My New Year’s Aspirations

Hello everyone,

I decided to call them New Year’s Aspirations, instead of New Year’s Resolutions, after an influencer & podcaster I love to follow (Eli Rallo) posted a TikTok about it. She explained that the idea of an aspiration is something that you strive toward, and hope to achieve, rather than a ‘resolution’ which has more pressure and feels like something you need to just hit the ground running with from the first of January.

So, rather than things I’m pressuring myself to achieve right away, here are some good habits / goals that I’m striving to implement in 2022

Write (At Least) Two Blogs Every Month

2021 was an incredibly crazy, busy, exciting year for me. I wrapped on my first job working on a big-budget feature film, took part in the Miss Northern Ireland Competition, and started working on Season 1 of a new TV show!

I am so grateful for the amazing opportunities and personal growth that I experienced in 2021, but I’m also aware that in the craziness of enjoying everything, I definitely let my blogging slip whilst I was enjoying it all.

Writing a new blog every week has proven in the past to be overwhelming, and I don’t want to set myself up for failure, so setting an aspiration to publish a new blog every other week (or twice a month) is a more attainable goal, that still requires a little bit of self-discipline.

Work out Three Times Per Week

My programme from Athena Athletics has 3 different workouts, one that’s arms/upper body focused, one that’s legs & glutes, and a shorter one that works my full body for days that I don’t have a lot of time.

My goal is to complete all 3 workouts once every week, or at least workout / exercise 3 times a week. I quite like going for a walk/jog on a Saturday or Sunday when I have the time, I also like following a yoga tutorial on YouTube or my boyfriend often suggests activities like hiking / rock climbing, which I count as workouts too and don’t beat myself up if I miss a gym session for one of these things.

Again, this is an aspiration, not a rule, and sometimes life happens, I might have an insane work week or a thousand things happening after work/on the weekend, all I can do is my best, and try again next week.

Read One Book Every Month

I used to read all the time when I was a teenager, so this is something I would really like to get into again. I don’t have a lot of free time so I’m trying to swap the habit of sitting on my phone before bed for reading, and on the nights I do this, I find that I fall asleep earlier and more restfully.

I’m currently reading Dark Star: A Biography of Vivien Leigh, I’m really enjoying it but it is a big read (300+ pages) and I’m currently just over a quarter of the way through it (23rd of January), so it’s not looking like I’ll achieve the goal of finishing it by the end of this month, but I can just keep trying and hopefully finish it by the end of February!

Travel More

For freelancers in the Film & TV sector, you’re usually on a job for say 6 - 10 months, working hard, full-speed-ahead, and you try to take a few weeks (or even a few months) break in between jobs. When you’re working on a project, paid time off isn’t really a thing and extended periods of leave / loads of days off is frowned upon.

I know I personally wouldn’t be able to take a few days off and enjoy them because I would know that production would still be moving at light speed and I would be constantly checking my emails and answering phone calls (I’m a workaholic and a people pleaser) as things would pop up that I was needed to help with.

The job I’m currently on is exceptionally long (I’ve been on since November 2021 and not expected to wrap until 2023), which is far too long for me to not travel or take any time away for myself.

So, the solution that I’ve come up with is that 2022 is the year of the weekend break / staycation (Covid rules/guidance allowing, of course). I’ve already had a weekend stay in the gorgeous Europa in Belfast, and also have a trip to Dublin pencilled in for February! If you have any suggestions for great weekend breaks / staycations, my DM’s are open!

Hit Two Thousand Followers on Instagram

I was absolutely delighted to hit 1500 followers before the end of 2021, up at least 600 followers since January 2021! This is largely down to my taking part in the Miss Northern Ireland Competition, as they gave me a new platform and furthered my reach which I’m so appreciative of!

My goal is to gain another 500 over the course of this year and I will be absolutely over the moon if I hit 2k before 2022 is out! I plan to do this by posting on my grid more consistently, as well as uploading more reels and utilising my TikTok!

In an ideal world, I’d hit the ground running and meet all of these goals from the get-go, but using the ‘aspiration over resolution’ mindset leaves more room for error, and for life to happen. I’ve decided that 2022 is ultimately a career year and I will be prioritising my work (within reason) and professional life.

If this means I have to skip a gym session, a blog post, or lose a follower or two, then that’s what has to happen, they’re aspirations, and shouldn’t be prioritised over my career, personal life and wellbeing.

Best of luck to you all with your own 2022 goals,

Stacey Xx