Life Update: From Graduating to Dating & Travelling to 2019 Goals

As we roll into February I figure it’s better late than never to reflect on 2018 and share with you some of my plans and goals for 2019.

Sharing personal aspects of my life or being openly reflective on this blog doesn’t come naturally to me. It’s why I suck at social media (and also because I don’t really like it), and why I steer away from writing too much about my life outside of travelling on this blog.

But I feel like I might be missing a trick here…

You see it’s occurred to me that my dating life in London is far more of a source of entertainment for my chums than anything else I have to say. Within my group of friends, I’m one of the only few who isn’t either married or in a long-term relationship and as a result I’ve amassed some rather amusing anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of app dating.

Hmmm where am I going with all this? I supposed whilst I can’t say I have any plans to swap travel tales for tinder tales anytime soon, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to put a bit more of myself into my blog when I’m writing. After all, when I think about all the blogs I like the most, they each have very personal elements and that’s something I’d like to be able to do as well without feeling too cringey about it.

Most important goal I accomplished in 2018

Finally, finally, finally, I finished my MA in Human Rights & Social Justice.

There were times I thought I’d never finish it and there were times I wanted to pack it in, but miraculously I managed to pass with a Merit. Not too shabby for someone who spent a lot of her extracurricular activities in school writing lines in detention.

I’d love to be able to show you some nice photos of me donning a graduation gown and flipping a mortarboard into the air, but quite honestly, I wasn’t down for throwing anymore money at the University. You have to pay to hire the gown and even more money for the photos so I opted to skip my graduation ceremony and headed off to Colombia for a few weeks instead. I can’t tell you how much my feet were itching to go somewhere new.

It probably sounds like I must have hated doing a Masters but that’s not true. It was a hard but rewarding experience and it’s given me more confidence in myself. Now, I figure if I put my mind to something there’s a good chance I’d be able to do it without calling it quits when I don’t see fast results.

I’m not sure if I’ll use my MA by applying for NGOs or charities but at the moment I’m not really thinking about it. The whole purpose of my further study was above all a personal one rather than a stepping stone toward changing my career goals. Though, at least, it’s opened the door to more possibilities that I wouldn’t rule out in the future.

All I can say for now is, without the burden of essays and reading textbook after textbook, I have a lot more time to travel and write on this blog – something I’ve really missed doing.

Goals for 2019

Firstly, before I dive in, these goals I’m sharing with you are not overly exciting – but don’t run away just yet! I am planning to fill this year with more experiences and see more of the world than I did in 2017 and 2018 so expect this blog to get more interesting in 2019. This begins with India in a couple of weeks… 

1. Learn Spanish

I can’t tell you how many times I tell myself I’m going to learn another language and after only a week I pack it in. But this year, I have the time and motivation to really apply myself to this challenge. I’m pleased to say I’m off to a good start too – the Spanish classes have already commenced! On top of this I have plans to visit Argentina and enrol for Spanish lessons there for a few weeks, though I’ll tell you more about this later once my plans are set in stone. 

2. Have a healthier lifestyle

Prevention is better than the cure as they say, and whilst I feel like I’m in pretty good shape I know I’m probably in denial because my lifestyle is, by no means, a beacon of health. 

I spent most of last summer being sedentary in front of my laptop trying to finish my dissertation. During this time I wasn’t eating enough either and my weight dropped to the lowest its been since I hit puberty – 45 kg. I was so preoccupied with trying to complete my work I ended up completely neglecting my body. And after my friends said I looked like I was in the throngs of heroin addiction I spent a whole week shovelling portions of fish and chips down my neck. Equally that’s not exactly healthy either, but my main objective was just to put on a bit of weight and to stop my bootay from diminishing any further haha!

3. Get good at salsa dancing

Ever since I went to Cuba in September 2017 I’ve been meaning to start salsa classes. In September of 2018 I did finally go to a few classes but I’ve not been since I came back from Colombia. I love the energy of Latin America and I think salsa is great way to tap into that vivacity as well as a way to meet new people. This year I aim to attend classes more regularly and really put myself out of my comfort zone by attending some social salsa nights where lots of intimidatingly good dancers go as well.  

4. Read more fiction

I had little time for books outside my reading list at university, so now I’ve finished I want to get back into the swing of reading simply for pleasure. I’d love to read a novel a week but I doubt I’ll have enough time (I’m a slow reader too) so I’m going to aim for one every two weeks. I have plenty of books in my flat that have been laying around unread for years so this goal is well overdue.

I’ve purposely kept my goals to a minimum because learning Spanish is going to be a hard one for me to crack if I set myself too many.

What goals have you set for yourself in 2019?