One Sunday morning the UK woke up to a world of snow. It had been so long since I've seen snow that when I looked outside I was taken over by a childish wonder. No one had stepped out of their warm houses yet but I could sense the excitement building from the way that people were talking about it on social media that I couldn't help but feel equally giddy to be out in the snow. It didn't take much encouragement to decide that I wanted to be stereotypical and dress up so that we could take some outfit photos before it all melts away. About an hour later I was ready and feeling pretty, fully layered up in my Liz Lisa coat.
And for a moment, I forgot all of my troubles, and stepped out into the snow.
A few moments in the snow soon took up the whole day as I found myself not only doing outfit photos, but building snowmen and having snow ball fights. You could tell I was quite the novice as I didn't have any of the right equipment for my snowman; for its scarf we used an old tea towel, for eyes we used orange peel, and for its nose an orange toothbrush. But it was nice to take a break from my chaotic thoughts and worries and even my older family members were willing to ditch their responsibilities to spend some time in the snow.
And ditching responsibilities never felt so good.
That's why I am so envious of children – they don't have to worry about a thing! They just go with the flow and they haven't a clue what 'responsibility' means. They don't have to worry about what it means to be someone who doesn't feel good enough in a single thing that they do so that they have to create a busy lifestyle in order to keep up with everyone else. All they care about is that they're surrounded by the people they love and that they're having a good time (because boy do they tell you when they're not having fun).
But even though I do not want to go back to my childish ways, I would like to bring back that childlike wonder in my life.
I want to have fun! I want my brain to tell myself that I am perfectly fine the way that I am and that I don't have to be busy all of the time to fight the overwhelming pressure that I am not good enough. I might not be good enough for some one, but I could be more than enough for someone else, thank you very much. And that's perfectly fine.
Have more fun. Live in the moment and spend more time with people that I love. I have done so much better this year in hanging out with my friends, but I could do so much better. Weekends are weekends for a reason!
Cut down on my busy lifestyle. I am only as busy as I make out to be, and I really want to reduce it so that I don't have such a stressful year. I have already decided that I am going to focus a lot less on my etsy store so that I can focus more on my job, this blog, and on my art.
Multi-task like a queen or kill two birds with one stone in everything that I do. I want to do more outfit photos next year so I need to think of a less time-consuming way to do it e.g. do an outfit post when I'm going out but also take enough photos for it to be a lifestyle post as well.
SCHEDULE, ELIZABETH! Gosh I have never used my full name on myself before but I really, really need to schedule more things and sort out a little calendar or something. My life seems a lot more organised and less stressful when I know what's going to happen in future, and to be honest being less stressed sounds amazing.
Pamper myself. Would you believe that I've never had a spa day before? Nor had a "me-day" at least once a month? No wonder I am so stressed all of the time! I love the idea of just scheduling in one day a month to fully pamper myself from my head to my toes, and just do nothing. My 2018 better involve those things otherwise I won't be a happy bunny.
Have you been out and about in the snow this year? Ditched your responsibilities for a little while? And what are your goals for the new year? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment below! But before you go – I'd love to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful time, and I'll see you next Sunday!
*sponsored item from the lovely Kawaii Gyaru Shop, a long-time favourite of mine who have recently revamped their online store.