So 2018 has disappeared over the horizon and we are looking forward to a brand new shiny and unknown 2019.

A new year is often thought of as a time of reflection and evaluation. I definitely think it is the perfect opportunity to kick any habits you want to kick and look for new opportunities if you wish to do so. Of course you don’t have to, if you are happy with everything you are doing, nobody is going to bend your arm, frog march you across that threshold and make you change everything in your life simply because it’s traditional to do so. It’s your choice. Actually everything you do in your life should be your choice really, because its your life and nobody else’s.

So I’m looking forward to a new year and the new opportunities that this may hopefully bring, but first I’m going to try and summarise 2018 briefly. This might be a little tricky as it was a year of some quite major changes for me.

You may or may not know that I decided to evaluate my relationship with alcohol at the beginning of the year. I had made the personal decision that, like many many other people, I was drinking more than was healthy and felt I needed to do something to change this. I started tentatively with Dry January and it is a decision that I am immensely grateful that I chose. I was wary and unsure whether I was going to be able to even manage that but gladly I’m happpy to report that I did and somehow I managed to survive pretty much the whole year without alcohol. This has taught me that I don’t need alcohol in my life, I can survive good times and equally bad times without reaching for a chilled Chardonnay. Now this might be going against the tide a little but I have decided that now I might have the occasional glass, if I want to.The difference is that I will be choosing whether to or not and I have proved to myself that I don’t need to. If I go out with a group of friends and I decide that I’d like to join them in a glass of Prosecco then I may join them in a glass or two and not feel guilty about it. We will see how that goes…

Another major change for me this year was celebrating my fiftieth birthday. Before the big event I had been feeling a little apprehensive about it.

Great news though! It was definitely the fear of the unknown because once I was there, I realised it was nothing to be scared of. Thankfully it was better than I expected and I wrote about my feelings here So what’s it like to be 50

The next major change for me in 2018 was changing career. I had been in the same job for almost twenty years, which I think is a pretty good accomplishment. I hadn’t been doing the exact same job, my role evolved over the years, but I was in the same school and felt the need for a change. So I put myself out there and hunted and scoured and researched and found myself a little job about ten minutes walk from home. The setting is lovely, it’s on a farm and I am doing admin work and marketing. I am delighted to be able to write on the blog and am exploring the website. It’s amazing how lovely everyone is and I feel like I belong there already. Absolutely everything about the job is new to me so the whole experience is a massive learning curve but I am getting there and embracing the opportunities being sent in my direction. Also how lovely, if I need a little break away from the computer I can go for a quick walk, say hello to some animals and get some fresh air.

Next up, was my eldest son buying his own flat, another huge change in our lives. For twenty eight years he has been with me, growing and learning and now I’m so proud of the man that he has become and his ability to stand on his own two feet, to know what he wanted to do and have the confidence to do it. I am incredibly proud of both my sons, considering their childhood was not what I would have chosen for them in an ideal world, they have both turned out to be kind, considerate human beings, knowing right from wrong and working their way through the world we call our own. Anyway now my eldest has moved out it’s just different, he is only about twenty minute drive away but wonderfully now has his own flat to make into his own home sweet home.

So all in all 2018 was a year of rather major changes for me. Changes and experiences are what mould us to enable us to move through life creating new opportunities and experiences to make us who we are. I guess another point I wanted to make is that at the beginning of 2018, I had no idea what the year ahead held for me. Not for one minute did I ever imagine really changing my job, although I had thought about it. All changes that did happen needed a degree of hope, some dreaming and a bit (actually lots!) of bravery. So we really never know what is around the corner.

Here’s hoping 2019 brings new opportunities for us all!