Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015!

It's such a surreal feeling to say that another year has finished and we are now in 2015. I say this each and every year, that I can't believe how quickly the year has flown, but particularly this year as it was filled to the brim with amazing adventures I will never forget.

At the start of 2014, I was in my final year of Sixth Form. I was completing important coursework for my subjects and having fun with my friends. I was shy but happy as I have always been. It seems so long ago that I was sat in classrooms, libraries and at computers studying and working the hardest I possibly could. I put so much time and effort into my school work. I remember thinking I'd never complete my English coursework and the hours I spent editing my Media productions. 2014 was truly the year I believed in my abilities, both academically and personally. I was so pleased to receive the incredible grades I got, especially being the second person to achieve an A* in one of the subjects I had studied at my school. I got in to my first choice of University to study a course I love. I'm so lucky to be sat here looking back at all the hard work I put in and knowing it paid off. My next chapter academically starts this year in September, when my University life begins. I simply can not wait. 

Without making this sound cliché or cringe-worthy, I'd be lying if I said I haven't changed in 2014. I've always been on the shyer side. Surrounded by friends or family, I'm not scared to be my excitable and bubbly self but, surrounded by a group or new people, I tended to prefer to blend into the walls. I'd absolutely hate talking in front of people, whether it was a whole class or sometimes even a smaller group of 5 or 6. I hated it so much to the point where I genuinely feared it, almost as if I feared them, and would do what I could to avoid it. When I finished school and was looking for a job, the interview stage seemed like a nightmare. My Dad gave me the easiest bit of advice when the appointment for my first ever job interview landed in my email inbox. He simply told me that they were just another person like you or me, not there to test me or intimidate me, but simply to help me show who I was and why I should be the one they employ. My first interview was fantastic, they told me they were so impressed by my personality and attitude as well as my CV and I started my employment there not long after. Day after day, I talk to customers and make friends with the people I work with. After all, they are just people like me, going about their daily lives, and if I get the chance to make them smile, even for a second with a little chit-chat or wish of a great day for them, I know I'm doing something right. Of course, I'm still shy, I haven't turned into a public speaker overnight, but I'm making progress. Even the friends who have known me for years can see how much more confident I am in talking to and in front of people. Because they are just people. Not a jury. And I wish each shy person fearing to raise their hand in class in 2015, for the same reasons as I did, remembers this.

As well as becoming more confident in myself (which, trust me, is far less dramatic than I made it sound), so many other memories were made in 2014. Here are my favourites: I got on a plane for the first time and flew to New York City; I turned 18 and went out to clubs and pubs and had some of the best times with my friends; I went to some great and hilarious parties with my friends; I went on holiday with my best friend to the New Forest and did not stop laughing the whole time; I had an amazing time at a slip-and-slide BBQ, being massive kids and not even caring, with my friends; I saw more beautiful sunsets and sunrises that I can count, laid under the stars and saw animals, like deer and fox, that I had never before witnessed; I said goodbye to friends travelling around the country for University; I went on holiday with my family to a lovely tranquil part of country and relaxed for a whole week; I travelled, by myself, for 3 and a half hours by train to Cardiff to visit my boyfriend, Oli, for 5 days at University and we spent the most incredible time together; I met some new and lovely people; My Mum and I started baking, experimenting with new recipes more often and finally, I spent an amazing Christmas with my family and an exciting New Year with my friends! Even though I have done so much this year, it seems to have flown by in a flash. I just want to say a little thank you to every person who made my 2014 a wonderful year!

So here it is, 2015. I'm not usually one for the 'new year, new me' resolutions and I can see from the year just gone that you can't always plan for change. This year, I'm just going to embrace each second, live in the moment and stop worrying about the future. No amount of worry can change what will be, so why bother? I hope your year is even better than 2014. Thank you for reading this little old blog of mine over 2014, whether you've seen every post or just this one, I really do appreciate it and I hope you stick by me for 2015 too. Let's make this a good one!

With best wishes and good luck for the New Year,

Becca xx

♡