Dear lovely reader, here's to 2019!

Dear lovely reader,

First off, don't worry, I'm not going to bore you with the age old cliche "new year, new me" or be that cliche person who thinks they're being anti-cliche by saying that their only New Year's resolution is to have no resolutions...contradictive I know, but there's always someone who's gotta say it.

2018 was interesting to say the least. It started out rough but somehow God managed to turn things around for me. I don't wanna focus too much on the past though, what I wanna talk about is 2019. I genuinely feel like it is going to be a big year for hope, positivity and change. I know, I'm cringing myself out at how cheesy that may sound but I do truly mean it. Do ya ever just get a gut feeling about something? Well I have that same feeling when thinking about the year ahead. There's going to be a lot of light shone in the dark places of some people's lives this year and I can't wait to see what God has in store! When thinking about 2019 I keep thinking of a photograph that I took on a beach in Northern Ireland a few years ago - in the foreground there's lots of shells all sparkling and clean just after a wave washed over them, and in the background you can see a crisp blue sky, with the sun breaking through a cloud creating a flare in the lense. I love that photo and I just have a feeling that it's going to be quite representative of the year to come...for whatever reason, I'm not sure yet. But does that not make you feel excited?!

2018 taught me a lot about how to be my own person, to sacrifice, make tough decisions, think of the bigger picture and ultimately put all my trust in God. 2018 also taught me that I'm a lot more fiery and sassy than I ever would have considered myself to be. Sam knows this first hand but I don't think anyone else does. I become very passionate about injustices that I experience and that other people around me experience. I'll maybe go into it in more detail in another post if you're curious but I just feel that in 2019 I want to do more than simply feel angry, or sad or upset. 2018 gave me the thoughts, opinions and feelings, but now I want to put those into action in 2019 and stand up more for others around me and what we believe in.

With this new found fire has also come a certain defiance to just be myself. I am confident in who I am, what I love, who I want to spend time with, what I want to spend my time doing. Obviously I am not perfect and my life is by no means perfect (because there's no such thing), but I think I'm just recognising that life is short and I want to be living my true authentic self and not be ashamed or apologetic about it...ever! Do you feel that way too? Or do you want to feel that way?

I want to enter into this next year with positivity and confidence that not only me, but also you; my lovely reader, will absolutely own the heck out of 2019! It is going to be our year to be confident in who we are, what we love, what we believe in. We are not going to sit on our butts waiting for things to change or opportunities to appear - we are going to create those changes, actively seek those opportunities. We are going to be strong independent women, or men who are kind and generous to others but also don't get taken for granted. I pray that even though we may face some tough times, we will be able to get up again, stronger and wiser than before.

I want you to be able to take away 3 things from my blog this year - inspiration, motivation and encouragement. My loves in life are baking, photography, social media, fashion and also sharing my life experiences so that's what I'm going to be posting about. If you're into any of that then please stick around. Honestly, I am just a regular young adult bumbling her way through her twenties at the moment but if you manage to relate or gain even a miniscule amount of inspiration from anything that I post then just know that my heart will be happy.

So, here's to a fab 2019!!

- S xo