2019 Wrap-Up & 2020 Goals

Jan 2, 2020 | Other Bits & Bobs

Every year I say, “this year has been a crazy year!” because it always feels crazy. But honestly, this year has been on another level.

I feel like I haven’t stopped moving or working, whether it’s my actual job or my side things like my blog, YouTube channel, book club, or two podcasts. (When I list it all out, I realise just how much I do. Wowzers.)

I’ve been writing these wrap-up posts for a few years now and it’s always great to look back on the year and see how much I’ve done! It can be so easy to get to the end of the year and forget how much you’ve actually done, because 365 days is a pretty long time. These posts are a way for me to keep a little diary of everything I’ve done throughout the year and set myself a few goals for the year ahead.

2019 Wrap-Up and 2020 Goals

If you’re interested, you can read my previous wrap-up posts here:

A look back at 2019

January

  • My sister and I surprised our mum and stepdad with a four-day trip to Valencia for all of us

February

  • Got a new tattoo (I got Thing 1 from The Cat In the Hat, and my sister got Thing 2)
  • Joined my local theatre group, New Venture Players, and jumped straight into weekly (and then twice a week later on) rehearsals

March

  • Saw Professor Brian Cox give a talk in Cardiff
  • Went to V. E. Schwab’s talk and signing in Cardiff Waterstones
  • Travelled to Manchester to spend a few days with my friends, and went to NYA Lit Fest in Preston

April

May

June

  • Started moving into our new house
  • Saw Shrek the Musical in Cardiff
  • My first show week with New Venture Players! Somehow managed show week while working full time, and then performed in 3 shows of Made in Dagenham at the Dolman Theatre, Newport

July

  • Went on holiday to Falmouth, Cornwall for a week
  • Went to my theatre group’s summer ball and had fun, despite feeling a little bit out of place because I didn’t know many people at this point (looking back, it’s crazy how many more people I’ve met just six months later!)
  • Saw Kinky Boots in Cardiff
  • Attended YALC 2019 – my third time at YALC – with my best pals and had a great (but exhausting) time
  • Attended an author panel at Foyles, London and hosted the whole panel recording on my podcast

September

  • Saw Danny Jones at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
  • Attended the first book club meeting at my local Waterstones, where we read and discussed The Handmaid’s Tale
  • Had my first smear test (not a very exciting thing to have on this list, but an important one!!)
  • Saw Little Miss Sunshine in Cardiff
  • Went to my first Swansea Bloggers Collective meeting at Waterstones, Swansea
  • Travelled to Manchester for a couple of days to see my friend Lois for her birthday and celebrate with our other friends Sarah and Sophie

October

  • Saw the NT Live screening of Fleabag at my local cinema
  • Saw another NT Live screening, this time of One Man, Two Guvnors (a show I saw in London a few years ago!)
  • Created my own YA book club at Waterstones and hosted my first meeting, where we discussed Fangirl
  • Saw Tim Minchin live, after about 10 years of wishing it would happen, and it was incredible

November

  • Attended a 4-day reading retreat in the Yorkshire Dales with a bunch of other lovely book bloggers and had the best time (we’re planning another one this year)
  • Saw Peter Pan Goes Wrong in Cardiff
  • Took part in an acting workshop with my theatre group, where we had direction and advice from West End actor Dave Willetts, who used to be a member of the theatre group when it was founded
  • Saw McFly’s big comeback gig at the O2 Arena, London
  • Saw How the Grinch Stole Christmas: the Musical in Cardiff
  • Saw an NT Live screening (another one!) of the play Present Laughter, starring Andrew Scott (who I love a lot)

December

  • My second show week with New Venture Players! Spent a whole week in the theatre and did 5 performances of Peter Pan: a Musical Adventure at the Dolman Theatre, Newport
  • Turned 25!

Okay… wow. That’s quite a list. (See why I feel like this year has been non-stop?)

As well as all of those things, I also:

  • Attended theatre rehearsals once or twice a week for almost the whole year
  • Worked my full-time job
  • Started my YouTube channel
  • Started a new podcast with my friend Ellie (it’s a general knowledge podcast called Let’s Learn About… and you should go and listen to it)
  • Probably other things too that I’m forgetting because this year has been insane

Did I achieve my 2019 goals?

Now is the bit where I reflect on whether I achieved my goals that I set myself in 2019. I just looked at my 2018 post and I was being VERY optimistic in the number of goals I set for myself… jeez. These were my goals from my 2018 wrap-up and whether I achieved them:

Journal as much as possible

Not really. I’ve realised, on top of everything else I do, journaling isn’t something I’m particularly interested in right now so I haven’t spent a lot of time doing it. I did, however, set up a reading journal to track how much I’ve been reading, and I’m loving that.

Learn to drive

Nope. Will 2020 finally be the year I get back behind the wheel after failing my test 3 times, more than 7 years ago?

Travel to more places

This year I went to Valencia, London, Manchester, Preston, Yorkshire Dales, and Cornwall. Not sure if those (except Valencia) count as traveling to more places, but I’m going to count them anyway.

Read more than I did in 2018

Yes! According to my Goodreads reading challenge, I read 20 books in 2018 and 38 books in 2019. I’m hoping to read a heck of a lot more this year.

Up my Instagram game

I guess so? I’ve started making more of an effort with my posts and my overall theme of my feed. I’ve also been trying to engage with people a lot more. I do have an Instagram goal for 2020, but we’ll get to goals in a minute.

Start a fitness/lifestyle program and get my life together

Lol nope. However, joining the theate group has made me exercise a lot more. I even enjoy dancing. Who knew that this would be the year I start to enjoy dancing?!

Declutter the house and learn to live with less stuff

This is something my sister and I have been working on a lot this year. We’re both sick of having so much stuff, so we’ve been decluttering a lot of the rubbish and giving lots away. I even did a big unhaul of almost 60 books recently (I just need to work out where to take them). We still have a long way to go but I’m determined to get there this year and live a life free of clutter.

Finish my first novel and submit it to WriteMentor

Nope, I didn’t have time to do this. I also realised I don’t like my first novel draft very much. There are a lot of things I want to change about it, but right now I have too many other things on my plate. I also have an idea for another writing project which I’m currently a lot more excited about.

Start on a second novel

Nope, but see above.

See more shows in the theatre

Yes, this is one I did do! I saw loads of shows this year – they’re all in the list above but here they are again: Hair the Musical, Waitress, Come From Away, Emilia the Play, Shrek the Musical, Little Miss Sunshine, Fleabag, One Man, Two Guvnors, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Present Laughter. I also saw some concerts, including Danny Jones, McFly, Tim Minchin, and saw Brian Cox live.

Join the local theatre??? (This is a big maybe)

Yes!!! I love how unsure I was for this one but this is the one that has been my biggest achievement this year. It’s the best thing I could have done and it’s made me love theatre even more, meet so many amazing people, get back up on stage, and most importantly, it’s given me a hobby that gets me out of the house and stops me being a recluse. When you work from home you can find yourself not leaving the house for ages, so this has done me so much good.

2020 goals

I don’t want to go crazy and get a million goals like I did for 2019. But I do have a few things I’d like to work towards in 2020:

  • Post consistently and reach 1000 followers on Instagram (at the time of writing this, I have 812)
  • Work a lot harder on my YouTube channel – create content I love and that I’m proud of, and build the number of subscribers I have
  • Keep working on the Let’s Learn About… podcast and post consistently throughout 2020
  • Get the Wonderfully Bookish podcast back up and running again
  • Get better at using Pinterest to generate blog traffic
  • Potentially find a form of exercise I actually like doing so I can try and get a bit fitter
  • Read 52 books

That’s it! They’re not crazy goals and most of them are content-orientated, like focusing on my channel, podcasts, etc. That’s what I want to focus on in 2020, as well as trying to read a lot more books.

So, there you go. Another yearly wrap-up completed. I’ve been so proud of myself this year for getting out there and doing all the things I wanted to do, and I’m so excited to see what 2020 has in store. I’m more determined than ever to work on my goals and make this year even better than the previous one!

If you’ve got any goals you’d like to share, write them in the comments and we can motivate each other to reach them 🙂