I kind of started the process of reviewing and reflecting on my year when I was a teenager. Every New Year’s Eve, I would check if the resolutions from that year came true and I would set new ones for the coming year. Writing things down definitely has some magic to it (I call it ‘magie pe hârtie’ in Romanian which means ‘magic on paper’). Whenever I look back and read my old resolutions, I notice that a lot of them came true, even though it was only years later. However, soon enough, I realized there was a small chance of things happening if I didn’t take action towards them, so I needed a better plan.
A few years ago, I read this article from Ianca (sorry, it’s in Romanian), which helped me set a clearer and more structured plan for a better year and indeed, I made some visible improvements. But the real deal started in the beginning of 2018, when I moved to Spain to start The AfterCollege Project with some friends. We had no idea how things were going to happen, but we all knew we wanted to make some changes in our lives and we did.
In the first 3 months of the year, I spent my time with 12 awesome people in a gorgeous mansion (we used to call it a ‘drug dealer house’ :))) in a small Spanish town, where all we did was work on our goals, support each other and inspire people to improve their lives. We read and shared ideas from different books, we worked out, we ate healthy food, we cooked and cleaned together, we trained and danced and just expanded our comfort zones one day at a time. The process was challenging, but beautiful and very rewarding! That’s when I really started implementing healthy habits in my life, keeping track on my progress and actively reinforcing a better lifestyle.
My 3 months in Spain were perfect for kick-starting an amazing 2018. I came back to Romania and got ready to spend the next 6 months working in the states. I always get excited about experiencing life abroad and even though it was my 4th season in US and I knew what to expect, the universe showed me that my plans and expectations don’t always match the higher order of things.
From June to December, I went through a crazy journey of self-awareness and had many emotional challenges. I learned patience, forgiveness, self-love and I questioned everything. I had very high and very low moments, but despite all the changes and challenges, the thing that remained consistent was my drive to stick to my habits and continue improving myself. I returned to Romania in December and I took time to reflect on my year, to reconnect with friends and family and prepare for an even better 2019.
2018 was the year when I consciously started working on every area of my life and I am happy to say I made progress in each and every one of them. Before the end of 2017, I had watched Vishen Lakhiani’s video – the 3 most important questions and together with the ideas I learned from Stefan James, I crafted a beautiful vision for my life and created a plan that helped me reach wonderful results in most areas.
I won’t go into all the areas of my life to tell you what I envisioned and what happened, but I will say this: I didn’t achieve everything I wanted, but I did get many more results than I expected and that’s because I constantly took small actions every single day to become the person I want to be.
If I were to briefly sum up my best year yet, here it is:
- I implemented healthy habits in my life and got amazing results.
- I took more risks and challenged myself to do something different.
- I talked less and listened and did more.
- I played with my body and my mind and expanded my comfort zone.
- I invested more in myself — my health, my education, my mindset.
- I stopped taking things so personally.
- I went within and listened to my inner guides more.
- I learned from my struggles and challenges.
- I made many mistakes and learned to forgive myself more.
- I aimed for balance.
- I appreciated the beautiful humans in my life more.
- I read 14 books.
- I lived in 3 different countries and travelled to 1 new country.
- I took 2 amazing road trips.
- I got my driver’s license.
- I donated money to several causes to bring a contribution.
The intention I set for 2018 was: I am only getting higher. It was a roller coaster, but this year did get me higher. I’ve been through so many amazing experiences and I am truly grateful and blessed! It was a year full of challenges and frustrations, but with many lessons and achievements.
In 2019, I want to continue the journey of becoming the best version of myself. I want to learn and grow and get closer to my life vision. I want to fill my life with joy, travel and wonderful people. I want to create more value in the world and I want to fully enjoy the process.
This year, I am here to learn to love it all!
Originally published on Medium
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