Happy 2016: NY Resolutions + Its All Bee Turns 4!

I hope you had a lovely start to ringing 2016. I, on the other hand am still recovering from jet lag having returned back to London from Kuala Lumpur yesterday – after nearly a month of travels in Asia. 

With the new year comes new years resolutions. I guess it’s natural for anyone to want to do and be better than they were in the previous year. As I know that most of these tend to get foiled before the first month is even over, so key is not to make unrealistic goals. In doing so use methods that help keep you forced on those goals.

Looking back on 2015 I have managed to travel a lot more than I had originally planned, managed to get promoted but in a way that felt bitter sweet as I had thought the promotion would come the previous year. Either way I am happy that it happened. Looking back I think I spent a good chunk of the year worrying about things a lot more than I should have. Whether it was work, the blog, family stuff in addition putting other’s needs before my own or diminishing my own successes in very aspect. This in turn lessens the value of what I have done, as tooting my own hone is still very uncomfortable. By no means does that mean I don’t want to succeed, it just means that I will have to make more of an effort to celebrate those successes as a way to get better at self promotion; both in business and where blogging is concerned. So this year my theme for new year’s resolution is Dare To Dream. No matter how big or small we all have dreams, this year I have decided that dreaming big is what life is all about! 

What’s life without a challenge, huh? So, what are my new years resolutions? See below. I have also added tips on how to help stay forced on them.

1. Self Love: Be kind little kinder to myself as I can be my own worst critic sometimes.

Focus Tip: Use affirmations for passwords! I stole this one from Serena Williams after reading her inspiring  piece in Wired Magazine, which she was also guest editor for last month. If you haven’t picked it up, go read it. It also includes many more inspiring stories from a variety of individuals, from all walks of life.

2. Read More: I miss getting lost in a good story, watching characters develop before you and just the pure enjoyment of the imagination that comes with reading.

Focus Tip: Load Kindle with books on the reading list and keep in handbag or close by. For those without a Kindle, create a list of books for your reading list or better yet create a Pinterest Board for your reading list and tick off as you go along.

3. Spend Less Time on Social Media. Social Media has a way to rob you of both your time, energy and joy and that spawns itself in many ways, all of which lead to the same sad result. So the less time the better.

Focus Tip: Dedicate at least 2 evenings a week where phone is switched off(after work) while spending time with loved ones. No checking of how many likes that post has got or how many people have read your blog post. Just enjoy a glass of wine with friends, loves or family without peaking at your phone.(Yes, that means staying away from other gadgets like iPad, Laptops that have access to Social Media!)

4. Voice My Dislikes More: If this continues throughout the year, can add up to a lot and being less honest about your own dislikes whether it’s what people are doing or saying that is sucking out the light and joy in your life then you need to speak up about it. The sooner the better too.

Focus Tip: Write about it on the blog. I have experienced so much this year through travels that have both been joyous and some not so joyous parts. As much as I love this blog to be about positivity, there are certain parts about the travel experience that hasn’t been great and I would like to share those experiences as it’s all part of travel and hopefully maybe stop someone else from experience the same.

5. Make Healthy Choices: Drink more water, walk a lot more, eat more veg and do something nice for yourself everyday!

Focus Tip: Continue with those photography meetups as we tend to cover a lot of ground on the walks – carry a bottle of water with you at all times.

6. Grow. Both in career and in growing more blog readership. My “Dare to Dream” resolution is to grow by blog and reach more readers in all corners of the globe and work towards being a Delivery Management Specialist at work. Yes as with any goals, these also have dates attached to them.

Focus Tip: Continue to train and study to improve my skills both for work and in sharpening my photography skills which in turn will help tell the travel stories better, as we all know – “a picture tells a thousand words”!

My blog turned 4 on new year’s day! With the new year also comes the new look on the blog. Let me know what you think of the design template in the comments below.

I started off documenting my travels in my little share of the interwebs on new years day of 2012. Considering I have wanted to give up so many times but managed to always persevere, I am happy to see it continue to grow and for that I thank each and every one of YOU that reads and comments on my posts. I hope to continue to offer more inspiring tales on how to see more of this beautiful world we live in. Hopefully without breaking the bank too.

So, what are your “Dare To Dream” new year’s resolutions?