While some are already in their Winter holidays mindset, I am mentally in 2024.

Last weekend, my friends came over for a long awaited PPT party (finally made it out of the group chat!) and our talks on life &c. inspired me to write today’s blog post.

It is important to realise that starting a new routine, a new hobby, or trying to change things in your life to become the person you want to be, doesn’t have to wait for the 1st of January. Change can start anytime, more importantly, it can actually start right now! Therefore, it is time to stop procrastinating and slowly implement new habits in our daily lives for the next 2 months, so they become second nature by January 1st.

For me my main resolution is to develop habits that will ultimately enable me to prioritise myself. Every so often I tend to put my projects, my health and my wellbeing in the background. As Anne Elliot in Persuasion, I like to know that I am being helpful to others, sometimes to a fault because all my energy is used on everyone and anyone but myself. Now we love that altruism, and I wouldn’t change this about me at all, but at the end of the day, it’s important to acknowledge that the first person that’ll be able to take care of you is, well, you.

It reminds me of the reason behind me buying my Canon M5 mark ii camera this year. After wanting a new camera for years, I finally purchased it, not primarily to start learning more about photography and take better pictures for my blog, but because my sister was getting married and wanting me to take her wedding pictures (still can’t believe she trusted me with this, I was so honoured!). If it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I would have bought it this year, which proves that I was putting my own wants and needs in the background, because I really like photography, I love filming and creating, but was not able to get that gift for myself, without I guess a less ‘self-centred’ reason. The objective for the remaining months of the year is to be less reluctant to do so.

Therefore, my resolution to take care of myself in 2024 starts now. Less procrastinating, more doing!

On my list of things I want to achieve by the end of next year:

• Take care of my overall health (go to the doctor, exercise more, find a new physiotherapist, figure out my skincare routine, get a spa day)
• Cultivate and invest time (and money) into my hobbies (read, blog, create content on Pinterest and Instagram, work on photography and editing, resume embroidery and crochet, learn to play the piano, improve my Spanish)
• Plan a Jane Austen tour in the UK as a birthday gift to myself!

Surely that is quite the list, but I believe that starting small right now by doing little things here and there towards those bigger goals will be even better than waiting for January 1st and that ‘New Year New Me’ feeling (that sometimes doesn’t really ever happen).

This post is also your incentive to start your resolutions right now, to stop procrastinating and waiting for that ‘perfect’ moment, especially when at the end of the day, the perfect moment is something that you make happen. Hopefully this blog post inspired you as well.

Comme les magasins qui sont déjà dans leurs campagnes de Noël, je suis mentalement déjà en 2024.

Inspirée par mes amies qui sont venues chez-moi le week-end dernier pour une PPT party, je me suis rendue compte qu’il fallait que je commence dès maintenant à intégrer mes résolutions 2024 dans ma routine quotidienne, au lieu d’attendre le 1er Janvier pour commencer. Au programme : prendre soin de ma santé, cultiver et investir dans mes hobbies et plus largement ne pas remettre à plus tard les choses, surtout parce que souvent « plus tard » veut dire « jamais ».

L’autre évolution importante que je voudrais opérer dès maintenant c’est de me prioriser moi. C’est souvent plus facile de faire des choses pour les autres que pour soi-même. On aime cet altruisme et je ne changerai pas cette qualité, mais il ne faut pas pour autant s’oublier. Ce n’est pas « moi ou les autres » mais « moi et les autres ». J’ai réalisé que trop souvent c’était les autres et moi plus tard (peut-être). Par exemple : l’achat de mon appareil photo. J’en voulais un depuis un moment, mais si ma soeur ne m’avait pas demandé d’être sa photographe de mariage (l’honneur ultime !), je ne l’aurais sûrement jamais acheté, du moins pas cette année. Ce qui aurait été dommage sachant que j’aime beaucoup la photo et la vidéo !

Pour résumer, citons la célèbre philosophe Cookie Lyon: I gotta put me first Lucious!

Ce post sera aussi je l’espère une motivation pour vous : commencez à prendre vos résolutions dès maintenant, à les intégrer dans votre vie de tous les jours, sans attendre le 1er janvier et le « stress » de devoir absolument se tenir à sa nouvelle routine. Il faut prendre les choses en avance pour ne pas se sentir surmenée par la nouveauté de 2024 !