8 Lessons from 2018

It’s Chinese New Year, an opportunity for reflection and new beginnings! If you want an immediate do over of January 2019 now is your chance!! Jump on Chinese New Year – reflect, refocus and manifest!

1- Self care/ self love isn’t just a trendy topic it’s essential for your mental health.

Lots of people caught on a long time ago that loving and accepting yourself and prioritising your wellbeing is mightily important for mental health. I think I only really fully grasped that and understood it this year! The trend is to categorise face masks, beauty maintenance and spending time on yourself as self care. I think that definitely falls under the umbrella but only paying attention to that part would be a huge shame. Some of my finest self care growth has been found in saying no. In listening it to what I need. To intuitive eating and rest. I have made the most progress in letting go of things I would of previously forced myself to do. Even ideas I forced upon myself. I think the greatest self love and care is in understanding what your inner self is and loving it’s entirety, tune into that to help you decide what you need in your daily life and consider what you can let go of.

2- Loving someone doesn’t mean you should be together.

2018 was a year of loving and learning. Deeply loving someone for me came with the feeling that our individual happiness and growth was more important than our relationship. Although I wanted our happiness to run parallel with each other’s it’s quite often not the case. Supporting someone without a sense of self has helped me to grow exponentially and it’s something that I hope to take with me into all of my relationship be that romantic, friendships or family ones.

3- Slow and steady wins the race.

You hear something all your life and one day you actually listen! It really is the case of the turtle and the hare man haha! I think we should all study up on our fables.

4- I am enough, I’m not broken, I am whole.

What a revelation. I realised this in the last month of 2018 wow what an AHA! Moment. At the closing ceremony of my yoga teacher training we all wrote down things we wanted to let go of. I wrote ‘the belief that I’m not enough, that I’m not worthy, that there is something wrong with me’ I cried some salty hot tears and felt to my core that belief was deeply in there. I walked over to the fire and threw it in surround by thirty incredibly supportive and beautiful humans. I watched it curl up and blacken until it was completely consumed with flames, burnt away and disintegrated. Something happened. Not that day, not that week not even that month but slowly I realised that I had lost that belief and had managed to find faith in myself. I am whole, I am worthy. I AM LOVE. Say it everyday until you feel it. Fake it before you make it! You will get there!

5- Not everyone is going to be on the same vibe as you.

So in terms of vibes I try to uphold the seeing the good and beauty in everything and everyone vibe. Some people aren’t vibeing with my vibes, ya dig! Basically in short if someone can’t see the beauty in you it doesn’t mean it’s not there and how someone sees you does not determine your worth. Your vibe truly attracts your tribe so be true to yourself!

6- 25 is old to some and a baby to others.

This lesson is a goodie. A 19 year old asked me why I didn’t have kids in 2018. I was quite mortified. Dude I am a kid please explain your logic! The truth is age is just a number. The older I get the more I believe this. There’s 70 year old men that I see at work regularly that look at me with puppy dog eyes and tell me to live my best life. Like I’m a little baby deer just learning to walk on shaky legs. In the next breath there are people that look at me and ask why I don’t have a house and a family. I think that when age comes into it it’s easy for people to project their own expectations and goals onto you. Stay strong, follow your own path and wear your years like badges of survival! Levelling up to 26 this year can’t wait to see what this year around the sun brings!

7 – Suffering and pain are the valleys to the tallest mountains of happiness, joy and love.

Yin and yang. Light and dark. Mountain peaks and valleys. Whatever you want to call it however you see it. It’s a huge part of life and it’s something to hold onto when those valleys get really deep dark and icky. You can’t have one without the other and each one teaches you so much. I have grown to love those valleys and experience so much gratitude and happiness even when I’m in them! Balance is an on going life lesson for me that I don’t think I’ve fully grasped but 2018 was full of practice.

8- I don’t need a TV to survive

Ok this is a pretty trivial one BUT it felt pretty huge to me. All my life I’ve had a TV or a tablet because well just cus. Netflix and chill was basically my go to down time. I moved into my own place and because I’m eternally a broke girl I didn’t get a TV. Who can afford all that jazz when they move out alone. Probably people that plan and save to be fair but that is seemingly not myself! So circumstances led me to being TV less and I kind of love it. I read, I write, I discover new music. I’m all round more productive! I don’t have a clue what happening in current affairs but I’m pretty content in my little TV less bubble! Give it a try and let me know how you feel?

Thank you so much for reading this post about my 8 biggest lessons of 2018. Would love to hear about your experiences! Tag me in posts about your lessons or comment below! Together we can be a giant collective – a well educated brain of valuable lessons! I hope the rest of 2019 is fabulous for you in every way!

Happy new year (again)

Lots of love,

Abbey