You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
– Ephesians 4: 22-24
Are we really in 2019 already!?
2018 has definitely been a year to remember. So much has happened and many lessons learnt. Let’s have a little recap shall we?
Having one hefty door being shut in my face the previous year, it kind of left me in a slump, very uninspired and not so motivated to take action again. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life anymore and so I was sort of confused.
I entered 2018 a bit flustered BUT very hopeful nonetheless. It then dawned on me, heavily, that I didn’t have to stay in that confused and flustered state. That, if I wanted to see a change in my life then I would have to make the decision to change as a person and act upon those decisions. And so I did, slowly but oh so surely.
Accordingly I got into the habit of setting goals and working on personally developing myself. I got an accountability partner with whom I’d set weekly actions to complete geared toward getting me one step closer in achieving my goals. At the end of the week we did an evaluation of each other’s progress and the cycle repeated.
This was a game changer for me. For the first time, I was more specific with what I wanted to get accomplished and took the necessary steps to get them done. This got the ball rolling and around March I made the decision to work harder at this here blog that I started less than a year ago, then. I evaluated its current position and envisioned what I’d like the outcome of it to be in the near future.
I also turned 23 last year. Big number right? It might not be to you, but it was the first and last time that I’d have a 23rd birthday and so I began to do some reflection, something that I got into the habit of doing. Going through a very personally challenging 2017, I’ve learnt some lessons along the way and had some refresher courses of others (not fun but very well needed). I wrote a blog post, two actually on the 23 lessons I’ve learnt approaching my 23rd birthday and boy have I grown and matured! Just a tip for you, take some time out to reflect from time to time. You’d be surprise with what you discover about yourself.
I took part in my church’s annual Daniel fast for the first time last year as well (we’ll be doing it again in just a week’s time!) I can’t really say that i’ve had much of a breakthrough since but I have deepened my prayer walk with the Lord which is a plus in my book. I read the Bible twice for the year too (which now makes it 3 times that I’ve read through the entire Bible). The first time I read it in 9 months and the second time in 3 months. Reading the Bible in 3 months was CHALLENGING to say the least. For the most part, I played catch up by listening to the audio version (shhh!).
I’ve always been in love with nature but in March of last year I found out how truly in love I was with God’s creation and how much I enjoyed going on adventures and exploring in general. That is when I made the decision to live my best life now and enjoy every moment. I set a goal for myself to try something new or go some place new once a month. And in light of that goal, here are some of things that I’ve done:
- Professional filming (for my church’s drama team)
- Self hosted my blog
- Created and published a free online challenge
- Moved in with a friend
- Hosted a charity concert (with a group of my classmates)
- Took part in my church’s Christmas production (danced and acted)
- Watched the sunrise with my family
- Started coaching other women on personal development
- Did an Instagram live video (a biggie because I am camera shy and you cannot edit a live video)
For the places I’ve been to:
- Dunn’s river falls
- Hope Garden Zoo
- Puerto Seco Beach
- National Art Gallery
- Island Cafe
- Cane River falls
- Brewed Awakening
- Blue Lagoon
- Somerset falls
- Seacliff Resort
- Doctor’s Cave Beach
- Gospel on the Ocean cruise
I joined the drama, dance, hospitality, and women’s ministry in my church in 2018 also. Now that I’m thinking about it, I swapped out all of my school’s extracurricular activities for church groups. I gave my testimony in church on how I got saved which also signified that I am now a member of my church. Pretty exciting stuff right? What my participation in all these ministries have helped me with is not only growing in my walk with God but I am always surrounded by like minded individual who encourage me to walk in the purpose God has placed on my life. Not to mention, I have become a bit more outspoken and have definitely improved my public speaking skills which is something dear to me and my personal development journey. Hooray for church communities!
This here gal also received two blog awards from her fellow bloggers (and why I am referring to myself in the third person. I have no idea). The first was the Sunshine Blog Award and the second the Blogger Recognition Award. (More award nominated posts to come soon!)
Mindful of my long term goals, I started setting monthly goals for my life and setting monthly habits that I wanted to implement came as a result. One such goal was to read more and so I had a goal of reading 52 books for 2018. I ended up reading a total of 23 books which only handful were fictional. This is huge because it’s the most books I’ve read in that amount of time since….EVER! (pops my own collar)
If I were to describe my 2018 in one word I’d say it was a year of ‘New’. At the beginning I sort of pledged it the year of ‘sowing’, which still is kind of fitting from my perspective. I’ve learnt so much, tried so many new things, made new friends, and overall have become an improved version of myself. Hats off to 2018 for it’s many lessons and experiences!
I am praying for an even better 2019. I declare that 2019 will be a year of growth for me and I intend to be very intentional in how I spend my time this year.
I hope 2018 was good to you as it was to me and even more so 2019.
Happy new year lovelies and God bless.
