We started the year making the big change of walking away from a career in social work and not getting the academic validation of a degree despite passing all of the academic work and deciding to focus on this blog. I gave myself the word Authentic. I wanted to be my authentic self and I carried that word with me for the year and I feel that it has helped guide my decisions throughout the year too.
Here is a brief recap of my year, my 2019 reflections.
January 2019
January was spent sorting out my decision to leave uni which involved meetings and some backlash from people who did not think I was doing the right thing. It was also the month that my oldest daughter turned 21 which didn’t half make me feel old! I celebrated Laurens 21st by buying 21 gifts and linking them all to reasons that I love her and things which are brilliant about her.
February 2019
This month was Faith’s 11th birthday and also the month we made the final decision to start homeschooling Faith, so more big changes for us as a family!
March 2019
This was a very quiet month as I spent much of my time working out how we were going to home educate and fit it in with working on the blog.
April 2019
This month I found out that I was going to be a nana! This was a shock but I also knew how even though it was not a planned decision, it meant everything to Chloe so all I could do was embrace it and support her as best as I could.
May 2019
In May we had Chloe’s 20th birthday at the end of the month. I spent much of May doing intense training for Arise which is a work from home company. I passed the training and started working as a customer service advisor for an electric company but I did not enjoy it at all. It felt as if the training was rushed with no real practice and then we were let loose on the phones and I really did not have a clue what I was doing.
June 2019
In June quit working for Arise after on top of finding it extremely stressful I was incorrectly paid so that I ended up taking home just £30 for two weeks of 30 hours work! I also received the happy news that at long last I was going to be an Auntie as my bother announced that he and his girlfriend were expecting.
Lauren passed her psychology and youth studies degree with a 2:1 so I was super proud of her. We went to the Ipswich comic-con and Faith made some like-minded friends and we also went to Southend aquarium for our home school topic of under the sea.
July 2019
This month was spent enjoying being with the family. Family dinners, game nights and Chloe’s baby shower.
August 2019
Summer break from home school and lots of family fun this month. The most important event was being a birth partner to Chloe and seeing my grandson be born! We also went to the Norwich anime and gaming con which was a two-day event and Faith made lots more friends which was great for her but not so great for us as we have to keep driving her to Norwich to see friends!
September 2019
September was a month of firsts for us. I went on my first press trip, to my first blogging conference and my first medium show. Faith had her first girlfriend and then experienced her first break up too! We also celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary and home school started back up with a wildlife topic.
October 2019
October is my birthday month so I turned 39!! In home school, we were studying Autumn and we visited a corn maze. We also visited the Ed Sheeran: made in Suffolk exhibit. We had a great Halloween and even threw a Halloween party this year too.
November 2019
November was a very busy month. We decorated the bathroom which ticked off my first item from my 101 in 1001 list. We took the boys to see Santa at the blue cross Christmas fair. This is one of my favourite things to do! For bonfire night we celebrated with fireworks in the garden and family games. Chloe and Keaton moved into a flat and are a step closer to a permanent home of their own and we took Faith to a ‘geek meet’ in Norwich. I also managed to pluck up the courage to attend the Suffolk bloggers Christmas party which was a lovely evening and raised money for a local charity.
Now
And that brings us to now, December 2019, the final month for my 2019 reflections. So far this month we have been busy preparing for Christmas. Lots of Christmas shopping and we have all of the Christmas decorations up. We also took Keaton to see Santa for the first time with Chloe and Sam at a garden center. I will write more about this when I do the December news post.
2019 reflections
The year has flown by. Looking at this recap of the year I can see that it has been highly family-focussed which I love. Being authentic means being real to what is important to me and what makes me happy and that is my family. Working on my blog has been joyful but also much harder than I thought it would be to make any real traction. There are so many people blogging now. It can at times feel like my voice is lost in a sea of much louder voices.
Homeschooling has also been tough at times. Overall, I have enjoyed watching Faith grow and learn. She is so much happier than when she was at school. That makes it all worth it. I am excited to see what the next year holds for us all. What are your 2019 reflections?