Hello 2017, Goodbye Crappy 2016.

Hello, hi and welcome! Hope you are all having a great start to 2017!

I thought I would do a chatty post as my first ever post of 2017 and just talk about what's been on my mind recently.

So 2016 was a wild whirlwind of a year - it was for me anyway.

I moved back to the uk and made some decisions that looking back probably weren't for the best. But i am now happy in a job that I enjoy(most of the time) and I have met two life long friends because of it.

LOVE/RELATIONSHIPS.

So 2016 wasn't successful in the relationship department. At all. Like a lot of people I have trouble trusting people and letting them in. Last year I did that. I don't regret it because it's a life lesson, but it's a lesson that's been really tough. I had let someone in who was a friend from school, I believed we could be more and I was happy, for a while. 

But all good things must come to an end and I was letting myself get treated far less than I deserved. I was allowing myself to be taken for granted, and looking back I wish I could slap myself.

I had to learn it the hard way that sometimes you are too much or too little for someone. That's not your fault, but just life. And it sucks.

I kept accepting behaviours in hopes that it would turn out good in the end but it didn't. I was always the one upset in the end and it was all just a messy blur. Now, I'm okay and getting over it but moving on is always difficult so I take each day as it comes at the minute.

The best quote I've read recently is: "To heal a wound you must stop touching it."

FRIENDSHIPS.

In 2016 I lost and gained friends which is just a natural way of life. I believed I had made friends abroad in Switzerland and Berlin but I now only stay in contact with my friends I made in Switzerland. My Berlin friends seemed to have all lost their phones..

FAMILY.

2016 taught me that without family you have nothing, whether it's your given blood family, or a chosen family that you've had to make yourself. I am thankful to have a mum who I can rely on and trust to be there for me through whatever. She is my rock and the reason I'm here writing this post. 

This year I also was able to build back a relationship with my dad. A proper father/daughter bond. We've been able to do things together and have little jokes between us, go on random drives and he's helped me with career queries I've had. 

MYSELF.

I have learnt things about myself this year that I never knew:

• I really love cheese.
• I can be so confident when I need to be.
• I am my own best friend. 
• I'm really blunt some times. 
• I don't look awful with my hair tied up.
• I hate photos of me without eye liner.

It is so important you learn to love yourself, I don't fully love myself yet but I'm a work in progress - we all are. I've learnt that there are things I don't like about my face, my body, my personality but that's okay because no one ever said we have to like everything about ourselves. 

I don't really have anything else to write about, I just wanted to get stuff off my chest really, and I'm glad I have. 

Here's to a prosperous 2017, I hope it's filled with love, positive lessons and good friends! 

Thanks for reading!

Natalie xx