What a Difference a Year Makes
That has been the theme of my life for the last two years. If my lack of posts hasn’t clued you in…life has been life-ing! I've felt like I have been fighting for my very existence…and truly some months I haven’t won the battles but I may have won the war.
In my usual fashion, I take the first three months of the new year to set the tone - I assess my vision board and goals, I reflect on last year’s performance, I decide on my priorities for the upcoming year and I start practicing my habits.
These habits include a daily gratitude practice, consistent journalling, maintaining daily rituals and you guessed it - blogging regularly. I’ve set what I hope will be a very manageable goal of drumroll please - twelve posts for the year or one post per month. doable right? I agree.
It’s been a while so an update is definitely in order - what have I been up to for the last two years, other than fighting for my life? Well, let’s see if I can whittle it down -
I landed my first “big girl job” - I manage people, lead organisation wide initiatives and I send a lot of emails.
I cut my hair (a lot) - I went bald, let it grow, cut it again and on impulse - I relaxed it and I am now rocking a short jet black pixie - a far cry from my natural blonde.
I tapered off both my sleep aids and my anti-depressants - sleep is still a challenge but I keep improving my sleep hygiene a day at a time.
I paid off my car - Irene is mine and mine alone.
I was on TV - talking about thrifting, style, fast fashion and sustainability.
I created content with some of my favourite skincare and beauty brands (belif, Neutrogena, Olay, Estée Lauder and Rare Beauty - just to name a few)
I drank a lot of tea! I’ve always been a tea drinker but I have really gotten into experimenting and making my own blends.
I participated in several successful popups with UltraBaked and I have added new menu items and have ventured into offering catering and meal prep.
I bought a house! This led to me turning into a contractor, project manager and interior designer. I spent over a whole year renovating and I’m still not done).
I moved into said house and have continued to make it into a home.
Now that I’m writing it, no wonder it’s been such a hard time - these were hard things and I was doing them while trying to remain healthy, stay sane, care for my parents and maintain connections and community. It’s been an extremely rocky ride but things I have been imagining my whole life are suddenly within my reach, things that I have been collecting all my life and have been saving for “some day” are now used every day. It’s an almost unsettling feeling - living in what was once a dream but still coming to terms with the fact that this is my now my reality.
It’s also given me the space and clarity to dream bigger and imagine more for myself both in the present and in the future but dreams are nothing with discipline and this year I need to strike the balance to ensure that my dreams do come true.
So come along with me as we tackle this thing called life. Oh..and Happy New Year!
Love and light,
UltraRush
