Well, it's certainly a later start to the year than I expected!
Normally at the start of the new year, I do a little reflection of the previous year, but I've kind of been in two minds about it this year. Last year definitely wasn't what we expected it would be, and I know a lot of people would rather just forget it happened! But I think there was still a lot of good that came out of 2020, and that good should be celebrated!
Also, I try and get my reflections post up at the start of the year, but over the past few weeks I've actually been back on set! I feel so incredibly grateful to be able to be back filming, especially as there are so many in the industry who still aren't working. It's definitely been a bit strange going from not going out anywhere to travelling, staying in a hotel and being around people other than my family (socially distanced of course) but being busy like this makes me so happy.
At the start of the year, I would spend a long time thinking about what I achieved in the last year, but as I was looking back at the last year, I realised that one of the main achievements of 2020 was just getting through it!
So instead, I'm going to point out the small but important things that made 2020 great, and what I've got planned so far for this year...
Let's start by saying goodbye to 2020 for good. It certainly wasn't the year I had planned, and it was really interesting looking back at my 2020 goals to see what high hopes I had for the year! Even though I didn't achieve some of those goals (I didn't even get remotely close to my reading goal, despite all the extra time I had), here's what I leant from 2020:
Don't feel guilty for taking time for yourself - before we had even heard of the C-word, I had some mornings and one day a week where I worked from home and would find myself working long into the evenings as I found myself feeling guilty for taking time to do things I wanted to do. Let's just say that's done a complete 180! Now, I work structured hours, and make sure I shut the laptop and walk away when I say I will so that I can spend some time on me.
Treasure the time you spend with your loved ones - after spending so much time with those we live with, and missing those we don't, lockdowns have really made me appreciate the conversations I have with my family, and I definitely feel a lot closer to them.
Do the things you love now, don't wait - oooooh the amount of times I pushed something back with the idea of doing it another time, be it a book I want to read, a place I want to travel to, or a new hobby I want to take up. Just do it now and prioritise it (obviously the travel thing isn't happening at the moment but Italy I'm coming for you as soon as it's safe to travel again)!
Appreciate nature - this is something I've always done, but I think I forgot about just how beautiful where I live is! After many a walk through the fields and woods around my house, I've really taken some time to appreciate it much more than I did before.
You can be just as creative at home as you can the outside world - I spoke a little about lockdown photography in this post, and I'm definitely a little thankful for lockdown as it really unleashed my creativity even within my own four walls. I used to worry that my rooms weren't aesthetically pleasing enough, but I soon realised that it made my content even more relatable, especially at this time when we're all stuck indoors.
Obviously, going into 2021 my goals are definitely a lot more restrained than last year, but I'm also keeping flexible in case a miracle happens and things might be a bit more like normal towards the end of the year!
SAVE FOR A DEPOSIT FOR MY FIRST HOME
Regardless of what's happened over the past year, starting to look at buying my own place has still been in my mind, so my first goal is to try and save as much as I can this year for a deposit!
Even though things have been very unstable recently, a few of my friends have managed to buy their first houses during lockdowns and that's really inspired me to at least start thinking seriously about saving.
BE KINDER TO MYSELF WHEN IT COMES TO EXERCISE
I've always enjoyed exercising, and going to the gym really helped me get out of the slump I was in about 5 years ago, but I think that one thing I learnt from the gym's closing last year, was to really enjoy the exercise I was doing.
For a long while, I used to really give myself grief for missing a workout, but I found that I get much more of a benefit out of exercise when I'm 100% committed. If I'm not feeling it, I can sometimes end up feeling worse after.
As I started to ease myself into the new year, I found I had discovered new forms of exercise that I'm super passionate about. I've really gotten into walks (thanks lockdown) rather than crazy cardio sessions at the gym where the calorie counter on the machine would make me feel a bit queazy. I've still kept up my weight work, but I'm now combining it with a lot of yoga. Yoga has become my at home workout love, and sometimes I can find myself doing it every day even if I'm doing another workout too!
You bet I'll be first in the queue when the gyms open again, but I'm now not going to be beating myself up that I can't go everyday when I can mix it up at home workouts sometimes too.
HAVING MORE ME TIME
This goes on from what I learnt last year about not feeling guilty for taking me time. I'm now starting to actually plan out time for myself in the evenings, and sticking to it!
Even though I may feel like I can be doing something productive, especially at the weekends, I'm making sure that I do take time to actually switch off, which has definitely helped me get to sleep better in the evenings.
READ 30 BOOKS
This one is definitely going to be a flexible goal, going on from what I learnt last year! My love of reading continues, but if there are times when I'm just not in the mood, then I'm going to just ride it out until I feel the impulse to pick up a book again.
I have lot's of books I want to get through - take a look at this video to see what I have planned for the next few months, but I'm certainly not going to beat myself up if I don't reach this goal at the end of the year.
PUSH MYSELF IN THE ACTING ROLES I GO FOR
Thanks to the C-word, the last acting job I did was over a year ago, which has left me craving for a good meaty role to sink my teeth into.
Luckily, the film/TV industry here in the UK is still allowed to go ahead with productions as long as they are following the necessary guidelines, so zoom auditions and self-tapes have started to pop up again.
I'm really looking forward to getting back on set as an actor this year (the job I worked on last month was behind the camera, but I still had an absolute blast), and really want to get stuck into some really interesting characters.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO SAY NO TO ROLES THAT I'M NOT PASSIONATE ABOUT
Growing up in the industry from the age of 5, there was this unspoken code of accepting every role that came your way, especially when you were trying to get your foot on the ladder.
Last year, I was listening to a podcast that featured Gemma Arterton as a guest, and she spoke about wishing she had the confidence when she was starting out to say no to roles that she wasn't comfortable with or wasn't passionate about.
This really resonated with me, as I had been looking back on a few roles I had taken on that I regretted doing, and a few situations I had been in that left me feeling really uncomfortable and had wished that at the time I would have said no.
I think in hindsight, I know I should have been more confident to do that, and now going into a new year, I'm going be taking that confidence forward so that I can shape my career the way I want it to be.
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Thanks for sticking around for this post, apologies for the delay in getting it up! I would love to know if you have any resolutions or goals for this year, and if there was anything you learnt from last year.
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