Right now, there is a lot of negatives in my life, many of which I have absolutely no control over and just need to ride through. I could drone on about all of these, say how frustrating and terrible live is showing that it can be; but if I’m honest its not all as bad as it can seem on the surface at times. Therefore this post is just a list of some of the great achievements, successes, and generally fabulous stuff that has happened to me this year. I was planning on doing this nearer the new year, but you know what?- I think now is a better time with everything I have going on. 1. With the exception of a few anxiety hiccups, my mental health is in the best place it has been for years. I’m now doing pretty much whatever I want to do- work, study, write, and just have a decent social life. At times in the past, these things haven’t felt possible, so it feels great to have things in shape and order.

2. I passed my driving test!!! Well this took what seems like a long time. From starting when I was 17, and almost being scared out of ever driving again, I PASSED! Admittedly it took my 3 attempts, but ha, a pass is a pass

3. So naturally I think I need to mention the fact I have my beautiful car! I have been so lucky in that I was able to go out and get exactly the car I wanted as my first car- able to choose the colour, tech level, and everything else that goes with a new car!

4. I am getting to work with some fabulous publishers on my blog. This has been a dream of mine for a while, and its just great to be able to feel involved with a book before its release, to be able to have a say and spread the word. This has just confirmed to me my wish to work with books or in publishing

5.  I have met a great guy! This was not something I set out to do, just something that (with a little help of a wonderful friend) just kind of happened. With most of my friends being far away at uni, having someone so reliable, supportive and I guess generally hilarious and crazy (even if a little nightmarish) is just so nice. This year would of been so different, and I truly believe much harder, if this hadn’t of happened

6. Although only doing half a years worth of credits, I passed my first OU module with points to spare! After the battle of getting to start uni this was such a great moment, to say I did it and that OU was a good option for me.

7. This past year, despite the many ups and downs, I have really been able to find myself this past year. As I briefly mentioned in an earlier point, I have a much better sense of what I want from life than I did at the turn of the year; I may not have a concrete plan, but I do know that I want to go into the publishing industry- I don’t know doing what, but my work with publishers has shown its an area I want to go into.

Throughout this year there’s many little achievements and positive happy moments, but these are just the key ones that pop into my mind. With all the change, fear, and generally negative events that are occurring in my life right now, I just felt that I needed to put this out there, to remind myself of the successes and good things that have happened this past 11 months.