My goals for 2018.

Hiya and welcome to 2018!!!!!!

Hope you had an amazing new year's eve! Did you go to a rad party? Spend it with friends playing games or had a bit of me-time? Whichever way you spend the seemingly so important night that takes you from one year into another, I hope you had a good one!

I myself had the last minute plan to join a friend instead of spending the evening alone. Partly as everyone around me wasn't fond of me spending NEW YEARS EVE by my self (as if I care) and she was just going to hang out with friends which appeals to me much more than a party which is basically a high school reunion. Not a big fan of those....

But yeah, let's not dwell on the past. It's 2018 now! Big year I guess. For me it's going to be stressful as heck but also a LOT of fun. Stressful? Yeah, I'm kinda trying to graduate my nursing bachelor this year and both the thought of graduating and having to get a job plus the fact that I'll have to write a big ass dissertation aren't very fond thoughts. But for 2018 I also decided to say yes to things more, social things mainly. So to start that of right I booked tickets to see Ed Sheeran in concert and Dan and Phil on their new show both of which I'm incredibly excited for. Secondly I booked yet another surprise city-trip which is an exciting happening in itself. 

However back to the new year, together with fireworks and lot's of physical damage, the new year also comes with resolutions. Or goals as I prefer to call them. Resolutions seem to be meant to fail as all forms of media put them. So my goals for 2018. They're pretty simple and are all about me and taking care of me and making myself more happy. So let's take a look!

For 2018 I want to:

• Eat more plant based food; basically I want to eat more vegetarian/vegan and cut out a big part of the sweets and chocolate I tend to devour (rather regularly). This to both cut down the sugar highs (diabetes and otherwise), feel more healthy and give the environment some extra support. 
• Become more fit; a goal that repeats itself every year and is still relevant. During my time in South-Africa and my lack of sports there I noticed my mood go down, sugar levels go up, and average fitness become zero. Doing sports has such a positive effect on my physical and mental health that to me it is very important I keep up doing sports on a regular basis. For me this means a bit of fitness, pilates, and swimming. 
• Get my Hba1c to 45; this equals an average sugar level of 6.6 and helps me to avoid complications as diabetes wounds, heart failure or even amputations in the long run. It also helps me if I ever have the desire to have children. But overall decent sugar levels have a big positive impact on my mental health and physical functioning.
• Be kinder to myself; whenever something I really want doesn't work out I tend to become pretty down and can be quite harsh on myself. I have to learn to accept that life doesn't always come the way I want it and allow myself to fail once in a while. 

So much for the 'all about me and my health' goals. If you have been reading my blog for a while you know that both physical and mental health issues are part of my daily life and getting control or at least accepting their being will always be something to strive toward. Hence all the goals mentioned above. However there are also goals I want to achieve that are not health related. Thanks to the hobbies. Let's get into those!

• Get my bachelors degree; the most obvious and practical one. In June I want to have finished my nursing bachelor with a pass on an interesting dissertation. Writing my dissertation both excites me and scares the crap out of me, but hey, I'll have to do it anyway so better get over it.
• Go on at least 4 trips abroad; this one might be a bit of a cheat as before 2018 even came to be I already had three of them planned. I've grown quite fond of travelling during my time in South-Africa and wish to continue doing so the next years. Plus one of them was a birthday present to my sister while another is my annual holiday to France. But hey that still leaves that fourth trip to be planned.

And last but not least:

• Start my internet career; this isn't really meant in earning money and blablabla. For years now I wanted to start a YouTube channel however every time I was about to start it I bailed out. Why? I don't know, maybe because being a YouTuber has become this popular thing, or because all the very successful YouTubers have been doing YouTube ever since I was still about to hit puberty. Something just always stopped me but now I am 21 and I feel ready. So keep your eyes open for that in the near future! But then besides YouTube I want to put more effort into this blog, everyone reading this messy internet place deserves good content and funny stories and it's up to me to stop postponing writing those stories. It's time I took some real responsibility for this blog and 2018 seems like the perfect time to do so!

These are my goals and I am incredibly excited to start working on each and every one of them! Did you set some goals for yourself for 2018? Is 2018 going to be your year? Please share your stories with me and like that we can keep each other motivated!

Lots of love,

ThatDutchGirl96

My 2016 goals

Hey there!

2016 has been crazy so far but not just the bad "I can't keep up with anything and I'm watching time fly by without getting anything done" kind of crazy. No, 2016 has also been the "oh my god, this year is going to be so awesome and I have planned so many amazing things already" kind of crazy. The latter excites me most obviously. 

So let's do a kind of in depth view of "my 2016".
My 2016, my 2016 is going to be this amazing year full of awesome days, amazing people, spontaneous trips and cool surprises. 

My 2016 goals:
School goals:
○ Passing the Crossing borders module (a mandatory module if you want to go on an internship abroad).
○ Finally passing my practical test.
○ Proceeding to the third year of my nursing course.
●Finishing and passing my current internship. 
○ Starting an internship in a hospital. 

Life goals:
○ Go on one or more holidays with friends.
○ Buy a new camera and do more photographing. 
○ Turn flipping TWENTY......
○ Actually go ice skating for a change. 
○ Book a surprise me trip!
○ Say yes to (social) activities more often. 
○ Watch more movies from my movie list.
○ Catch up with all the series I'm behind on and start watching some new ones.
○ Get my HBa1c back on 53. (diabetes goal)

Blog goals:
○ Rewrite and redesign Cat Tales.
○ Write more book reviews AND read more books.
○ Write more Diabetes related blogposts. 
○ Write some more nerdy blogposts.

Other goals:
○ Start that youtube channel!

To be continued.....

So far this is how I want my 2016 to be like. This year I want to do even more amazing things than in 2015 which definitely is a challenge I want to live up to. I know 2015 set the bar pretty high yet I truly believe I can succeed. 
2016 I am finally ready for you and I'm going to make you my best year yet. New goals to achieve, new memories to make and new adventures to go on. 2016 BRING IT ON!

ThatDutchGirl96.

My 2014.

Hello,

The end of the year is nearing and that can only mean one thing. So grab your mirror, look into it, stare yourself in the eye and reflect on all the amazing and less amazing memories you have made this year. 365 days, spent differently by everyone. Endings, new beginnings, losses, gains, death, birth and so on, 2014 has had it all.

Reflection, for me an important part of the last days of the year. Throughout the year I try to keep a diary, take lots of pictures and for two years now I have a memory jar. It's this simple glass jar, nothing special about it really, that I decorated. Whenever I do something fun or I am just having a decent/ great day I write that on a piece of paper which then get's folded and put in the jar. Over the year the jar fills up and on the 31st of December I open it and go through all the notes that are in it, reliving the year and looking back on all the amazing memories I've created. After reading all the notes in the jar I burn them. The reason behind that burning ritual is quite simple. The notes contain certain memories, moments that have special meaning to me personally and by simply burning them they will stay that way. Special memories of mine, forever.

2014 has been an amazing year for me. I have learned a lot about myself, the world, the universe and life itself. That sounds pretty deep but not without reason. You could say that I have found myself in 2014. This year I have set goals, things I really want to accomplish and everyday I think about those goals and the long way that stills lies ahead of me. The fact that I now know what I want in life gives me hope and gives me the energy to wake and get up every day to get a little closer to achieving those goals. 

On December 31st of last year I set a short list of goals that I wanted to achieve in 2014 and I can happily say I achieved. The goals were:
- Do more of what makes YOU happy.
- Start college again.
- Get my drivers license.
- Travel to different places.
- Make that trip to Brasil happen.
- Start that damn blog!
And last but not least one of the most cliché goals ever:
- Stay active.

Even though it "were just seven goals" I am super proud of myself for achieving all of them. Besides these goals there is much more I have achieved today. I don't feel like talking about all those things yet so sorry about that. 

2014 has been one of my best years so far and I am more then ready for everything 2015 will bring. I have set some goals already but the list isn't finished yet.

These are my 2015 goals so far:
- Continue uploading a blog (weekly).
- Successfully finish my first year of college.
- Finish the 25 km walk on the 21st of march.
- Do more of what makes YOU happy.

That's all I have for now.

I hope you all have had a wonderful year and may next year be even more wonderful for every single one of you!! Happy new year!

Love you lots!
ThatDutchGirl96