Personal reflections on the past year - learning and growth, career stability, and practicing gratitude more often
Wow, how has it been a year since my last blog post?
So much has happened in the last 12 months that I don’t even know where to start.
One of the biggest things for me was getting married to Richard in November last year after 14.5 years together (crazy right?!) and being able to go on an incredible honeymoon.
I’d love to share 4 reflections I’ve had over the past year.
1. Planning a wedding and getting married enabled us to learn new skills and experience growth in unexpected ways
Prior to getting married, we assumed (and were told by others) that marriage won’t likely change much in our relationship because we have been together since high school and already lived together for ages.
However, there’s something really special about officially tying the knot and making a real commitment to spend the rest of our lives together.
Our wedding also coincided nicely with both of us entering our 30s, which in itself can be a new chapter and milestone in life.
Some of the key lessons and new skills we gained from wedding planning are:
Budgeting - needing to plan and pay for our wedding meant we had to step up, learn to budget properly, and get our finances in order.
Supporting each other through new challenges - at times we had to support each other through some tough challenges and some we hadn’t faced before, like family drama, friendship issues, and wedding day nerves.
Creating a vision and articulating this to a wide variety of people - we needed to discuss what we wanted our wedding to look like and how to make it best represent who we are. Once our vision was created, we had to communicate our needs and desires to various suppliers.
The wedding ended up being one of the best days of our lives and we felt so much love and support being surrounded by family and friends.
We went from barely knowing anything about weddings to planning one that we were really proud of.
It was definitely a big accomplishment for us!
2. Our honeymoon was one of the most memorable experiences of my life
Was it expensive? Yes, it was…
Was it worth everything and more? ALSO YES!
Admittedly we ended up splurging a bit for our honeymoon, but it was one of our favourite travel adventures together.
We decided to go to Qualia Resort on Hamiton Island and it certainly didn’t disappoint.
This was our first beachy kind of holiday and it was the perfect way to relax and unwind after a hectic 2 years of wedding planning.
We were blessed with warm sunny weather, beautiful beaches, amazing food and wine, and of course, lots of quality time together to reflect on the year before and plan for our new chapter together.
We also used it as an opportunity to celebrate our long-term relationship - it’s no easy feat to be in a relationship for over 10 years while growing individually and together as a couple.
From high school to uni, to first jobs, and now married.
I’m glad we decided to make it real special and celebrate with style shamelessly!
3. Growth outside my comfort zone
In the past year, not only has the wedding pushed me outside my comfort zone, but certain situations at work too.
I’ve definitely been embracing more of the ‘feel the fear and discomfort but do it anyway’ attitude! For example:
Wedding
Going to dance classes with Richard to learn a dance routine for our first dance.
Performing the first dance in front of our family and friends!
Making my wedding speech.
Being centre of attention all day!
Work
Developing a team meeting agenda and leading the meeting.
Taking the lead on work projects and initiatives - writing work plans, rounding up stakeholders and setting expectations, presenting my ideas to groups of people.
Taking the lead on a presentation my team and I volunteered to do to present to the rest of the business about who we are and what we do.
Improving my skills in running virtual meetings over Teams.
Being proactive and setting up meet and greets with senior stakeholders.
I’m proud of the things I’ve achieved personally and professionally and am reminded of the immense growth I experience when I push myself outside my comfort zone.
4. Practicing gratitude for the things I already have in my life and not getting influenced by societal pressures
I will admit that I have felt more societal pressure to achieve specific goals and milestones ever since entering my 30’s.
Some of this comes from subtle comments from family or friends.
Some of it is pressure I put on myself.
There are lots of things people typically work towards around this age:
Getting married
Buying a house
Buying a car
Starting a family
Getting a promotion at work
Then there are other things like:
Being productive and always learning new things
Creating more streams of income
Making time to invest in quality relationship
Travelling to see the world
Richard and I have talked a few times about what it looks like to move too fast in life and not taking time to slow down and show appreciation for the things we have already.
It’s easy to look at what the next big thing should be once one goal is achieved.
Lately I have been much more intentional about practicing gratitude for what I already have, because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of life ‘never being enough’.
There’s always more to chase after, but the real joy comes from reflection and looking back at how far I’ve come.
Although my surroundings may not have visibly changed very much, there has been an immense amount of growth that has happened inside me.
So I remind myself of all the good things (big and small) that brought me here, like:
The quality of relationships that I have with Richard, my family, and friends
Living in an area full of greenery and nature
Living in a city where I have access to so much creative inspiration through arts and cultural events
Having my dog Leo to ground me every day
Being given opportunities to challenge myself and expand my skills at work
Great coffee, food, and wine everywhere
Time and space to be alone for reflection and for recharging my batteries
The list could go on for a while, and there are many smaller things to add that are easily overlooked.
So I am making sure to regularly practice gratitude for all the good things I already have in my life and take the time to enjoy all of this!
It’s great to document these reflections and I look forward to what’s to come for the second half of this year.
I’m determined to keep writing as often as I can as I find it quite therapeutic.
Until next time.
Read my other journal entries
Share your thoughts in the comments
How has the first half of 2024 been for you? What are some of your personal reflections?
Today is a short and simple entry where I reflect on the things that are going well in my life and what I am grateful for.