Happy New Year! 2017 was a strange ol' year, and I'm rather glad to be seeing the back of it to be honest. Whilst I'm not the biggest fan of New Year, I'm all about having a little reflection of the year just past, and setting out what I want to achieve in the next.


Somehow 2017 seems to have flown by, and yet the same time it seems to have been incredibly long. So many things have changed for me over the course of the last 6 months and change can often make you feel like you're just bumbling along in your own little bubble whilst the rest of the world just carries on.

After having to take some extra time over the summer to put my mental health first, I finished my BSc hons degree in politics with a 2:1! I'm thrilled to say the least. My actual graduation ceremony isn't until later in January, but I'm so proud of myself for achieving it and finishing off my time in Canterbury. Continuing on the academic note, I started an MA at the University of York in public policy. It's been a dream of mine to do an MA ever since I was about 14, and so to actually be doing feels rather amazing - especially as I proved so many people from school wrong!

2017 gave me many happy memories to look back on, not only those relating to university, but also just generally too. I made a wonderful set of friends who have come to feel like a family even though we don't see each daily anymore. My boyfriend and I celebrated 3 years together, and as soppy as this sounds they've been 3 of the best years ever. And I gained so much more confidence than I'd had before. But with every high comes a low, and the last half of the year has been full of them.

Sadly, I lost an extremely close family member. Starting my MA not long after was really tough, especially as it was all things that I would be telling her. I'm not very good with dealing with grief and certain emotions get pushed purposefully to one side. A combination of this led to the worst bout of depression I've had in years.

2017 ended fogged with depression, but I'm trying to have a positive outlook for 2018 and setting some goals that aren't too unrealistic.

Read More - I used to read so much, and since my vision has decreased I've struggled to get back into it. I'm hoping to get back to using books as escapism and learning more too.

Be More Active - This is probably the most used yearly goal, but in about October time before I had to leave my uni city because of illness I got really into going  to the gym. I really want to get back into this, I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would. It's good to let off some steam and be healthier in general.

More Self-Care - I often neglect looking after myself, I push emotions out of the way which just makes things worse, I set high standards for myself, and find it difficult to put my mental health first. I  think that having two periods of time this year where I've been completely dictated to by my mental health I want to start caring for it more and putting it first. I want to continue to say no to things I don't want to do so I'm not spreading myself thinly, and I want to embrace truly relaxing without scrolling on social media.