HAPPY NEW YEAR! HAPPY 2017

It's great to be back to a routine after three weeks of prepping for interview, travelling and eating my heart out at Christmas. I'm finally back in Leeds in my apartment and slowly getting back to a routine. I like the New Year! It makes me feel like I'm born again. Like every 'wrong' thing I did the year before have been scrapped and I now have a fresh page to start all over again.

2016 was actually a brilliant year for me, for a lot of different reasons. I finally made the decision to get back to blogging and for once I actually stuck to it for a full year. I did a lot with my blog this year than I ever had in the past 3 years and I hit a lot of milestones and exceeded expectations I set for myself - 27K+ views on the blog and 1K+ followers on instagram to me is mind blowing. I never thought I could achieve this much in one year.

I don't talk about my personal life in detail here on the blog as I try to stick to makeup and fashion related topics but I'm super proud of this one. Aside the blog, I have a normal 9-5 job just like the rest of you and last year I managed to bag myself a promotion after a very challenging and hard working year. Super thrilled and ecstatic about this achievement. Massive pat-on-the-back for this. Time to turn the dial even higher, aim higher, work even harder and achieve greater things!

Now I'm nowhere near where I'd like to be with this next thing but I'm working extremely hard this year to get there. End of 2016 was the very first time in a long time that I finally really loved me. I'm laughing just writing this sentence because I know how silly it can sound to some people and I'm not by any means narcissistic but just like most people out there, I was used to comparing myself to people.....a lot! It just took me like what....10 years to not just accept me but to love every single bit of me. My figure (especially my figure!), my beauty, my career, my faith, basically every thing that makes me, me. I can't really step you through how I got here because I don't 100% know how, but it does take a lot of patience and persistence. 

Now don't get me wrong, I still compare my life to others. It's hard not to. We are human and we are kind of programmed to do so, plus social media doesn't make it any easier. But the difference now is that I look at people as an inspiration for my life. As much as I'm content with my life, I still want better for my life. So if someone's life inspires me, rather than feeling sad about not having what they have and complaining about what a bitch life is (and life sure is a bitch), I think what can I do to get to where they are and better. This is one of the things I learned from 2016 that I will be taking with me to 2017. 

But all that said, one of the most important things I learnt this year or should I say last year, was to trust in God's timing and that sometimes what YOU want is not what God wants for you. 99.9% of the time (and that 0.1% is for you non-believers 😊 ) what God wants for you is far better and greater than what you want or think you need for yourself. You don't have to take my word for it. Just try it for yourself.

As a nation, 2016 may have sucked, but for me as an individual 2016 was great! All of this makes me more excited for 2017. Now I don't do New Year Resolutions but a friend of mine taught me something last year that I'm going to try out this year (Thank you Faisal 😉 ). Basically you pick one word that summarises what you aim to achieve in the year and that becomes a constant reminder and guide in the decisions you make throughout the year. So for example my word for 2017 is IMPROVEMENT. I plan to improve myself this year and I know that's very generic but that's the whole point. This word embodies everything I plan to do this year. All the places I want to visit, all the new skills I plan to learn, the decisions I make in my career, my relationship choices, every decision I make, every step I take should take me towards being a better me. An improvement of myself.

So here's to 2017! Here's to setting goals and working extremely hard to achieve them. Here's to trusting God to take the wheel in your life. Here's to a healthier, wealthier and all round a happier year.

Happy New Year! God Bless You and I love you for stopping by...

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