Do you believe in New Year's Resolutions?

Hi everyone,

As I was thinking about a topic for my first blogpost, I took some time to reflect about what I could give to the community. What should be the purpose of writing this blog, and what could others gain from it?

My thoughts quickly took me back to the beginning of 2017.

Last year I felt like I still had a lot of things to work on. I was 23 years old and felt like my life had stagnated for a while. I recently graduated and hadn't yet found a job I could be really passionate about. I still lived with my parents where I had everything a person could wish for (basically I was a guest to their hotel without paying for my room, as they liked to call it). But what maybe bothered me the most: It had been three years of being single and never finding enough courage to ask girls on a date. In general I felt I was lacking confidence to really get out of my "slump". I wasn't feeling bad per sé, but my life was simply not moving forward.

So in the beginning of 2017 I told my friends and family 2017 would be MY year. It started out as a joke really. I told them I would get in shape, get a girlfriend, find my dreamjob and everything else I wished for. I wanted to change my life and take some risks, instead of staying passive and keep living the simple life I had. So the weeks passed by, nothing really changed and my friends would keep asking me: "Tuwore, 2017 would become YOUR year. So... How about it dude?" 2017, my year, became a topic of mockery for my friends.

Me with "It's so fluffy i'm gonna dieeeeeeeeeee"

After a month or so I wanted to prove to myself that it could be more than a joke for my friends. I started reading these psychology self-help books to try and improve the way I approached myself and my surroundings. I wanted to learn how to overcome my bad habits. I wanted to learn how I could be more confident, how to be more present in a group-setting, how to deal with stress etc. In april I decided to quit the job I had and hated. In May I found my current job which I love. I'm able to work with children who got put in protective custody, and although the job itself can be very demaning at times, It's so rewaring to have the feeling of improving the lives of the children I work with.

In january I started bouldering. For the people who don't know what this is, it's basically a form of sport climbing on very short but physically demaning pre-set routes. My new hobby did wonders. Bouldering helped me to find a new purpose, meet new people and improve my physique. I started to focus more on my diet, because I wanted to become better at climbing. I rented an appartment and learned to cook for myself. Because of the change in eating habits and exercise, I started to see changes in my physique and my body started to develop more. That resulted in getting more confident around girls and being more open to "flirty" signs, which I would've straight ignored last year because I wouldn't believe/see them.

Me bouldering a few months ago

Two months ago I started dating this beautiful girl (which I still think is waaaaay out of my league) and I'm feeling better than ever. About a month ago I'm in a new relationship, which still feels odd to talk or type about. I'm just so proud of the changes I've made in only 12 months, and that's an amazing feeling. It's nice to look back on it, and it makes me excited for the year to come.

In the next months I'm going to try to be the best boyfriend I can be, I want to get better at my job by reading more about the target audience I work with. I want to get better at bouldering, I want to travel more, I want to get better at playing the guitar, I want to stay educated on the developments in the world of cryptocurrency, I want to have some more nights around the campfire with my friends, I want... 2018 to be my year.