a lot, so for 2017 I am going to set myself the goal of reading 40 books. I had planned on doing 35, but I feel like that's a little bit of a lame rise, and I do love a challenge. 3,3 books a month seems doable even with school, unless I decide to read another Game of Thrones book haha.
Writing wise, pretty much not a lot has changed to 2015 which is a little sad. I wrote even less chapters on the fanfiction that I still upload on Wattpad, which is probably due to the fact that the person that once started this fanfiction was a crazy, emotional, new-to-the-fandom fangirl that was in the middle of puberty.
I had planned on writing a whole new novel in my Summer break, but to be completely honest, even though I had ideas - I didn't even start. I'm not very happy about that fact, but it's my own fault.
I did write my NaNoWriMo novel again this year (if you are unaware of NaNoWriMo, HERE you will find a blogpost that explains everything), and I am loving the story, even though so far I am still not quite sure were my characters are going, who they exactly are and how their world works. I did write the 50K words in November, but I am still working on it. I had to have a few days off writing for my birthday and Christmas, but it's definitely my goal to finish it, because I feel like if I gave it a lot of editing it could be a really great book at the end of the day.
I had thought about setting myself the goal for 2017 to actually write another book before NaNoWriMo 2017, but after starting this project, it is now my goal that I finish this draft first and then finish at least a second draft, maybe more, depending on how much I can force myself to do it. Writing is probably my biggest passion, and I really want to work on it, become better and finally get closer to my dream of one day hopefully successfully publishing my own books.
Blog wise, especially the first half of the year, it has been great. I was so inspired to write many more posts, I did two post a week for quite some time and I really enjoyed the content that I was putting out there.
However it seems like ever since the cold seasons have hit us I have been in a little bit of a slump. I kept putting writing off just because I didn't feel like writing down any of the ideas that I had, and it always took me quite some time to write a blogpost. Yes school had it's part in that, but I can't blame it all on school. I want this blog to be my little escape, and I think that's something I should definitely remind myself of next time I am in a little slump.
For some reason I have been feeling extremely ready for the New Year and new blogposts since Christmas is over, even if that's only been a few days, so I am setting myself high hopes for a better time on here than in the past few months, with lots of great content. Spring is my favourite season anyway, so I am pretty ready for it now, and to get many new fresh ideas to share with you.
There are probably so many more things to talk about, and I am literally lost for words right now. A year is a long time, in which many things happen, even though it feels like it passed in the blink of an eye. 2016 was a good year, not perfect but good, and I am looking forward to 2017 even more, because a lot of things are happening, so I am hoping for an awesome year. I'm feeling very happy and content right now that I've finally gotten this post of my chest, so I guess I am very much ready for it.
It's time to end this post, and with that, also put the finish line to 2016 blogging. I am going to see you again in 2017, which will *fingers crossed* be filled with tons of new beautiful blogposts for all of you to enjoy and many more things coming your way. I hope you have a great start into the new year and a great New Year's Eve. Remind yourself of one thing: 2017 is going to be your year! Stay true to yourself, don't give a damn about what other people think of you, listen to your body and soul, dream big, work hard for your dreams, don't stress and never ever forget to smile.
Tons of love, Jacqueline ♥
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