okaybee

2017 has been a challenging year so far…

I have been working in a very tough role in work, working long hours, trying to keep up with this site, keeping in touch with friends who live away, and then of course, my injury and subsequent surgery is still challenging me every day. I think it’s good to be challenged at times, but saying that, I’m ready for things to become a bit easier!

I’m not one for New Years resolutions, but I did make a pact with myself at the beginning of this year that I would only travel to countries that I’ve never been to before. Other than a work trip to London, I’ve been pretty successful with this! I went to Riga with my cousin Sinead, Venice with my friend Emma, and Sölden in Austria with a group of friends from work. My travel count this year is nowhere near the count of last year – that was a little crazy! But that’s down to my surgery and not being able to travel as easily.

I’ve spoken about the injury a little bit in my Sölden post. The surgery went well and I’ve been working on physiotherapy since the accident. Today marks the first week since the accident that I haven’t been on crutches or in my brace. I finally feel like I’m starting to get back to normal after two and a half months! It’s still difficult, I still get really tired being out and physio is hard work. But I’m hoping that I’ll see real improvement over the next six to nine months.

I had hoped that at this stage in the year, I would have my trip to Australia booked to visit my friends. Unfortunately this still hasn’t happened. I think between work and my injury, I have had to put a lot of things on hold. I feel that I need to make a pact with myself that for the rest of the year, I won’t let things hold me back so much. If I want to get something done, then I just need to go and do it!

I still have my list of countries and places that I really want to travel to. Obviously, these are longer term goals as well as places I hope to go to soon. I’ve also added significantly to this list in recent months, I hope to share this new list with you soon. Although it will be shared in a different way to last time!

I have been working really hard on my blog and it’s content this year. Up until my birthday, I had consistently posted every second week. That is really good going for me! I never really had a post schedule as such, it was just as the mood struck or whenever I had a trip and some content to show. Trying, and up until recently, succeeding in doing this has shown me that once I start working on something consistently, ideas start to come more frequently.

I have so much content that I’ve been working on, lots more ideas in my head that I need to start working on, and pages of notes in my phone. I’m really loving creating videos on YouTube. It’s still challenging, but I’m going to keep working on it and see where I can take it.

I also feel that I will be getting back to doing more clothing related posts. For the past year, the focus on this site has really been travel, and writing about brands or trends that excited me, fell by the wayside. Recently, I’ve been getting excited about clothing again. Not to keep going on about my injury, but I think for so long, I couldn’t dress or look the way I wanted as I was in a full leg brace and had my crutches to think about too. Dressing became about being purely practical, without all the fun of wearing something just because you like it. It feels great to get to enjoy clothes fully again!

All in all, while this year has been challenging, I’ve also been very lucky. I’ve been able to travel, I have wonderful friends and family, I’ve challenged myself in work and realised that I can work through problems, even when I’m stressed and tired. And I’m very appreciative that my accident wasn’t worse than it was and that I’m getting back to normal.

I’m more looking forward to seeing what I can make of the rest of the year!

x