I want to recap on my 2018. If I were to summarize the year in a few words I’d probably say it was a year of building confidence, finding myself, undoing frameworks, and changing mindsets. It’s been a roller coaster to say the least.
Last month was a really good month for me, and it made me reflect on the difference between myself at the beginning of 2018 and myself at the the end of 2018 and how much I’ve grown. To be honest, I felt like I was at the lowest point in my life in the earlier months of 2018. But by the end of the year, I felt the happiest and most confident I had been in a long time. My mentality shifted a lot internally. I compare my current self with how I was earlier last year and the change is so drastic!
So here is my post on my end of the year recap for 2018. I want to talk about some of my personal achievements and things I’ve learned over the years.
Self Care and Growth
Right after I got back I spent maybe a few weeks to a month crippled with fear and anxiety, helpless & lost. Externally, I made very drastic changes in March where I ended a serious relationship and went from nomading to coming back to the Bay Area.
Beginning of the year in Angkor Wat (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
I felt like I became afraid of everything – I didn’t know if I should go back to a regular work schedule over the entrepreneurial route, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to bounce back from my GAD and state.
But I’m not the type of person to succumb to negative feelings as I enjoy taking action and resolving things. In the span of one month, I bought a car, got a job, a business bank account, and found a new place to live. I even signed up for a life coach for a few months and bought an anxiety program. I read a ton of books. I did all these things because I wanted to do anything I could to change the way I felt. I needed to rebuild my confidence.
And then I started challenging myself in different ways from the Miracle Morning challenge, to learning Spanish, to going to meetups. I took courses on how to live better, and I started writing down my ideal self and steps to get there. I attempted things I thought I sucked at or feared. This gave me perspective that maybe I wasn’t as bad as I thought, and that our traits are very malleable and we don’t need to succumb to limited perceptions of ourselves.
I also started putting myself out there more, taking emotional risks, and confronting fears head on. It allowed me to let go a lot more. It was empowering and gave me opportunities to practice changing my reaction to things. In different scenarios, I could choose to worry or I could choose not to. The more I challenged myself and let myself be vulnerable, the more I improved my mindset to give less fucks.I met someone who really reminded me why my unique traits are great and helped bring me back to loving who I was. And as I surrounded myself with loved ones I started seeing myself in a more loving manner.
I gradually realized that I could mold myself to be the person I wanted to be – externally and internally – if I just put in the work. Human beings are so fluid. That’s probably the biggest takeaway of 2018. At the same time I started learning this balance of self acceptance and self improvement that creates the ability to be present rather than constantly seeking future goals. So this year was less about passive income and passions and more about self growth.
I think the piece I was missing in the past was the understanding of how humans can undo frameworks in their mind that no longer serve us, and recreate new mentalities. And to change your mindset, you can complete challenges and face fear head on.
Recap on things I’ve Accomplished
I’d like to reflect also on my accomplishments in 2018:
- Got a full-time job as a Marketing Manager at a startup
- Got a car
- Created a business bank account
- Moved into a new place (but I’m back home again as rather than renting I’m planning on buying a 2nd property)
- Redesigned my blog
- Created a free opt-in for the blog
- Read the following books:
- The Alchemist
- The Last Black Unicorn
- #GIRLBOSS
- The Miracle Morning
- The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up
- Attached
- (There may be more but I can’t recall at the moment if those reads were in 2017)
- Learned some basic Spanish
- Hit $6,000/month passive income for the first time
- Began making more money via affiliate marketing and started tracking affiliate income streams and logins on a tracker
- Figured out my 25 / 5 / 1 year ideal self and did some strong goal setting
- Started working on building courses (Etsy and Blogging for Money – let me know if you would be interested in me making a different type of course)
Jason (from Frugal For Less) and I working on the Blogging 101 course
- Purchased some new equipment and tools
- Sony A6500 Camera and Lens
- Komplete 11 (for music)
- Thrive Architect
- Did my first podcast interview
- Sold something on eBay
- Bought a ton of courses that really benefited me including:
- Instagrammed for 100 days straight promoting DigitalNomadQuest (finished in the beginning of January)
- Tidied my room, Konmari style
I didn’t realize it, but it looks like I’ve done a lot!
Summary
Overall, I view 2018 positively and I’m really proud of myself. Here’s a summary of the things I’ve learned in 2018.
1. Invest in Yourself
I learned that investing 3% of your income into yourself is a great strategy to master skills that you want to get better in. I bought so many courses and equipment that helped me learn a lot of new material. The new tools pushed me in the right direction of where I wanted to go next.
2. Figure Out Your Ideal Self and Set Goals and Milestones
As mentioned in a previous post, I started figuring out my ideal self in 1, 5, and 25 years and jotting down the steps to get there. This helped make sure I had purpose with each of my actions. By brainstorming these ideas early on, I felt less worried about my life path.
3. Attempt and Complete Challenges
By completing challenges, I felt more confident that I could improve anything about myself that I wanted to. I started learning Spanish every day. I consistently posted on Instagram for 100 days to market my blog. I even tidied my entire room, Konmari style, though I used to be the messiest person you would ever meet. It gave me confidence to know that I can get shit done when I’m dedicated and disciplined, and it showed if I wanted to make myself more fearless or better at speaking (for example), I could absolutely do that.
4. Give Less Fucks
The more I cared less about what other people thought, the better my days became. I’ve decided I need to keep working on being unapologetically me. That can mean in the work place, with my friends, family, strangers, and more. I need to embrace my weird self, and if people don’t like it, who cares? Their reactions are not things I can control. I can only decide how I wanted to behave and think myself. And if something bad happens in my life, I need to understand that it’s not the end of the world. Even if I lost my job, got rejected, cut ties with someone, or my investments plummeted, none of these scenarios define me as long as I don’t let them, and there are still many things to be grateful for if situations don’t go my way. Things could always be worse. WAY worse.
5. Everything Will Be Okay
I’ve learned that even in the darkest of times, we’ll be okay. Always have faith – everything will be okay no matter what. 🙂
Hope you all enjoyed this post. How was your 2018? Let me know in the comments below!
Comments 2
Sharon,
You are an inspiration for so many reasons. I do not own a computer, and cannot print the valuable information you share, but wish I could. I would catalog, so that I organize and try to give growth and potential to possibilities that I have.
Thank you for demonstrating a quality life. I believe It’s not about reaching the ultimate person you desire to be, but the commitment, growth and work continually put forth, what matters. Living authentically.
Author
Wow that really means a lot. Thank you so much and thanks for reading <3