2018 Focus: Self Belief
I have decided that this year I want to make it my aim to start believing in myself more. You may think this is an odd goal, but it definitely isn’t for me and it was surprisingly easy for me to think of as well. And for me, that is always a good sign because I hardly ever have strong gut feelings about things, but this year’s focus of self-belief was certainly one of those gut feelings.
I never normally make any new year’s resolutions because I tend to be rather rubbish at keeping to them or make them so impossible that there wouldn’t be any chance that I would be able to keep to them. This year I have decided to give myself some kind of new year’s resolution in the form of a focus because I know that they can greatly improve people’s lives and make them move forward instead of staying where I am. Hopefully, I will be able to stick to this but we will have to wait and see what happens by the end of 2018.
Why did I choose self-belief as my word for 2018?
Well, I often struggle subconsciously with believing that I am capable of or should be able to do certain things which can be huge life plans like travelling the world but also as small as writing a diary or going out with my friends. This has been I think the biggest barrier in my life so far because it means not only do I miss out on doing these things sometimes but it also means that I don’t even give myself the chance to consider that I could do them.
It has meant that I haven’t given myself the headspace for these plans and ideas so that I automatically miss out on doing what ultimately could help me live my best life and make me happy. It is an extremely frustrating scenario, but I am slowly making progress and made a start with it in 2017. This involved actually getting people to let me know when all that was holding me back from doing something was the lack of confidence I had in myself so they’d be able to say “no, of course, you can do it” and I’d take the chance that maybe I could. This has led to me doing a lot more different and fulfilling experiences but I still think I have a long way to go.
I won’t delve into why I may have such a lack of self-belief because for this I wanted to simply focus on how I can move forward and what it really means to me. I do however want to mention that I think I have lacked self-confidence and self-belief for most of my life and that it has prevented me from doing a lot of things that I could have done. This is something that can be extremely difficult to identify though because you don’t even realise how your mindset and attitudes are limiting the way you live your life.
What will 2018 look like as self-belief as the focus?
I hope that 2018 will be filled with experiences where I have taken a chance or risk on something and it has gone well. I want to be able to say that I gave myself the opportunities to live a full life and didn’t limit myself before I even got a chance to begin. I wish that I will have a fun year doing things with the people I love while doing things for myself. I want to be able to say that I gave myself the chance to commit and dedicate time to the things I truly want to achieve.
In specific terms, I hope that 2018 will be a year where I begin to really start to prioritise myself. I haven’t always been so good at self-care or self-improvement in my life but I really hope that a focus of believing in myself will mean that I can give myself the space to allow these to happen and maybe even help me flourish.
Some more specific goals for the year.
- I want to discover new places in the world including close to home and much further away. I hope these will be with friends and family and include new cities in the UK, places further afield in Europe and open-air countryside.
- I want to explore what it is like to have a daily ritual involving something like gratitude, journaling, meditation, tarot or yoga. I have always wanted to have more of a daily routine or ritual that sticks but I find it incredibly difficult even though I know that it could do wonders for my mental and physical health.
- I want to learn what it is like to live alone and move away from home and how I am going to cope with that. I am leaving home in late September to start my degree in Psychology at York University so I am hoping it teaches me a lot of new life skills and ways to adult.
- I want to spend more time with the people I have made friends with since leaving college. I also want to spend more time with my grandparents and make sure I spend time with my close family.
- I want to master a routine of writing regularly. I haven’t kept up with this blog anywhere near as much as I would have liked to and know that not writing for whatever reason is definitely not the way to get a job writing, so I definitely want to change that.
- I want to learn to cook something impressive. I am not a cook and I do not cook, but I wish I did and when I leave home I better learn how.
I am optimistic about my 2018 focus and looking forward to what I do towards keeping my self-belief in mind in my actions, words and choices. I really think this could be the year that something shifts in my mindset and attitude about the person that I really can become and the things that I can achieve.
I hope that people who made goals for 2018 am happy with the outcomes throughout the year and if you didn't I still hope you live the best 2018 that you can. It may be a little belated but Happy New Year to everyone.
Much love,
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