There are very few things I thought I'd ever learn from the Kardashians. How to take a great selfie, how to take a terrible selfie... it was always pretty limited. But in the Kardashian household, there is a family tradition of discussing the 'peak and pit' of each day. And here we are, with Alice's Antics writing a whole blog post based on this concept.
I love the whole 'out of the old, in with the new' idea. I'm definitely one of those people who would never start a diet on a Wednesday- in my opinion, that is literally what a Monday is for. And as much a I'd love to only reflect on the good bits of 2016 and gloss over the lows, I think the most important part of reflecting on the year is in talking about those bits you wish didn't happen, because *cliche coming up, soz* but how else can you learn??
So grab yourself a cuppa (or glass of mulled wine- tis the season), and settle down to read some of my 2016 life lessons.
1. Stop Comparing Yourself
I would say this is the number one, biggest life lesson of 2016, because it's something I'm really really bad at. When everyone else around you has a plan, or a path, whether it's for 6 months or 6 years, and you're stuck in a limbo, life can seem really tough. I wrote a blog post on this, Stop Getting Your Shit Together, and it reflects every thought I have on the subject. Googling your heroes and comparing your life path to theirs, looking at friends lives, listening to how your parents got to their dream jobs, it's unhealthy. You are on your own path, so stop wasting time looking at everybody elses.
2. There's Nothing Tea Can't Solve
This summer, I moved to France for nearly 4 months. The people I worked with became my family. We lived together, worked together, socialised together and everything in between, but obviously not everything can go always smoothly... and for those times when we were missing home, or wanting to be anywhere else but on the West Coast of France, we made tea. So much tea. And I am a firm believer, those tea drinking bonding sessions pulled us through the ups and downs of working a season abroad, even more than the wine.
3. Red Wine is Great
It's taken me 21 years (about 6 years of drinking alcohol), but finally, finally I am a red wine drinker. I feel like I've gone from 0-100 with my love for red wine. This time a year ago, I had my first ever full glass.. and now here we are, and it's the only wine you will ever see me order. It may have more calories, but apparently it's not-that-bad for you, so you're doing yourself a favour really. Go and get another glass of Cab Sav.
4. Vodka Jelly is Not
I don't even want to think about the story which taught me this. Queue a night on the bathroom floor and a 6pm-next-day hangover.
5. Stop Being a Shit Friend and Ditch the Shit Friends
There are a lot of reasons we cling to people. Memories, 'what ifs', but sometimes it's just not enough. This year I've drifted from people who I would once have called my best friends. I just felt like we had outgrown each other, and there was too little in common left to salvage a friendship. If people aren't making an effort, or you find you're not making an effort with people, it's time to let go. You may have less 'best friends' than 10 year old you could ever imagine, but you'll be left with those invaluable, bury-the-body friends.
6. Appreciate Things as They Come
I started the beginning of 2016 on crutches. In fact, I spent the first 5 months of 2016 unable to walk unaided, and let me tell you, that does something to a person. I've always been one of the most independent people I know, I'm not afraid to do anything alone, and yet suddenly I was dependent on other people for everything. But as awful as that time was, my appreciation and value for everything when I came out on the other side, sort of, kinda made it worth it. Okay, maybe not worth it. But I've spent the last 6 months appreciating the here and now, instead of wondering what will happen next, and to me, it's an invaluable lesson.
7. Friend Love is Real, and it's Fantastic
This year, I fell in love. Not in the traditional, omg when will he text me, type of love. But I fell in love in a way I never knew possible. With experiences. With people. With friends. It follows on from the last point, but my newfound appreciation for the small things, encompasses all of the individuals in my life too.I feel like my life has been a bit unsteady in terms of friendships, I had a horrible friendship group at school until I was 17, and then I fell into a group of lovely people but life has gotten in the way and those I wasn't that close to have slowly drifted off. But this year, I've felt more than ever before, how lucky I am. Last month, I cried to Saffron about how much I loved her (admittedly, hormones were flying), when I made my new profile photo of myself and Alvaro I was overwhelmed by how much I missed him (it had been a week) and last night, after skyping one of the soulmates I met in France, I wanted to get on a plane and fly to see her. And for me, knowing I have this incredible support system of friends around me, makes all of those failed Tinder dates worth it.
8. I Learnt to Poach an Egg
Without a poacher. This needs no explanation- this is just the stuff of dreams. And potentially my biggest achievement of 2016.
9. The World is Mad
This year, I feel like the world turned on its head. Brexit. Donald Trump. And the end of the ceasefire in Syria. Whilst everyone reading this is sat in bed at home, or on the sofa, there are places in the world living through a nightmare, and I would argue you should never just 'accept' this, because accepting it, is admitting defeat- but there are things you can do to help.
10. There's Still A Lot to Learn
I make life lists every so often and I love it. But this is the first time I think I've realised, this list is one of many for a reason. Because we are all learning. However much 18 year old me thought she knew everything, the last 3 years have taught me more about myself than ever before. This year has proven to me, life will always have a slightly varied plan to the one you had in your head- so just go with it, learn from it, and know it'll get you where you should be.
So to end, I wanted to complete my list with my peak and my pit of 2016.
My Pit: Breaking my foot- that's a given. The whole healing process was horrific and made me so ensconced in my own self pity, I didn't know how to get out.
My Peak: I want to write about my nights out in France, or holidaying in Marbella. I'd love to talk about getting a 2:1 when I thought I'd fail my second year at university. But I think my real life peak was on December 9th. Myself and my housemates had a Christmas meal, we exchanged presents, ate our weight in food and drank our weight in Prosecco. And then, when they headed out into the night, I popped over to see my other favourite people, where we cried with laughter playing Harry Potter trivial pursuit and watching a film. It's the small things, and it was my favourite day of 2016.
Ciao for Now!
x
So grab yourself a cuppa (or glass of mulled wine- tis the season), and settle down to read some of my 2016 life lessons.
1. Stop Comparing Yourself
I would say this is the number one, biggest life lesson of 2016, because it's something I'm really really bad at. When everyone else around you has a plan, or a path, whether it's for 6 months or 6 years, and you're stuck in a limbo, life can seem really tough. I wrote a blog post on this, Stop Getting Your Shit Together, and it reflects every thought I have on the subject. Googling your heroes and comparing your life path to theirs, looking at friends lives, listening to how your parents got to their dream jobs, it's unhealthy. You are on your own path, so stop wasting time looking at everybody elses.
2. There's Nothing Tea Can't Solve
This summer, I moved to France for nearly 4 months. The people I worked with became my family. We lived together, worked together, socialised together and everything in between, but obviously not everything can go always smoothly... and for those times when we were missing home, or wanting to be anywhere else but on the West Coast of France, we made tea. So much tea. And I am a firm believer, those tea drinking bonding sessions pulled us through the ups and downs of working a season abroad, even more than the wine.
3. Red Wine is Great
It's taken me 21 years (about 6 years of drinking alcohol), but finally, finally I am a red wine drinker. I feel like I've gone from 0-100 with my love for red wine. This time a year ago, I had my first ever full glass.. and now here we are, and it's the only wine you will ever see me order. It may have more calories, but apparently it's not-that-bad for you, so you're doing yourself a favour really. Go and get another glass of Cab Sav.
4. Vodka Jelly is Not
I don't even want to think about the story which taught me this. Queue a night on the bathroom floor and a 6pm-next-day hangover.
5. Stop Being a Shit Friend and Ditch the Shit Friends
There are a lot of reasons we cling to people. Memories, 'what ifs', but sometimes it's just not enough. This year I've drifted from people who I would once have called my best friends. I just felt like we had outgrown each other, and there was too little in common left to salvage a friendship. If people aren't making an effort, or you find you're not making an effort with people, it's time to let go. You may have less 'best friends' than 10 year old you could ever imagine, but you'll be left with those invaluable, bury-the-body friends.
6. Appreciate Things as They Come
I started the beginning of 2016 on crutches. In fact, I spent the first 5 months of 2016 unable to walk unaided, and let me tell you, that does something to a person. I've always been one of the most independent people I know, I'm not afraid to do anything alone, and yet suddenly I was dependent on other people for everything. But as awful as that time was, my appreciation and value for everything when I came out on the other side, sort of, kinda made it worth it. Okay, maybe not worth it. But I've spent the last 6 months appreciating the here and now, instead of wondering what will happen next, and to me, it's an invaluable lesson.
7. Friend Love is Real, and it's Fantastic
This year, I fell in love. Not in the traditional, omg when will he text me, type of love. But I fell in love in a way I never knew possible. With experiences. With people. With friends. It follows on from the last point, but my newfound appreciation for the small things, encompasses all of the individuals in my life too.I feel like my life has been a bit unsteady in terms of friendships, I had a horrible friendship group at school until I was 17, and then I fell into a group of lovely people but life has gotten in the way and those I wasn't that close to have slowly drifted off. But this year, I've felt more than ever before, how lucky I am. Last month, I cried to Saffron about how much I loved her (admittedly, hormones were flying), when I made my new profile photo of myself and Alvaro I was overwhelmed by how much I missed him (it had been a week) and last night, after skyping one of the soulmates I met in France, I wanted to get on a plane and fly to see her. And for me, knowing I have this incredible support system of friends around me, makes all of those failed Tinder dates worth it.
8. I Learnt to Poach an Egg
Without a poacher. This needs no explanation- this is just the stuff of dreams. And potentially my biggest achievement of 2016.
9. The World is Mad
This year, I feel like the world turned on its head. Brexit. Donald Trump. And the end of the ceasefire in Syria. Whilst everyone reading this is sat in bed at home, or on the sofa, there are places in the world living through a nightmare, and I would argue you should never just 'accept' this, because accepting it, is admitting defeat- but there are things you can do to help.
10. There's Still A Lot to Learn
I make life lists every so often and I love it. But this is the first time I think I've realised, this list is one of many for a reason. Because we are all learning. However much 18 year old me thought she knew everything, the last 3 years have taught me more about myself than ever before. This year has proven to me, life will always have a slightly varied plan to the one you had in your head- so just go with it, learn from it, and know it'll get you where you should be.
So to end, I wanted to complete my list with my peak and my pit of 2016.
My Pit: Breaking my foot- that's a given. The whole healing process was horrific and made me so ensconced in my own self pity, I didn't know how to get out.
My Peak: I want to write about my nights out in France, or holidaying in Marbella. I'd love to talk about getting a 2:1 when I thought I'd fail my second year at university. But I think my real life peak was on December 9th. Myself and my housemates had a Christmas meal, we exchanged presents, ate our weight in food and drank our weight in Prosecco. And then, when they headed out into the night, I popped over to see my other favourite people, where we cried with laughter playing Harry Potter trivial pursuit and watching a film. It's the small things, and it was my favourite day of 2016.
Ciao for Now!
x
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