to review 2014

This week at My Home Truths we are sharing our favourites post from 2014. I thought I would take this opportunity to do a bit of a recap of my year by sharing my top 5 posts of the year. These posts happened to be 5 highlighting events of the year as well as my most popular posts of the year. So in no particular order really here goes.

5. Sharing my secret
A few weeks ago I confessed that I had a secret and last time I linked up with Kirsty I revealed that secret and a slight weight lifted off my shoulders. I was super excited about the positive feedback and encouragement I got from my blogging friends and if you commented then I truly thank you for your support. I think reality hasn't set in just yet and it will be some time before it does, but I am nervous and anxious and excited about times ahead all at the same time! (if you don't know what I am talking about then you'll have to click the link above to find out!)

4. Trip to Vietnam
Without a doubt an absolute highlight of my year was my trip to Vietnam during the September school holidays. Not only did I met some truly awesome people, I also ate something I never thought that I would, and just got totally absorbed by the whole country. They are truly lovely and amazing people who live very simple lives with such gusto! I still feel like I have so many stories and photos to share with you from that trip! The trip was also a precursor for what I want to next year and it certainly confirmed my decisions!

This made me smile and feel like a Queen in Vietnam!



3. ProBlogger
Again another highlight of the year in a very overwhelming kind of way! Prior to January 2013 blogging was something I never really gave a second thought to, let alone knew there was a whole conference attended by 100's of people dedicated to the cause! It really was a nerve racking, eye opening, overwhelming, awesome experience.

Janet from Middle Aged Mama, Marleisa from This is Who I am.. and I catching up over lunch at ProBlogger!

2. A to Z Challenge
I was crazy enough to sign up for the A to Z Challenge in April, where every day for the month (with the exception of Sunday) you blogged about something to do with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. A lot of people chose a theme in an attempt to make it "easier". I chose to blog about me and my life as a teacher. The link will take you to my wrap up post at the end of the challenge. So if you are new around here and want to know more about little ol' me, that's bound to answer pretty much all of your questions!

 

 

1. Remembering Kathy
This was both one of the hardest posts I've ever written and also my most read post of all time. On the anniversary of her passing I shared my recollections of the days prior and post losing my beautiful sister Kathy to cancer back in 2006.



2014 has been another year where goals seemed to go unmet and it would be easy for me to be a bit doom and gloom about all of that, but the beauty of blogging is that you do have a record of all that you have done so it's been good to look back and see what has happened and what I have achieved. I am not sad to see the end of this year though, I am definitely ready to move on to bigger and better things and excited about what 2015 has is store for me! I look forward to sharing the journey with you!

Linking up this 2014 wrap up with Kirsty from My Home Truths and Alicia from One Mother Hen.

to share my secret..

A few weeks ago I confessed I had a secret...or rather information that I was with-holding. Well I am now ready to share that information.

But first, this week Kirsty is asking us to be a bit reflective on 2014 which has kind of worked out well for me as it links in with everything else I wanted to share today.

I looked back at my goals for 2014 and I am a little disappointed to say I don't think that I really achieved any of them.

Twenty-fourteen has been somewhat of a stepping stone year to what I have planned for 2015 so whilst it's disappointing to see so most of those goals unmet, a lot of what has happened this year has paved the way for what is to come.

One thing that happened this year was that I attended my first ever ProBlogger Event.

I walked down to the beach early the morning after the ProBlogger Event finished and while I sat watching the amazing sun rise I drafted the following on my phone....

'To have a blog I love I need to have a life I love... To have a life I love I need to change it... Who am I to write a blog about life when I hate my life**... I know there is good in my life, I know there is so much to be thankful for, but for the most part... I hate it**

This morning waking up at 5:50am like I do most mornings so many thoughts and reflections are starting to happen. The last 3 days have passed in an amazing blur of information and I have reached a point where I really think things could go either one of two ways...I could throw my hands in the air and walk away... Who am I to think I can make it in this world, and do I even want to, why am I even here? Or I could shout "Bring it on!" from the rooftops and really try and make something of this...

And like so much of my life, if you were waiting for an answer it would have to be "I don't know"... Is it the fear of failure that's holding me back or is it that it's not what I really want... I don't know...

Over the last 2 days when people have asked me what I blog about I had no real answer for them. I mumbled something about it being about whatever I wanted, whatever I felt like...I told people it started off the back of doing Michelle Bridges 12wbt, but if the truth be known I look back and I know that I even failed at that. Sure I reached my goal weight but I didn't stay there for long, my body didn't transform and it didn't 'change my life'... I do so many things in my personal life half hearted. Mostly I think because of fear... Fear I'll get it wrong, fear I'll offend or hurt someone, fear of failure... fear that it's just all too hard so I should just stick with what I know...'

**Hate is a very strong word and I considered changing it but obviously that's how I felt at the time...looking back it was a bit harsh!


I had already started making plans to make some changes in my life but it was like ProBlogger just confirmed it for me. So here goes...

*I've sold my house.

*I've sold a fair chunk of my belongings.

*I've quit my job (well not really but I've taken leave for 2015 but "quit my job" sounds so much more brave and dramatic)

*I've joined a travel blogging course.

*I've upgraded my blog a little bit (did you notice?)

*I've booked my flights.

*I'm heading overseas.

Each time I've travelled overseas I've come home with a burning desire to go again, I've come back with a strong desire to change my life and I've started researching other jobs because I've known for a long time how unhappy I've been. I've often said to friends and family that I wish I could be one of those people who sell everything a just go...but I've never actually done it...that is, until now...so that's (kind of) what I'm doing.

Image Source

And so while I will confess to being a little bit anxious and scared about what next year (and beyond) will bring I have decided to just let what will be...be, and see where it takes me.

Stand by for future posts about what I have planned for the year ahead and why.

Linking up with Kirsty from My Home Truths and Alicia from One Mother Hen!

to confess..

I have a secret....

Well by definition it's not technically a secret as some people do know..

It's more I suppose that I am withholding information from certain people. 

I have a plan, something I'm working on behind the scenes, something I've been researching and plotting and preparing for for some months now that mostly only my nearest and dearests know about so far. 

But it's getting harder and harder to continue to withhold this information. 

I must confess I've probably spent hours thinking about when and how I'm going to share this information and wondering why it is taking me so long to just say it and what all the fuss is about.

I must confess I think it's because once it's out there, there is no turning back, it will become real and I am worried people will start to treat me differently. I know that people will have questions that I don't have the answers to, I know they will want to know why and I think they will judge me and think that I am crazy, irresponsible..or both! I think it's fear mostly. At the end of the day I have to remember that this is about me and me alone, not them.

I know once it's done there will be a big weight lifted off my shoulders and people probably won't even care and it won't affect them as much as I think it will but for some reason that is not helping the words come out of my mouth.

How do you handle sharing difficult news? Hold on as long as possible or blurt it out and get it over and done with? 

Linking up with Kirsty from My Home Truths for I must confess** and Alicia from One Mother Hen for Open Slather! Check them out while you're here! 

**Kirsty had asked us to confess our pet tales this week... I must confess I am a terrible pet owner, have had a dog and a cat in my time and neither have lived to tell the tale :( 

And now I do not have a life conducive to owning a pet :(