2015 Highlights and 2016 Goals

Happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely 2015 and are looking forward to what 2016 holds. I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the year and on some of my highlights as well as to run through a couple of goals I would like to achieve in 2016.

Highlights:
Getting into the gym- 2015 has been the year where I've actually found myself enjoying the gym and have been able to include it in my week. The reason I first started going to the gym wasn't actually to get fitter or lose weight or anything like that, initially I started as a way of shutting off my brain for a bit and in an attempt to improve my mental health as well as my physical health and this interest has gone from there, to the point where I genuinely enjoy going and find the benefits particularly great. I never thought I'd be someone who's be interested in going to the gym as I was never a sports fan but I now feel lousy if I haven't been to the gym at least twice that week.
Spending time with Runa- You may remember from the post I did in summer that my friend from Germany came to stay with me for a fortnight and it was such a lovely couple of weeks. It was great to spend time with not only Runa but also the others that came over. I also recently edited a video of our fortnight and it reminded me of things I'd forgotten about and really showed some of the funny moments we shared.
An Audience With Union J- Of course this had to be in my 2015 highlights, the whole night was incredible and something that I hope to never forget. I had so many individual highlights of the evening which you can read about here but all in all it was a wonderful experience.
The Vamps and Union J- This seems so long ago now but I went to see Union J and The Vamps with my friend, Jess, in May and that evening was another amazing experience. Again, if you want more specific details on that, you can check out the post I did on it here.
5 Seconds Of Summer- Despite the fact the experience was ruined slightly due to a seat mix up which I'm still annoyed at the ticket company for, 5 Seconds Of Summer Rock Out With Your Socks Out was insane! I loved everything about it and can't pick out my favourite song from the set as it was all incredible and it's made me very excited to see them again in 2016 with Jess.
Meeting Megan- Meeting Megan was such a lovely experience (although it was also rather brief) as I got the chance to talk to her and do a bit of shopping with her. It didn't feel like we were meeting for the first time (at least not for me anyway) as the conversations didn't take much effort, it just seemed to happen quite freely.
Meeting Louise Pentland (Sprinkle of Glitter)- Meeting Louise was such an incredible experience as she was so lovely and came across exactly like she does in her videos so even though I only spoke to her very very briefly, it reinforced my conception of her as being very genuine and kind and has made me enjoy her videos even more.
University Offers- A massive highlight of 2015 has been receiving offers from all of the universities I applied to which I really hadn't expected. It was such a great feeling knowing that all of the work I'd put in both into my application but also into my school life in general, working up to that point. It made it all feel worth it, especially when I received an unconditional offer from my first choice university. It has definitely made me more excited for university next year!
Friendships- I uploaded a post about friendships in November where I talked a bit about my friendships and the positive place I'm in right now with them. I think this year, particularly the latter half of this year, has been great for developing my friendships and feeling a lot happier in my group of friends. I'm surrounded by people that I get on so well with, that make me laugh and that I know I can trust. I hope I keep these friendships when we all go separate ways to university as well as gain some new ones that will make me as happy as these ones have.
Colour Obstacle Run- I had so much fun completing this run as I got to do it with Jess as well as some of my cousins and a few of their friends. It was great to just let go a bit, embrace the messiness of the paint and enjoy the obstacles and the colour. I would really like to do it again in 2016, especially as they've announced that they will be adding more obstacles and paint zones.

There were so many other things I loved about 2015 but these are the few that really stand out to me and that I decided to mention in this post.

Goals:
Start university- As I mentioned above, I am so excited start university and to experience such a new step that will be both challenging and (hopefully) fun. I would love to reach this time next year and be able to reflect on some of the new, amazing things I've experienced already through university life.
Do well in A2- Taking a slight step back from university, I hope to do well in my A2s in order to help both with university and any jobs or similar beyond that.
Improve my photography skills- Through out this year, I would love to put more effort into taking good photos and editing them well in order to improve that side of my blog as I haven't really had the time to focus on this aspect the past year.

So that completes my goals and highlights, let me know what your favourite part of 2015 was or what you hope to achieve in 2016.

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Love, Steph x