In December 2015 I was sitting at the same desk in the same flat. In the same room, on the same chair. I was writing on the same laptop with the same cat on my lap. Behind my back, the same man was sitting on the same bed, drinking tea from the same mug.
Seemingly nothing has changed. But hasn’t it?
It was a good year.
Even though it started with a very difficult period in my longtime relationship. In December 2015 I was sitting at the same desk and I felt lost and unhappy. I am smiling to myself now. I am sure what I want. I know I am in the right place with the right person by my side.
It was a good year. I spent two months in the USA. I travelled with Adam for one month, we saw many beautiful places – Yosemite National Park, the Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, Las Vegas, Los Angeles. We met interesting people, we camped for the first time. We discovered that it’s good to live in “here and now” only – with no Internet access, no phones and electricity. Only us and the bonfire.
The second month I spent volunteering on a ranch in California. I’ve been living in a city my whole life so it was a very new experience for me. I know now what baby pigeon looks like and that herons eat mice. I know that in order to achieve something big, you need to go through a ton of (sometimes literally) shitty tasks.
It was my second volunteering project, the first was in Saint Petersburg in Russia and I was teaching about basics of finance at school. I am one step closer now to my big goal – volunteering on every continent.
It was a good year. Except for the USA I visited other places as well – Stockholm at the beginning of the year, Berlin at the end. I skied, kayaked and hiked in my beautiful Poland. I made my little dream come true – I went to a train station and got on a random train.
One year ago I was afraid to say a word in French. Even though my level was good enough to have a basic conversation, my hands were shaking and I was covered in cold sweat only thinking about it. I broke this barrier and today I can discuss many topics without big stress. I’m far from fluent, I make tons of mistakes and don’t know many words – but I don’t care anymore.
This year I finished my studies and became a master.
This year I learned how to handle difficult conversations. I regret so much that I didn’t know it before. A lot of talks would be much easier and I would avoid a lot of stress and crying. This year I worked on my time management and I found a tool which helps me work more efficiently.
It was a good year even though not everything went 100% as planned. This year I couldn’t find enough time to read as much as I would like to or to so sport as regularly as I should. I didn’t listen to audiobooks in Russian often enough.
After Polish travel bloggers’ meeting in Cieszyn I planned a strategy, how to develop the blog. I set goals. They were very SMART, specific, measurable, time bound and all that. I didn’t make it.
I knew what I want to achieve but I didn’t plan how to do it. I put the goals down, hanged them over my bed and kind of hoped they will magically come true after my chaotic actions. It didn’t happen.
I thought it through, why I didn’t achieve what I wanted. I’m still not sure I know how to fix it. But I do have a plan.
New Year’s resolutions? I have a few. But the most important is to be able to say that seemingly, nothing has changed. That I am sitting at the same desk with the same cat on my lap and the same man behind my back. The point is to sit there as a better version of myself.
And what would you like to say about yourself in a year?
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