2017 Year in Review/Looking Forward

dellas1979

Simply cant believe that Christmas is one week away. I think this is the fastest year I have spent on this earth!

If youd like to contribute to this thread...what were your goals for 2017? Did any happen? Any wishes come true? What are your goals for the future/2018? Always helps to write them down, to focus, and to reflect.

2017:
I'd like to start off by saying, its amazing how just about everything can change in literally one day.

This time last year, I was staring out the window of where I lived, wondering if Id ever have my own home...was I going to be stuck in the same place as I had been for the last 7 years....7 more years? By Feb, through an opportunity that fell in my lap (and believe me, this is the first opportunity EVER of something falling into my lap, which made it even sweeter), I was searching for an architect. Ive now house designed, land signed over to me (a landowner!), and awaiting to start the build.

- Moved house, while my own is being built.
- Travelled a little.
- Made new friends. And made one very good one through a sad situation (a break up). They say look for the good in things. I dont think wed be as close if that break up had never happened).

So, in 2018:
- Start and finish the build. And keep believing I can do it. Break the moulds that "women need a man to do these things" - such an old attitude to have. A few women I work with have told me I inspired them. 2 now are looking into building on their own too, and one bought!
- Meet someone special, who is suitable for me.
- Travel a little more (Egypt in January!)
- Find a new hobby
(win the lotto-ok a goal outside my control lols).

Ladies, let me know your stories/hopes/wishes!

_Dara_

2017: Survived another year with the cancer. Travelled places.

2018: Will try to survive another year with the cancer. Will travel some more places.

rainbow kirby

2017:

Trained for a marathon in 10 weeks after a badly timed injury and got around in just under 5 hours, a personal worst
Made another small person and did most of the gestating (I will start 2018 at 34 weeks along)
Had lots of fun with my son and enjoyed his little character really starting to appear - he's 21 months now and really funny!
Did a little travelling, road trip to France with hubby and son in October was a lot of fun.

2018:

Little one arriving mid February
Hoping to do a little more travelling while on maternity leave, we are considering another French road trip where we drive from a Brittany port down the coast to the Spanish ferry back to the UK at Santander or Bilbao.
Considering our options with where to live medium-long term as our 2 bedroom apartment will be a tight squeeze
Be a little more politically active
Survive my son's terrible twos and later evolution towards threenager status!

Sunny Dayz

A good topic for a thread. It got me thinking back over this year and it kinda pleased and surprised me. We had what I think could be described as a year for changes and pushing ourselves outside our comfort zone.

• We got our son into a sports club and he has made great progress, enjoys his sport, has earned a few medals, made some new friends and increased his confidence.
• I joined up with the same club to help out, have learned loads, I've never worked with kids before, I still have a lot to learn and need to work on my confidence.
• We all got more involved in our local parkrun and again have met some nice people through that.
• Our son made to big leap to secondary school and it's great to see so many opportunities available to him, he's made new friends, he's started to learn an instrument, he has taken part in activities and he's represented the school in a competition.
• I took part in my first half marathon, it was quite daunting and I told very few people I was doing it as I was afraid of failure. But I did it!
• I found myself making a few friends, well close acquaintances really but I've pushed myself forward a bit and have gone on social nights with people and got to chat and know them a bit better. Might not sound like much but it feels big to me.

I think for the first time I'm apprehensive about what the next year will entail. My husband is being made redundant next year as his department is closing. We will be starting the new year not knowing when the dept will close or what his redundancy package will be so we can't really plan our year ahead for 2018 cos we don't know when he will be finishing. Also he can't start job hunting or consider retraining or returning to education until that's sorted.
Also we got bad news recently about a relative so that's a bit strange going into the new year knowing I'm probably going to have at least one funeral ahead of us.
But on the upside we have a family wedding (and the hen) to look forward to in the summer. Any family occasions we have are always the best craic so I'm really looking forward to this, I think they are going to put on a great wedding.

sullivlo

I agree. It feels like time has flown.

What were your goals for 2017? Did any happen? Any wishes come true?

I had mapped my goals for 2017 here: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=102137029&postcount=10

Did any happen? A few. Actually most of them, bar the weight loss and physical goals. But I know why they failed, and some were as a result of other things going well...

Did any wishes come true? A wish I didn’t know I had came true. I somehow landed my dream job, by chance. Right place, right time. It’s only until June, but hopefully another opportunity will arise then.

I left academia and I went back to college. After my placement I was given an opportunity to stay on for a few months, and now I’m like a sap smiling thinking about how happy I am

It was a bittersweet year though. As I made the transition from work to student a very good friend of mine died. Her death hit me hard. Then I was in an accident on my bike, which set me back again. Health has not been amazing, an operation in November will hopefully have worked but only time will tell.

Despite this though... for the first time in I don’t know how long, I am content.

What are your goals for the future/2018? Always helps to write them down, to focus, and to reflect.

I have similar goals next year, but more achievable given I’ll be working, studying and doing the research for my masters dissertation... I don’t think I’ll top 3,000km on the bike, but I’ll keep at it. I might not make an Olympic triathlon, but I’ll do a sprint. Bite size chunks, with a lot of fun in between

metaoblivia

2017:

• Performed in my first opera
• Went to Ireland for the first time and met my half-aunt (my father's maternal side) in Dublin for the first time as well!
• Went to my first gymnastics world championships (as a spectator) in Montreal (and went to Canada for the first time)
• Lost a little bit of weight and saved some money by doing good on my vow to make lunch instead of buying it every day in the city
• After a lot of research, I learned the identity of my father's biological father. Dad was adopted and his bio mom put down the wrong name on the birth cert, so it took DNA testing plus some research/asking strangers awkward questions to figure out the truth.

2018:

• Going to Hawaii in April! My father's bio father was from there, so it's part holiday, part "finding my roots." Hawaii's not a bad place to have family/roots!
• Hopefully will perform in my second opera this summer
• I want to write more on a story I started earlier in 2017 with the hopes of taking a completed draft to a workshop in Dec 2018.
• Toying with the idea of starting a podcast side project. We'll see how if I have the discipline to pull it off.
• I have some financial goals to save money and hopefully take a big chunk out of my car payment this summer.

eviltwin

The only thing I really wanted for this year was to get a new job which I did.

No real plans for next year. Maybe learn how to manage my time a bit better. I'd also like to start being a better friend. With the new job I have been really neglecting them and so I hope to be more available.

supermouse

I These Threads! I stated in January the following:

Health
1. Find out WTF is wrong with my RO. Get my period back! Tick. Quit my job, left my home country and began drinking again - 4 weeks later period came and has been regular ever since... WOOHOO!
2. Increase consumption of organic produce; 1 vegetarian day per week. DECREASE caffeine consumption. Tick food wise, untick coffee wise. Completed almost 9 months as a vegetarian now, with as much veganism as I can do in South America.
3. Complete my 19 week hypertrophy strength programme. Nope.

Finance
1. STAY ON TRACK! Revisit my budget on a weekly basis. Tick.
2. Just 1 meal out per week, just 2 take away coffees per week. Tick.
3. Setup a pension (vomit) without it impacting my target savings goal. Nope.

Personal
1. Increase my time spent on hobbies. Reading, surfing, knitting... all of the above. Stop wasting so much time being a lazy stones. Tick.
2. LESS SOCIAL MEDIA TIME......!! Untick.
3. Do it. Get the HUGE tattoo on your bicep. Why not?!Tick.

2017 was one of the best years of my life. I qualified as a yoga teacher, got a half sleeve tattoo and commenced 365 days travel on my own through Latin America. Oh, and quit a job that had been stealing my soul for 3 years in order to trapse around said continent

2018 for me will be the remainder of my travel (I am in Ecuador and I have 6m to get to Cuba!), in April I begin my nutrition certification. In March I begin my next phase of yoga teacher training. In December I am BRIDESMAID for the first time and I will also move home to Ireland after being gone almost 16 years.

Ah. 2018. I am excited for you! Xx

bee06

New Year’s Eve 2016 I was in the middle of fertility treatment and my only hope for 2017 was to get pregnant.

New Years Eve 2017 I have just got our 2 day old boy off to sleep and I’m praying he doesn’t wake up again. Life is good.

Hopes for 2018 are to be a good mom. Simple as that.

Roesy

To be honest I’m glad to see the back of 2017. Much of the early part of the year was spent having neurological symptoms investigated. Thats ongoing but looking less likely to be anything too sinister. As things began to settle in that department my mother was diagnosed with cancer. Four months later during her last chemo we were given the news that she actually had a second type of cancer as well. She has faced the challenges these two diagnoses have presented with strength and determination and it looks like she’s coming out the other side of it now.

2017 wasn’t all bad. I returned to work after having my third baby and all the nerves and fear I had about how we were all going to settle into the new routine were unnecessary. Work is going well and my hours are conducive to family life, especially as my husband has gone part time to be at home more for the kids. The kids are a constant source of joy to me even though they can be very full on at times! Having three so close in age can be tough but it’s lovely to see them together and enjoying each other’s company(when they aren’t killing each other!).

My goals for 2018 are to build my fitness levels back up, reintroduce two vegetarian days a week to our family diet and scale back my use of technology for entertainment. I’m spending too much time idly browsing the internet and social media.