Its great that I’m seeing so many people posting about how 2017 was a good year for them. I feel the same!
2017 was a very notable year for me for many reasons. I totally changed my interests, my views on what I think is important, what I want to put out into the world and create … this was not a forced change, it just happened naturally within me.
First of all, this was the first year I started to live with the seasons. As in, I became fascinated with noticing the natural changes in my environment as we went through spring, summer, fall. I took pictures of interesting plants and flowers in my region, and tried to learn about as many as I could. I didn’t blog about this too much, because it was so new and overwhelming for me. Like a whole new world opened up.
Of course, I feel like I didn’t notice or learn as much as I wanted to, but the amazing thing about life is that it is a constant renewal and cycle which will start again and you can expand on your knowledge in the next season.
Becoming interested in nature is a different shift from what I originally started blogging about which was makeup and fitness. But I wouldn’t say that it is a totally new interest for me because as a child I was fascinated with plants and folklore, as most are, but of course we get ‘educated’ out of that.
Through blogging about ‘natural’ products and healthy living I started to think it was odd that we place so much value on those qualities, meanwhile we continue to live in an artificial world in ignorance of the natural world.
I also realized that I was blogging about lifestyle products you can buy, because all the advice that you hear about blogging successfully is focused on buying and selling – mostly having a business perspective with your blog.
I found this really hindered on my creativity and I felt like I wasn’t being myself, to be only talking about superficial things like organic makeup or fitness even though they were aspects of my life.
I still like to blog about things that I use or wear that I feel merit attention, but now it comes naturally as part of my lifestyle, rather than products being the main focus and purpose for blogging.
The good thing is, that through experimenting with blogging, content creation and social media, I revived my affinity for art and photography which had been dormant for several years.
In my late teens and early twenties, I had been really into visual art and I used to draw and paint and experiment with taking photos. But I quit progressing my artistic abilities believing it was frivolous and wouldn’t help me in the ‘real world’. (Which is an absolutely ridiculous notion because all businesses use art in some way or another.) And so, I went on and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Politics, which I don’t use now, but probably has helped in a way to steer me back into my artistic and nature-loving side.
Anyways, back to 2017 …
Through being on social media I started to notice that there is a niche of artists and creators putting out such inspiring content that really resonated with me. People that like forests, plants, folklore, the simple things in life or diy and natural home stuff creating beautiful images and art based on that lifestyle.
Through being in that community, and in combination with my desire to learn more about plants, forests and old myths, I feel so much more clear on who I am and what I want to do.
In a nutshell, this year I’ve :
– Taken an interest in learning about nature and creating art and photography based on that.
– Learned to identify a few wild, edible and medicinal plants in my environment.
– Taught myself photography! Okay well, there’s still lots more to learn, but over several months, I’ve learned how to use the manual settings on my camera. Lots of trial and errors, lots of fails.
– Taught myself how to use Photoshop and Lightroom. I went from absolutely zero knowledge in February, and now I have a working level of proficiency in these programs. Not expert yet and still lots to learn.
– Started painting and drawing again.
– Started my first container garden. Grew herbs, tomatoes and microgreens for the first time. Such a fulfilling endeavour!
(Please note that by “taught myself” I mean, watched YouTube tutorials. It’s awesome what we can learn these days at our fingertips.)
So that’s that. I’m not doing resolutions, but rather just celebrating what I’ve accomplished and looking forward to continuing with what drives me.
I don’t think I’ve ever stuck to a resolution, and when I’ve quit bad habits, it wasn’t around New Year anyways or because I tried hard … I just matured and became interested in more important things.
So I’m going to close this off with saying that I have a new energy for life that I’ve never had before. I never felt happy or clear about what I wanted to do when I was a student or working full time in the corporate/hospitality industry and spending too much free time at bars with peers. I was stunted, and I’m trying not to regret wasting time.
Instead, I will be excited about expanding on my skills and knowledge in art, nature and good literature.
Happy New Year to you!
What accomplishments are you happy about from the year?
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