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What 2017 Taught Me

This kind of leads into my next lesson which is to…

Prioritise

I’ve learnt the hard way that its better to give your all to fewer things than to spread yourself thin over many. In the later part of 2017, I was trying to do too much and wound up unhappy and irritable. I felt like I had no time to do anything that I actually wanted to do, as all of my time was already committed to work or education- the things that I’d told myself I had to do. Sometimes its okay to turn down opportunities in order to thrive in other ways.

There’s no point in doing something unless you do it properly.

I’ve also learnt that prioritising career opportunities is really important. I was open to working alongside everything else going on, but I turned down jobs because they weren’t right for me at that time. They were too many hours or too demanding for not enough pay… you get the gist. I’ve now found a job that I’m starting in the new year that is exactly right for me, the hours are on my terms and its something I want to do. Sometimes prioritising yourself and saying no is the only way to allow better opportunities to fall into place.

Regaining Self Worth

By learning the above lesson and allowing myself to say no sometimes, I gained an odd sense of power. There are people in every walk of life, who will take advantage of your willingness to say yes if you let them. These people could be your boss, a friend or relative, the lesson is the same- don’t let them! One day, someone pushed me a little too far and asked too much of me and I said no! It was that easy. I realised that saying yes all this time hadn’t helped me in the slightest. It wasn’t appreciated, I wasn’t paid more, and I didn’t even get so much as thank you. My happiness and my health are more important than a job and the momentary offence of someone who I’ve had to politely turn down. I’m worth more, and so are you.

Don’t Copy or Compare

I’m a social media addict. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter obviously have their own benefits, but they can also be a catalyst for comparison. Its so important to remember that everyone is different. A picture on Instagram may have 70k likes but you think her dress is hideous!? The one of the cute shoes only has 20 likes!? People have different likes, different interests, different situations and different goals.

Being able to take inspiration from other people online is definitely a benefit. Draw a line: comparing yourself to them is silly and guaranteed to make you think negatively about yourself. People are ready for different things at different stages of their lives. You don’t know their struggles and the less time you spend trying to compare yourself to someone, the more time you have to work on yourself. This year I’ve spent so much time comparing myself to people. People who were in my academic year and have graduated before me and the blogs of people whose sites have been established over years rather than mine which was started a matter of months ago. Its absolutely pointless! Be confident in yourself and your decisions, all you can do is try to continue to improve on yourself.

I know that none of these lessons are exactly groundbreaking. I do hope however, that they help you in the way that they helped me. They’re reminders to put yourself first, to re-evaluate and to make the changes you need to.