“I want to sing like the birds do, not worrying who hears or what they think.”
Rumi
Happy twenty nineteen! I hope your celebration was absolutely spiffing. Here in California, the New Year seems to have brought the rainstorms with it. We had a cold clear Christmas season, but the forecast for January looks like a rainswept month if ever there was one—a perfect time to cozy up with new books to read and pretty music and generally plan one’s life. As you do.
It is one of those cozy, rainswept, lamplit January evenings that now finds me, hidden away in my mom’s reading nook, to write this post. It’s been a long time since I sat down just to catch up with you and have a little teatime talk about our goals and dreams for the year ahead.
A Look Back
I suppose it makes sense to start with a look back. 2018 was magical. Some of my wildest dreams came true last year: I transferred to my dream college and attended my first semester, I saw Taylor Swift in concert, I studied abroad for four months, and I traveled through the United Kingdom and Ireland.
2019 is looking a little different. Before I can finish my final semester at college, I need to save enough money to pay for tuition. For that reason, I’ll be living at home with my family this year, picking up some shifts at my part-time jobs, and squirreling away my savings so that I can cash-flow the rest of college without debt.
After so many life-changing experiences and travels last year, it honestly feels really weird to come home to the central coast and return to the same routine. I won’t have academics to anchor my schedule anymore. For most of December, I struggled with almost crushing feelings of nostalgia and loneliness, which I later found was a result of “PSAD”—Post Study Abroad Depression (who knew?!). It’s hard to come back from a high like that and be content to think about covering shifts and paying bills again.
A New Perspective
I know there is a reason God is giving me this chapter of my life—this “gap year,” so to speak—so I’m going to give it my all. That means I’ll be trying something new with planning the year ahead. Rather than focus exclusively on goals like I have in the past, I want to go into the new year with a particular mindset. After studying abroad, I returned home with a sense of confidence that I want to cultivate. I want to “dance as though no one is watching, sing as though no one can hear.”
With that mindset in place, what do I want my life to look like going into 2019? Here are a few thoughts I wrote in my journal:
2019: live my life by the seasons, keep up a balanced health routine of yoga and weight training, find daily quiet times in the morning to meditate and pray, recognize aspirations that I have overlooked so far in my life (like learning ballet, yoga, and violin like I’ve always wanted). Sprinkle some things to look forward to throughout the year, like travel and road trips and conferences and concerts. Aim to keep the framework of my life simple but intentional—with clear values and priorities set in place. Above all, leave some space for magic.
2019 Goals
I still have a handful of goals that I’m really excited to work towards. I like to set one in each of my “focus areas” for life:
- Blog: Last week, I spent a lot of time sketching out new ideas for growing this blog in the year ahead. You can expect a new series starting next week, higher-quality photos, and a lot more personal reflection coming in 2019! I’m really excited for this one.
- Writing: For the last three years, I’ve had a beautiful new sparkling story idea brewing in my mind. It finally feels ready to put to paper, so my goal is to write a draft and then do macro and micro edits before the end of the year.
- Health: I’ve been getting really into yoga lately, and I want to continue to explore this beyond simply stretching in the mornings. On the days I don’t do yoga, I want to get back into my routine of weight-lifting and hiking to vary it a bit.
- Financial: Like I mentioned earlier, one of my main goals this year is to save enough money for my final semester at college. I’ll be working a couple different part-time jobs.
- Creativity: This area is multifaceted. I want to dedicate more time to photography, bullet journaling, dance, music (piano and violin), and reading. In short, I aspire to fill myself up with beautiful creative things. Plus, this is an area that will help flood the rest of my life with inspiration and excitement.
I guess my conclusion to all these flitty thoughts and reflections is that 2019 will be about blooming where I am planted. I’ll be filling my life with simple and beautiful things, strings of meaningful moments, and watch how magical things unfold.
What about you? What are your goals and dreams for the year ahead?
May your 2019 be pure magic,
<3 Olivia Grace
