Happy New Year!

This New Year greeting is a little late (I know) but I still wanted to start off this year's blog content by recapping how I welcomed 2020. But before that, I hope you all had a lovely New Years and a great start to the school/ work year!

The past few weeks for me have been pretty slow yet somehow in a blink of any eye, it's coming into February. I started the year by getting back to work (it's my 3rd year now as a Social Media Manager), catching up with friends, Marie Kondo-ing my mental and physical spaces, exercising and watching kdramas (just finished He Is Psychometric and it's so good). I'm glad I took it slow over the past couple of weeks so that I can be all set to take on the year ahead.

Here's a breakdown of the things I did in preparation for this brand new chapter:

1. Writing a Letter to Myself

I started this "taking it slow" phase of the year by writing a letter to myself, reflecting on everything in the past decade. From being 14 years old in 2010 to 23 in 2019, so much has happened and changed. I've gone through various stages of life, learnt many lessons and it was reassuring to know that through the good and bad I came out okay. It was emotional writing that letter but at the same time extremely healing. I would recommend for you to try it out, it may end up being something you need too.

2. Goal Setting & Writing Resolutions

I wrote out my goals and intentions for various areas of my life (health/fitness, relationships, career etc) and tried to make them as specific as possible. I'm a believer in writing resolutions — looking back on my 2019 resolutions at the end of last year confirmed how important it was for me to have that set out at the start of every year. I felt a sense of accomplishment for reaching the goals I set and also reflected on the ones that I didn't get to. It's something I've been doing for years and will most like continue for the years to come.


A little side track: The planner I'm using this year is from The Paper Bunny. The ones from them and Kikki. K are my favourites so far. If you watched my Black Friday/ Cyber Monday haul, you'd probably know why I love this particular one so much. It not only has the basic calendar and weekly layouts, there are also different activities sprinkled all over the book. There's a Goals page, Habit Tracker, Eco Bingo etc along with different quotes for every month of the year.

3. Tidying up my physical space

Apart from the first two points which helped straighten out my mental space, I also started donating, selling and getting rid of things in my physical space that no longer serve their purpose. It was refreshing to see things get cleared out and I definitely agree that a clean space brings about a clear mind. I never fully realised the extent of how much a messy room and affect our mental well-being but once I started going through and getting rid of things I no longer need or love, it felt so good and made me feel so much lighter. I've been starting to take a minimalistic approach to life this and tidying up my physical space was something that helped push me further in that direction.

4. Prioritise Fitness (Signing up for a 5km run) 

One of my goals this year was to do right by my body and prioritise health and fitness. I've been going to the gym at least once a week and also signed up for a 5km run! To be honest, the only reason I was interested in this particular run was because it is an eco run and if you know me, you know I stand with protecting our planet and anything that supports it. So it was a no brainer for me to sign up for this one! It's going to be a challenge for me no doubt but I am excited to let this be my motivation for working out at least for the first third of 2020.

5. Read More Books 

Last but definitely not the least, I want to make it a point this year to constantly consuming positive materials and information that will help me move forward in my self-development journey. I ordered a couple new books and started reading again after about a month's break. I decided that instead of just letting life pass by and simply being reactive, I want to take on a proactive approach to life and strive for positive changes that I want to see happen. Reading is one way that inspires me and keeps me looking forward so it's definitely something I'm doing to get ready for the year ahead.


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These were the 5 main things I did to get myself ready for the next 11 months. I'm actually glad I took January as the time to prep and recharge; if you've been hustling hard and haven't had the time to recenter yourself, I hope you found something from here helpful and that it inspired you to take sometime for yourself too. Thanks again for being here, see you in my next post!