2018 has been a crazy year. When I look back on what I had accomplished in 2016, including toasting my New Year in Athens, completing a Linguistics course in Canada, and interviewing for and beginning a teaching job back in Korea, that had been the most hectic and productive year to date.
But 2018 has also been very productive. I can say that I’m truly proud of myself, and this was largely due to a catalyst moment back in 2017 which ignited my interest in self-development and learning to master my emotions.
After nearly making myself ill after a romantic heartbreak, I decided to learn how to construct a life where I had more control over what happens to me and how, and manage my behavior and emotions mindfully to feel happier overall. This is still very much a work in progress, and I’m slowly building the habits to create my idea of a successful life.
Without further ado, here are my achievements for 2018.
PERSONAL
- I’ve developed more self-confidence.
- I have not put pressure on myself to date, or allowed social ‘norms’ to influence my decision to be single. I’m happy being single for the first time in my life, and am learning how to validate myself, and not search for validation from a partner.
- I improved my eating habits, reduced my alcohol intake, and have a sleep routine to optimize my energy the following day.
- I traveled to four countries, including Italy, Spain, England, and the Philippines. The challenge and adventure of travel is my drug. I feel hyper alive when I travel.
- I consciously left an un-supportive romantic relationship and decided to surround myself with supportive people.
- I saved funds for my year-long trip through Asia.
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
- I applied serious time management, dedication and focus toward my goals and learning skills, daily working before and after my regular teaching job.
- I developed more confidence speaking on camera.
- I interacted briefly with mentors I seriously respect, Tom Bilyeu, Stefan James, Patrick Bet-David, and Evan Carmichael.
- I tutored doctor Ahn, and learned more about digestion and IBS.
- I’ve establish a morning routine which is proving very effective for me, and I’ve stuck to it religiously, with very few interruptions.
- I joined Toastmaster meetups to challenge my public speaking anxiety.
- I asked for three weeks’ vacation, something no one has requested of my bosses at work, and received them. Tim Ferriss (The 4 Hour Work Week) mentions pushing yourself to do things that challenge you. I knew that asking for an extended vacation time would be difficult for me to ask of them, so I did it.
- I completed several online courses on skillshare.com to learn about making videos, optimizing Instagram, and designing business logos.
- I had my first private mentoring session with Lily Ma.
- I have begun to support and mentor friends looking to change their careers.
- I joined two online supportive women’s groups, and unfollowed all negative friends who often complain on my social media newsfeeds.
CAREER (@TRAVELANDTASH BRAND)
- I made the decision to leave my job in late 2019 and pursue my dream to travel Asia for a whole year while documenting my travels. I’ll spend months traveling India, the Philippines, and other locations.
- With the help of a team of friends including photographers and editors, I published my first two books on relationships and health foods. In the meantime, I learned a lot about the psychology of relationships, and seriously boosted my knowledge about diet and health.
- I created and maintain social media pages to support my two book publications (Attracting and Retaining Relationships and Keto Brunches) and share valuable tips.
- I graduated from talking head videos to creating mini travel documentary-style videos and interviews, and also taught myself basic video editing skills.
- I improved my website layout, learned more tech language, and am more familiar with how my website functions.
- I learned basic SEO using Yoast to help my articles reach more readers.
- I did one article collaboration.
- I created a beautiful Instagram page.
- I purchased a new Canon camera to record video footage for my vlogging adventures.
So that’s me. Thanks so much for reading this update. I really appreciate it, and would love to see you share something that you are proud of having achieved in 2018.
Tasha is author of Keto Brunches and Attract and Retain a Fulfilling Relationship.
CONNECT WITH NATASHA:
Keto Brunches page on Facebook
Keto Brunches on Twitter
Attract and Retain Fulfilling Relationships page on Facebook
Cover photo by Danish Mehmood Photography
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