I know this post is a good 8 days late, but I’m okay with that.
Thanks to the wise words of Vix at New Age Hipster, I’m taking the first 2 weeks of January to settle in to 2016:
I really feel like for us heading into the new year it might put a little break on our plans. We wanna be all guns blazing with our new year goals and plans, but instead why don’t we spend January just easing into it? Spend the whole month thinking about what you want from 2016. Finish some books and projects, reflect on the last year and most importantly spend some time just chillin’!
So here we go, here’s my month by month account of 2015 and then overall themes at the end.
I’m not going to lie, it’s a pretty self-indulgent post. But I really enjoy reading other people’s end of year review posts, and it’s been fun getting it all together If you wrote a similar post, feel free to share a link in the comments – I’d love to take a read!
January
- Bought a video camera, which I now use pretty much daily, but never did quite make the vlogs I intended. Jump to November for what happened instead!
- Left 100s of facebook groups, primarily from my student days – out with the old!
- Joined the Green Party in the #GreenSurge but haven’t done anything with them since.
- Played A LOT of Evil Apples with my friends, which has actually made a revival this week, a year later!
- Attended a school friend’s wedding which was lovely, of course.
February
- Attended Lucky Bitch Live and the Lucky Bitch Money Masterclass. Holy wowzers it changed my life.
- Received offers to study PGCE Secondary Mathematics from the University of Nottingham and Nottingham Trent University.
- Lovely housemate moved out, leaving just Emma (girlfriend) and I.
March
- Was interviewed for my health coach‘s amazing podcast, Green Is The New Black.
- Following Lucky Bitch Money Masterclass day in February, I made the surprise decision to close marching zine distro after 7 1/2 years.
- Went to see Josie Long – one of my fave comedians.
- Re-did B-School (and finished it!) thanks to Operation World Domination.
- Attended my final zine fest: Sheffield Zine Fest 2015
- Attended my 7th, and last, NUS LGBT Conference and NUS Women’s Conference.
- Went to London to have a proper photo shoot with the wonderful Will Patrick.
- Also got super into instagram around this time… hence all the photos!
April
- Got a new TV, NOW TV and a better Virgin package – all the TV options and niceness!
- Went to Norwich to film a promotional video for The Pillow Fort.
- Started properly as a Virtual Assistant.
- Got some dream shelves for my office.
- Took part in Bryn Mawr College’s Disability Awareness Week virtually.
- Got to see Nicki Minaj for free thanks to my epic part time job.
- Had my Entrepreneurs with Chronic Illness group featured in Action for ME’s InterAction magazine.
- Started stocking super cute pillowcases.
May
- Started working as a VA for Catherine Watkin who’s become my main client and one of my fave people <3
- Attended #HigherSelfie – the world’s first spirituality unconference and had my first (of many!) great intuitive readings with Vix of New Age Hipster that really confirmed I should stick on the VA route and not do the PGCE.
- Attended my first, and last, NUS Disabled Students Conference.
- Started Systems & Scale – a course of new VAs which really helped me get serious about my VA business.
- Had a lovely day in the countryside with Emma’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins, even if this horse was super gross and sneezed on me.
- Found out my hamster (that lived with a friend since 2014) had passed away
- Got a beautiful VA logo thanks to Meg Kissack.
- Visited Burton Joyce for the first time – a super cute village outside Nottingham that we’re now obsessed with and where we’re going to live.
June
- Had a ridiculously long and tiring day ‘supporting’ Emma’s 20k Cycletta ride.
- Received over 50 lovely nominations for the National Diversity Awards – Positive Role Model (Disability)
- Had a great day at London Pride with Emma and my bffs.
- Almost bought a church in Burton Joyce.
July
- Went to a How to Plan Your Wedding workshop at the National Space Centre by a wedding planner business friend – rather prematurely, I know, but all very useful information!
- Started Fit Girls Guide 28 Day Jumpstart which I highly recommend and have done on/off several times since.
- Went to my cousin’s son’s wedding (he’s older than me!).
- Visited my Great Aunt in Devon for a few days.
- Went to Catherine Watkin‘s Team Day in London and decided I have the best job in the world.
- Was officially fully booked as a VA.
- Promoted the Lucky Bitch Money Bootcamp as an affiliate before the price increased and paid for Emma to join (the most I’ve ever spent on anyone else!)
August
- Went to Edinburgh and Edinburgh Fringe.
- Discovered Zanna, Don’t – the best musical of all time. Full stop.
- Went to Amsterdam for 2 days on an overnight mini-cruise. ‘On the way back’ from Edinburgh. Not to be repeated.
- Had afternoon tea for Emma’s mum’s birthday. Definitely to be repeated.
- Read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo and won an organising session with Dawn Falcone. Started the decluttering. The result of this has been getting rid of about 60%+ of what we own!
- Went to the Kitty Cafe in Nottingham for the first time.
September
- Emma surprised me with a trip to London and to see Billy Elliot: The Musical for my birthday.
- I had a laparoscopy to look for endometriosis. They didn’t find any. My pelvic pains cleared up as soon as I dropped out my PGCE place…
- I paid my deposit to attend a business retreat in Guatemala… but I’m not actually going now.
- Had a lovely spa day at a Hilton to celebrate Emma’s sister’s 21st birthday.
- Added some $ notes to my purse for manifesting, and despite not having been to the USA in almost 7 years, a couple of weeks later I booked a 4 day, 3 night private intensive with business coach/strategist, Makenna Johnston. I’m flying out to Colorado in January!
October
- Went to Emma’s school friend’s wedding.
- Babysat Emma’s cousins for a day, a whole, very tiring day…
- Joined The Conquer Club – a year long, business incubator.
- Took a trip on the new tram in Nottingham with my parents. My Dad loved it.
- Bought a new computer – SO much faster!
November
- Was interviewed on Autostraddle
- Tentatively started back at athletics (I used to be a hammer thrower and shot putter before I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)
- Attended the Female Entrepreneur Association Member’s Club Christmas Party and got beautiful presents.
- Attended Catherine Watkin‘s Selling from the Heart Live event.
- Had an amazing intuitive card reading with Vix from New Age Hipster.
- Finished building my first OptimizePress membership site.
- Joined Jenn Scalia’s Little Black Business Book.
- Ran my very first webinar/online party for The Pillow Fort’s 2nd Birthday!
December
- Got engaged! Eeee! Emma proposed down by the river in Burton Joyce <3
- Went to the #HigherSelfie End of Year Wrap Party in London.
- Had annual Christmas Carvery with friends.
- Went to see Aladdin pantomime with Emma, her mum and sister.
- Ran a really successful 2016 Planning Party for The Pillow Fort (you can still buy the recording + workbook here!)
- Designed Emma’s new Systems and VA website.
- Spoke at UCLU’s #nowyouseeit chronic illness/invisible disabilities event.
- Bought a whole year of readings (an hour a month) with Vix at New Age Hipster (can you tell I love her yet?!)
- Spent my 2nd Christmas with Emma’s family in Banbury.
- Had our 2nd annual Twixmas hotel stay after the busyness of Christmas!
Taken from Unravelling the Year Ahead 2016
What did you embrace in 2015?
- More woo/trusting the Universe.
- Being a VA.
- Lucky Bitch successful life with Emma.
What did you let go of in 2015?
- A lot of physical stuff thanks to Marie Kondo and Dawn Falcone.
- Trying to do anything but being self-employed
- My distro
- NUS Steering Committees
What changed for you in 2015?
- Became a VA! Successful business for first time. Starting to make actual money!
What did you discover about yourself in 2015?
- That I’m a great VA.
- I’m not meant to be a teacher now and my body told me (through pelvic pain).
What are you most grateful for in 2015?
- Finding what I’m meant to be doing for the time being.
- Life with Emma getting better and better.
Where did you practice bravery in 2015?
- Running The Pillow Fort Birthday Party/Webinar
- Investing loads in me and my business for 2016.
What surprised you in 2015?
- Where I’ve ended up at the end of the year and how dramatically my prospects have turned around
What made you smile in 2015?
- Emma <3
- 70-80% of the time really feeling in flow with life and being happy
What conclusions did you reach in 2015?
- Life is much better when you trust and surrender to the Universe.
- I’m not meant to have a ‘proper’ job.
Describe 2015 in 3 words:
- Direction (found)
- Unintentional (growth)
- Flow
If 2015 was the title of a book or the name of a film, what would it be called?
- Definitely Getting There.
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