Where did the year go? To be honest, I’m a little sad that 2018 is over, it was a pretty good year for me. I did have my ups and downs but I think the good outweighed the bad this year. When I look back to last year’s new year post, I feel like I’ve come a long way!
2018 was a year of growth for me, going full steam ahead in doing what I love, travelling, changing career paths, finding out more about myself and what makes me tick. There was a lot of new experiences, such as the blogger events that I attended and new places I travelled to. My Instagram has seen a massive growth too – I grew from 2k to 16k followers this year, how crazy is that?! My goal for this year was to hit 10k, and I exceeded my expectation. I know the numbers don’t matter so much compared to the quality of content being created, but I can’t ignore the fact that so many people liked my content enough to click that little follow button! I am so grateful to everyone who is following my journey!
Achievements:
One of my goals for Instagram this year was to try and get a collaboration every month. I exceeded that by getting on average 5 collabs a month, which is amazing! I learnt so much whilst working with brands and learnt what kind of direction I want to take my Instagram. I was even nominated for the UK Blog Awards, which was such an achievement for me!
Whilst juggling my full-time job, blogging and social media on the side, I also studied and got certified as a Digital Marketing professional!
I also managed to decorate my room by painting the walls white and buying room décor to suit my aesthetic. This was important to me because I wanted my personal space to be relaxing and a place of inspiration for me.
Travel:
I travelled to 3 places this year – Croatia, Tenerife and Brussels! I also travelled around the UK to York, Cardiff and Windsor.
New experiences:
I went jet skiing in Tenerife with my boyfriend and that was so much fun! We definitely want to do that again on another holiday. We tried out scuba diving, which was a great experience too! I also attended some blogger events this year, such as the Blogcon London event, Away That Day swimwear event, The Body Shop event and the Blogosphere Christmas event! I met some amazing friends in the blogging world too, and I felt more connected with the blogging community. I would like to attend more events in the future to further my knowledge in the industry and network, but it can be difficult when I have a full-time job.
Not so good:
Up until end of May, I was still in a crappy job that drained me as it was so damn boring and I wasn’t learning anything new or growing within the company. I even had to deal with a lawyer (don’t worry it was not a lawsuit against them or anything). Second half of the year I got a job in marketing, something I want to pursue at the moment, more so in the social media marketing side. I’ll be working on that more in 2019 hopefully!
New Year’s Resolutions:
So I think it’s time to plan some new goals, here goes:
01. Pace myself with work
02. Plan a daily schedule (and try to stick to it!)
03. Think more positively
04. Focus more on creating good content that you love, and stress less over the numbers
05. To continue growing my Instagram and blog
Thank you for reading this post, wishing you a very Happy New Year!
Carissa xx
