Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Year in Review: 2018

This year hasn't been a particularly good year for me, for various reasons. At the beginning of February I had to have surgery for a vaginal prolapse, and although this is a fairly minor operation, the recovery time took far longer than I was anticipating. It was two months, really, before I felt fully recovered and I had underestimated how much the recovery process would take out of me.

Then, in June, I was hit by a bombshell when I found out I was to lose my job. Having been with the same organisation for nearly 13 years, the prospect of having to go back out into the job market was daunting, to say the least.

The worst part of it all is that since that day in June, when I was faced with this news I haven't written a single word. Not one.

Initially, all my energy was going into getting my CV up to date and applying for jobs, a process I hadn't had to do for so long I had forgotten how time consuming it can be. Fortunately I found another job fairly quickly, but after having been so long in one organisation, having to be the 'new girl' again and learn everything from the ground up was quite exhausting. And then by the time I'd settled into the new job and felt comfortable in it, I had just been too long away from the writing routine to get back into it.

Hence, my resolution from last year of completing another novel by the end of 2018 remains depressingly unfulfilled.

So all in all, I will be glad to see the back of 2018. 2019 is a New Year, and I am in a new job, but it's an uncertain time in British politics and I am also acutely aware of the fact that nobody's job is guaranteed in this day and age.

The wider picture is too overwhelming, so I am starting the new year with a few personal goals to focus on.
  1. Get back into a healthy diet and exercise routine. I always say this every year, but I am currently facing the depressing fact that I can't fit into half my wardrobe these days. I have already made a start on the exercise routine, because I've just commenced sessions with a personal trainer. But I need to stick with it, and I need to be more disciplined with the eating regime. More fruit and veg, less chocolate. Realistically this is not going to start until all the Christmas chocolate is gone.
  2. Make more time for friends. Social media makes it easier to stay in touch with people we don't see very often, but it doesn't match face to face contact with friends. There are people in my life I consider good friends, and I haven't seen nearly enough of them this year (in some cases, not at all). That has to change next year.
  3. And finally, and most importantly, I need to get back into the writing routine. Back to the early-morning writing sessions in a coffee shop before work. Back to regularly scheduled writing time. I am not going to set a goal of finishing a particular manuscript this year, because at the moment that seems too overwhelming. I just need to get back to writing.
So these are the resolutions I am making as we head into 2019.

Happy New Year to all. What are your goals for the forthcoming year?

No comments: