We’re Halfway Through the Year – How Are Your 2019 Goals Going? | #ThisGirlEats

Is it just me, or is this year going suuuuper quick?!

We’re already in June (not that you’d know, thanks to the horrible weather we’re having!) which means we’re officially halfway through 2019. If you ask me, that’s the perfect time to check in on any goals or deadlines you might’ve set yourself back in January.

You might be absolutely smashing it so far, in which case – awesome! That’s great. Maybe it’s time to up the game and outline a couple more things you’d like to achieve before the year is out to keep you focused, motivated and on the incredible roll you’re having.

For those of us that aren’t doing so great? Well, that’s okay. Checking in on your goals at this point might feel like extra pressure when you know things aren’t going quite as well as you’d hoped. But it doesn’t have to be! It can just be friendly nudge to get you back on track, the perfect time to set yourself new goals if your path has changed since the start of the year, or a reminder that you’ve still got a whole six months left and there’s no need to stress yourself out.

It’s unrealistic to think that some of those long-term, big-picture goals would be done and dusted by now. This sort of thing is a marathon, not a sprint, and you can always rely on life to throw down some obstacles on the way.

I had a few things I wanted to achieve myself this year. A few of them are going well, but others are still very much a work in progress. I’m happy to share them because I think it’s important to reflect, and hopefully it’ll encourage some of you who might want to do the same to – well, do it.

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BLOG. I wanted to grow my blog and see better engagement, higher numbers and a fresh, new look. Although it’s not perfect just yet, things are definitely on the up! I’ve changed the vibe of my site, found an exciting new direction for my content (hello, Disney!) and have seen traffic increase. I still need to work on my social media and engagement for sure, but it’s going well so far.

Sitting on the wall in Toy Story Playland at Disneyland Paris with my Marvel ears

WORK. This one is a big thumbs down 👎 I haven’t really managed to progress in the workplace this year and haven’t found any new opportunities that really take my fancy either. I’m not going to let it get me down though – I’ve got another six months to turn this one around!

BODY. I wouldn’t say there’s been much positive change here just yet, but I can confidently say that I’ve been so much more accepting of my body these past few months, which is a huge deal for me. I’ve really embraced self-love and felt better about myself than I have in years, not to mention the effort I’ve made to heal my relationship with food this year too. I’m actually getting ready for a run as I write this, and I’ve recently set myself some newer, more specific goals to improve my health and fitness, so things are looking up!

Crispy halloumi bites with a citrus salad and jalapeño jelly

MONEY. It’s no secret that we’ve had some money struggles over the past couple of years, but that has started to improve this year. Things aren’t quite comfortable yet, but we’re in a much better position and the positive effects of that are really starting to make a difference. My main goal was to get out of my overdraft this year; I’m not sure I’m going to achieve that completely, but I do feel sure that my bank balance will look much healthier by the end of 2019.

 

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Stop Stressing About Your Job, You’ve Got So Much to Thank It For! | #ThisGirlEats

We’ve all had jobs we hate. God knows I grew so sick and tired of my last job that I took a temp position with LESS pay just to escape it!

You might be stuck in the job you hate right now, spending your working day desperate to get out or being filled with dread every Sunday night at the thought of starting all over again on Monday, and that’s a rubbish place to be.

When you don’t like where you work or what you do, it sucks. It’s the worst. We spend more time at work than anywhere else so if you don’t enjoy it, it can kind of consume you. You spend so much time wrapped up in all the bad things – crappy pay, bad managers, horrible co-workers, nasty customers, long-ass commute, boring tasks, awkward shift patterns… There’s a lot that can make you feel down about  work. So much so, we often forget about all the great things about work!

I’m not talking about perks of the job as such, but we all go to work for a reason, right? I was really down in the dumps at my last job, but in reality I had an awful lot to thank it for.

While I was working there, I moved out and rented my first flat 🏠 I took driving lessons, passed my test and bought my first car 🚗 I took holidays to Disneyland Paris, Edinburgh, Tenerife and Ibiza 🌴 I set up this blog, paid for the domain and bought all the foodie bits that have gone along with it 🍕 So many things have happened in my life that would never have even come about if that job hadn’t enabled them to.

Alright, so I’m skint right now, but I’m much happier doing what I do on a daily basis and, hey, my current job is helping me out with plenty too. It’s keeping that same rented roof over my head, it’s putting petrol in my car and feeding my recipe ideas, it’s buying festival tickets and saving up spending money for summer days out. It’s keeping me afloat, really.

It’s natural to complain about work, we’d all rather be somewhere else 99% of the time. But to keep it from dragging you down, think every now and again about what your job actually does for you, rather than just the negative. Ask yourself what would happen if you DIDN’T have your job. What would you do if you lost your job? I’m sure you’d appreciate what it does for you a hell of a lot more then.