2017 was a weird year in many ways that I won't dwell on - lots of anxiety and stress and a severe lack of confidence. All the more reason to make 2018 a better year! And some exciting but scary things are going to happen in 2018! I will be moving out of my current apartment (since my co-renter is leaving I will have to find something as well) and I'll be writing my thesis and hopefully graduate and find a nice job somewhere! How crazy is that?
To improve my 2018 and make it significantly better than 2017, I've come up with some New Year's Resolutions and Goals. 1. Get my driver's license and buy a car - this is quintessential to the moving to a new apartment-plan, since the city I might live in is a half hour's drive from the city where I have my driving lessons. 2. Move out and get my own apartment - whether this be with my sister or with my boyfriend or on my own, I am moving to a new place and it's going to be stressful but rewarding, and I'll finally have a place that's 100% my own and I won't have to deal with flatmates! How exciting! I haven't found anything yet, and it'll be six months still before I'll have to move out, but I'm looking around just because! And that's so exciting! Have my eye on a new building complex which looks great! Eeek! 3. Write an awesome thesis and graduate - I'm as we speak planning a little bit of a course next semester that is about thesis preparation - as a part of it I'll have to read a classical text independently and I've decided to read a part of Tacitus' Annals because I want to write a thesis about historiography. So that's finally taking some shape! The exact theme of my thesis I'm not sure about yet. I don't know if I want to focus on one emperor in particular and research about him, or if I want to do something more thematic through the entire text. The role of women in the Empire is something that I think would be very interesting! Excited! 4. Read more about anxiety and ways to deal with this - I'm currently reading The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a Fuck by Sarah Knight, and while the message is probably alright, I'm not such a big fan of the language and style. Too much 'don't you fucking dare to give a fucking fuck of a fuck about that fucking thing', I prefer normal words. But anyway, I'm just flipping through and seeing if I can read through the fucks. Additionally I ordered The Anxiety Solution by Chloe Botheridge, which I read a few pages from when I saw it in a bookshop. It seemed more my kind of style. So we'll see. But at the moment I'm letting my anxiety dominate a little too much and I need to get it more toned down! So that's a goal for next year! 5. Become more decisive - this of course relates to the previous resolution, but I made it a separate point because this is really my number one issue in life. I'm always trying to not-offend anyone by making everything their choice. A 'what do you want to eat'- is just about the most difficult question in the universe. I'm joking of course, but only partly. I've really experienced a lot of difficulties with decision-making this year, ranging from the food-question to what I want to do after I get my BA. For now my post-BA plans are not to do a MA immediately just because I don't know what MA I would like to do. But I think becoming more decisive will massively improve my life in 2018. If anyone has tips on this, you know where to find me! 6. Say 'yes' and 'no' more - get off your lazy ass and go out with people when they ask you. Quit with the anxious thinking and just go and have fun. On the other hand, say no more when people ask you to do things you don't want to. Tadaa, it's easy. 7. Become active in politics - I come from a political nest and I've always been proud of my political stance. This year I hope to become active with a political party because I would really like to be a local politician one day. I might start helping with campaigns or do administration or whatever. Just anything would be fun I think! 8. Don't stress out so much and just have fun - often my worries get in the way of having fun, and I'll get massively stressed out and my (and other peoples') day gets ruined. This is so unnecessary when I could just be having fun! Have more fun! This is my ultimate New Year's Resolution! I'm excited to see what 2018 is going to bring me. For sure it's going to be better than 2017. There may be stress and anxiety but a lot of awesome things as well and I mean to focus on them! Best wishes to you all, Vera
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October so far has been a pretty amazing month. We've had the most glorious after-summer weather, we've had big autumn storms, and now in the last couple of days we've had the inset of those bleak pre-Christmassy autumn days. Lovely. So what have I been doing in these past few weeks?
First of all, as a general theme for (September and) October, my boyfriend and I have been visiting Dutch castles (aka wedding venues). Oh yeah, the British don't have complete monopoly on aesthetically pleasing country houses. We've been visiting a lot of them the past couple of weeks, and this month we've been to Slot Zuylen..... |
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