Achievements, Musings

2018 – Aims not Resolutions

Gemma - Wheelescapades

I ended 2017 with a post reflecting my year of blogging. Although I began writing a blog in 2016 I feel I didn’t really get to grips with it until last year. I decided to make blogging my main focus, my main hobby, a part of me. I honestly didn’t realise the amount of time that goes into being a blogger, the commitment you need if you want your words to be read.

Thinking about what I want for my blog and how I want to move forward in 2018 made me consider what I want for myself.

Whether consciously or not I think this is the time of year we reflect on things we’ve done and things we want to do. Festivities are over, we’ve spent time with family and friends, over indulged in the good and the bad. Spent and eaten way too much. Given gifts and love to show our appreciation, contacted those we don’t often see. Made an effort. Maybe regretted not making more effort before.

Today is 1st of January 2018. Although I think of everyday as just another tomorrow, and New Years Eve has never been a big deal to me, New Year is always a bit of a reset. As I’ve said before life is too short for resolutions, if you want something do it now. And I’ve been reminded all too much of that recently and in the past. World events have also made us all think about this more.

But you can’t do everything right now, this moment. So I’ve decided I’d like to have some aims for 2018. Blogging and personal. I don’t think of them as resolutions. I don’t want to change. I feel things like change aren’t an overnight thing anyway.

My list of aims for 2018

I will take part in lent again –

For no religious reason what so ever I often give up something for lent. For some bizarre reason I enjoy the challenge and like to deprive myself of things. In a kind of backwards way it makes me feel in control, appreciate what I have, miss the things I love, and annoy people by saying ‘oh I can’t have that’.

I’ve never failed at lent, I am extremely stubborn and persistent, I do not quit! Last year was the first year in quite a few that I didn’t take on this challenge, not because I didn’t want to, I just didn’t know what to do so never got round to it. This year I will get back on the challenge! Any suggestions of what I could give up are welcome.

Do a photo challenge –

I’ve taken part in a couple of Instagram photo challenges in the past and it really made me appreciate the little things, the everyday. It made me look at things differently, in more detail. It was also a great way of saving memories, memories of the little things, capturing moments you wouldn’t usually think to. I enjoy scrolling back through my phone or through Instagram, reminiscing.

This year I’ve decided to take part in Photo A Day a challenge created by Fat Mum Slim. This challenge has now been running for a few years, I actually took part myself in 2016 but for reasons unknown I didn’t complete it. I enjoyed the few months I took part though, so thought it would be a great one to attempt again. Each month a list of daily prompts are released and hashtags are given.

If you would like to join me on this challenge or are already taking part, do tag me in a photo so I can have a nose! You can find my attempt on Instagram.

Eat lunch by the river –

Living in Norfolk, relativity near to the coasts means that I am surrounded by rivers. They run through almost every town nearby and I also have the Norfolk Broads just a few miles away. As I’ve mentioned before we rarely make time to appreciate our local surroundings and facilities. So I’ve decided this year I am going to plan more local adventures. One of them being to a river.

Go to Disneyland Paris –

I’ve cheated here a little bit, this holiday is already booked for June 2018. I aim to write a detailed wheelchair access/review blog post. That’s if I don’t get too distracted by princesses and shiny stuff!

Read more –

Set a realistic Goodreads challenge and complete it. This may seem silly but I always overestimate how many books I will read and then get annoyed when I fail the challenge. Since I’ve started blogging I’ve realised how much reading can influence writing. Being immersed in words. Yet the funny thing is since blogging I’ve also been reading less. Less ‘big reading’ as such. There’s only 24 hours in any given day. I can only do one thing at a time. To help with fitting reading into my day I am going to use the app Serial Reader. This app delivers to your phone or tablet a bitesize chuck of a book everyday at a time you choose. The app is totally free, the books are limited, (to thousands), you can’t just find any book there. Today I had my first few pages of ‘The Picture Of Dorian Grey’ by Oscar Wilde, delivered at my chosen time of 8am.

Start my memory book –

Last year I was gifted a One Line a Day Memory Book. Each page is dated with Day and month, but you fill in the year. The idea is that every day you write just a one line thought, feeling or event from your day. You do this every day for a year and then start again on the first page next year. My book runs for 5 years. This is a lot of thoughts! Let’s see how it goes and if I can keep it up.

Do a good deed –

I don’t know what yet, I need some ideas so send them my way. I want to do something personal, something you know will make a difference. Not donating money to a charity.

Learn a new craft –

I dip in and out of a lot of crafts. The main two I enjoy doing are crochet and cross stitch. I’ve recently been doing a lot of crochet, making Christmas gifs. Having studied craft and textiles at university I’ve learnt a lot about crafting, but one thing I’ve never tried is needle felting so I’d quite like to give this a go.

Which brings me on to my next aim.

Complete a new craft project every month –

I received so many wonderful craft kits for Christmas, to make sure they don’t just end up living in a cupboard I have decided I will aim to start and hopefully complete one every month on this year. I am starting with a cross stitch kit as ive done a lot of crochet over the past few months and feel like a change. I will probably then gift some of these (if they are successful) as I’m enough of a hoarder already!

Declutter – I mean that in multiple ways. Declutter my blog, make it clean, crisp and easy to navigate. Declutter my surroundings, sort out my ‘stuff’, give away and recycle things. Declutter my mind, basically get organised.

Visit Bella Italia –

You may have read my blog post last year about a trip to Bella Italia Norwich where I experienced poor wheelchair access and cleanliness. If you read the update at the end of that post you’ll know I was contacted by Bella Italia management after tweeting my post. I aim to follow this up by contacting them to see if any progress has been made, and to revisit.

Understand what Flipboard is and if it’s any use to me –

Since joining the blogging community I’ve heard talk of this Flipboard thing. People are flipping my posts, I’m told my post has been flipped. I have signed up to Flipboard but I’m still not much wiser. I aim to understand what Flipboard is and whether it’s worth my time getting to grips with it.

Do you have any aims for the coming year?

Do you have any tips to help me complete my aims?

Here’s to a filled 2018 with whatever you want, whoever you are.

That thing you want to do?! Do it.

Published by Gemma - Wheelescapades

Whenever friends and I are out we always end up discussing, critiquing, analysing where we are and what we are doing. From talking about the food we are eating, the soap in the toilets, the awful bus journey to our destination, anything and everything we encounter. Because of my disability (SMA type2) many of the situations we get into, issues we discuss and laughs we have can be due to wheelchair access. Often me getting stuck in mud or shingle, or me making my way through the most cram packed shop you can imagine, wondering how I am ever going to find the way out again! I aim to write a blog that describes these dramas, tells stories of our laughs, adventures and frustrations, while giving detailed information on accessibility and wheelchair access. Also I like tea. ALOT. The quality of the tea often determines my return just as much as the accessibility.

61 thoughts on “2018 – Aims not Resolutions”

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  8. Couldn’t agree more with your “aims not resolutions” mentality! I like to set a list of goals for myself each year as well and in reading through this post, ours are pretty similar! 🙂 I wish you luck on your aims!

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  11. *waves from across the pond* I found your blog through Gin and Lemonade. I agree with you, I like yearly aims more than resolutions. If Disneyland Paris is set up anything like the California park you will have an amazing time. My sister took me for my 30th birthday a few years ago and the accessibility was lovely.

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    1. *waves back*
      Hey there great to meet you, what better place to be discovered than at Gin and Lemonade! I just find aims a bit kinder than resolutions. I have actually visited Disney Paris before, Disney is a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine! This time I want to do as much as possible though! I’ll report back 😊

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  16. You made a good list. I to always participate in Lent (for no religious reason). I just like the challenge. I have actually gotten healthier by doing it. I hope Disneyland Paris is fun. I hope you complete all your aims as they all are reasonable.

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      1. In the past I have given up pop, coffee, and because last year I needed more of a challenge I did two things one was giving up added salt (a really bad habit of mine) and also made sure I ate at least one fruit or vegetable in a day.

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  21. These are very thoughtful aims. I like the “Do a good deed.” I agree that giving to charity is a great thing, but actively doing something, some small act, has so much power. I have similar aim this year, more focused on being an ally to others. I sometimes think of doing good deeds as acts of charity or going out of my way. But maybe the definition can be more broad. Like you could write a post on your blog about local businesses with a “giving” focus. Or offer to help promote a local event through your blog. Or volunteer your writing talents in some way. You’ve probably already thought of these things, but i thought I’d share! Happy New Year!

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  23. Couple of shared interests there! Currently the bane of my life is a mammoth needlepoint project. It’s a chess board with a very elaborate border which will be amazing if I finish it – but I sort of regret starting it. I feel guilty every time I look at it.

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  24. This was so great to read Gemma. I did a similar post over on my blog a couple of days ago, and it really helps focus you I think. I love the idea of a photo challenge, but I know I would be setting myself up to fail with a daily photo. Im thinking of finding or starting a weekly one. Id love to see some of the craft you create, Im looking at learning something new this year too. Hapy New year to you xxx

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    1. It really does make it more real by putting your aims and goals into a blog post. When it’s not just me that knows them I feel more pressure to work at them!
      Oh, I look forward to seeing your photo challenge when you find one to do.
      I hope to blog more about my crafts this year 😊
      Happy New Year Kerry, I wish you and your family a great one.

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  25. Fantastic post, very encouraging to read! I’m with you on doing away with resolutions, but I would like to think through my aims and a bucket list style piece of paper with things I can (hopefully) tick off. I haven’t got around to thinking about the New Year yet, I guess I’ve been putting it off and haven’t had the heart to properly put my thoughts together. Your aims are brilliant, and as for doing a good deed I guess it depends if you want to do something for a stranger or someone you know; for a stranger, whenever I get food freebies (like from apps, vouchers etc) that I don’t really ‘need’ I’ve given them to rough sleepers in our town. I’ll join you in the need to declutter – I seem to be on a constant mission to declutter everything, but never get all that far because I always seem to find some reason to not get rid certain clothing I can’t wear, to not delete certain emails or documents, etc. Definitely need my mind decluttering too!! 🙂
    Caz xx

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    1. I know the feeling, I am a hoarder or everything, but I want to ‘lighten my load’ as such in every area.
      You should definitely get started on your bucket list style aims, I look forward to hearing about them!
      That’s such a great idea to give away the food etc from unused deals. I’ll keep that in mind 😊
      Thank you for your support and encouragement the past few months. I wish you an amazing 2018 😃

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  26. That sounds like an interesting and fun-filled year if you do these things! If you work out what flipboard is, please share it with us as I’d like to know too – and of course I’ll then need to check whether it’s accessible to screenreader users!

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  28. Thanks for sharing your aims for the year ahead. I’ve also got declutter as one of mine (although I’ve written it as ‘get rid of things I don’t need’). My advice with this one would be to maybe allocate a timeframe for each area you want to declutter – say, a month or week per task – that way it’s more achieveable if you set a deadline. Just a thought anyway 🙂
    I also filled in a ‘one sentence a day diary’ last year. It was hard summarising my day in to only a few words but I’m so glad I did it; I’ve got somefab memories to look back on and remember.

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    1. Thank you for the advice, I agree it’s much more manageable to do things a little at a time.
      I’m looking forward to reading back on my 2018 memories. But yes some days it’s quite hard to think of what to say!

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