In keeping with tradition, I am once again deliberating over my 2022 Resolutions as the year comes to a close. Every January, I set several goals for the year and in December I review them to see what I've achieved throughout the year and share a few of them here too, categorised by the type of goal (e.g. travel, health, career, self-improvement). Although I had over 75 this year, many are one-off items or focused on improvement and thus harder to measure, so I will share just 12 of my resolutions. If you're curious about previous New Year's Resolutions, click here for 2020 and here for 2021.
1) Visit 2 new countries - Travel
Visiting new countries has been a consistent resolution of mine in recent years, however after the pandemic's multiple resurgences, I didn't want to set too high a target of new countries on the off chance that we encountered another lockdown. Furthermore, I have been trying to focus more on revisiting countries I previously enjoyed rather than simply going to new ones (especially given that most of my remaining countries require long-haul flights, which are more expensive and time-consuming).
That said, I in fact managed to visit 7 new countries in 2022 (Kosovo, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Georgia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia), alongside 2 new dependencies (Jersey and Guernsey). This was on top of many other adventures to countries I've returned to, including Portugal, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the USA - stay tuned for my 2022 Round-up!
2) Stay in a hostel - Travel
My other travel-related resolution in 2022 was to stay in a hostel. Although I've travelled substantially throughout my life, I had always stayed in hotels or Airbnbs (with a one-off homestay during a school Spanish Exchange and a motel in Texas). This wasn't a completely conscious decision, as I actually expected to enjoy hostels due to being able to meet new people with similar interests. This was solidified during my summer in Lisbon, where I spent a few days in a hostel bar with friends and met several fellow travellers who raved about hostels.
Therefore, right after my last Professional Level exams in June, I went to Tbilisi, Georgia with one of my best mates and we stayed in a hostel. This trip was chaotic from the get-go but a lot of fun - read about my hectic experience here.
3) Run a 10km monthly - Health
I knew that 2022 would be busy in terms of work, exams, and travel, so I wanted to keep exercise regular but manageable. Therefore, I maintained my triweekly runs, with the aim of doing at least one 10k per month. Surprisingly, this wasn't as easy as it sounds as I often had other commitments, but lo and behold I did in fact manage to fulfil this resolution. I also had aimed to learn salsa, which I maintained for the first few months of the year and enjoyed greatly, however it was after work so wasn't a realistic commitment to keep as work sometimes overran.
That said, I would like to build up my exercise next year and participate in an event such as a half-marathon or a triathlon as I enjoy having something to work towards (although I didn't make it in the ballot for the London Marathon in 2023).
4) Go to the gynaecologist - Health
This year, I turned 25, meaning that I was called up for a smear test. Luckily, I am not phased at all by the idea of going to the gynaecologist, and I recognise the importance of such a check-up. Nonetheless, it is the sort of task that is very easy (and tempting) to put off, so I made sure to book an appointment as soon as I received the letter and got it out the way as soon as I could. Click here to read about my experience.
5) Do an allergy test - Health
The last health-related resolution I had was one that I'd been putting off for years - getting an allergy test. As a kid, I wasn't allergic to anything bar mosquito bites (which I only realised in hindsight). I could eat, wear, and touch anything without the slightest reaction. Then, as I approached my early twenties, I suffered a bout of allergic reactions, including the onset of hay fever, several reactions to skincare products on my face, and a huge reaction across my entire leg after getting bitten by an insect on a run.
In addition to this, I had started to feel slightly nauseous several times a week after meals (especially if I walked afterwards), and despite trying to cut out different food groups and note down what I'd eaten before these symptoms appeared, I couldn't find the culprit(s).
Therefore, at the start of the year I finally caved in and did an allergy test to discover what I was intolerant to (including both food and non-food allergens). I managed to get a discount with work, and after sending 10 strands of hair to a laboratory, I received my results. Boy was I in for a treat; I found out I was intolerant to everything under the sun including beer (I had Oktoberfest booked), every meat except for beef (my least favourite meat), gluten, rye, yoghurt and sweeteners (among other things). I was also 100% allergic to pigeons (as a non-food item), mosquito bites, and various pollens (which I knew beforehand and thus confirmed the legitimacy of the results). It was virtually impossible for me to cut out all of these foods without going insane, however I have reduced my consumption of most of them and found a vast decline in the frequency of nausea, which is ideal. I may elaborate on the progress of this (subject to results) so stay tuned for that!
6) Get a tattoo and piercings - Bucket List
I have liked tattoos for years and knew that I definitely wanted to get one for almost a decade now, but I can be extremely indecisive and put things off, especially if they're not a priority and I haven't had the time to think about them thoroughly. (Oddly enough, when it comes to school and work, I have always been the opposite and very attentive). Therefore, despite wanting various tattoos and piercing, I in fact had no tattoos and only my lobes pierced. I knew that I needed to put my money where my mouth was and make a booking (thus, forcing me to make a decision before the deadline), so that's exactly what I did. .
For the piercing, I went with my go-to travel buddy to Metal Morphosis in February and although at the time I was undecided whether to get second/third piercings as well as a cartilage (and what side I wanted the cartilage on), I made a quick decision on the spot (I am much more decisive under pressure so it worked well) and ended up with just a cartilage piercing (although I'm now aiming to get more piercings in 2023). I love the piercing but it took many months to heal and was a lot of effort to clean twice a day (but was worth the lack of keloids).
For the tattoo, I had pretty much decided the design I wanted but was unsure whether to get one or two and where I wanted them, but again chose to decide on the day. I booked for March with the friend I'd gone to Tbilisi with, as she'd already gotten a tattoo in 2021 by an artist we liked (which inspired me to actually get it done). Unfortunately for us, it turned out that said artist actually worked in two studios, one of which was near me and the other way over an hour away. As you can imagine, we had accidentally booked the further one so I rushed to Blaec studio in London after work. I ended up getting two small tattoos (one matching with my friend) and ended up loving the one I hadn't expected to and being fairly indifferent towards the other.
A similar bucket list item of mine had been to get henna, which I hadn't anticipated happening this year as it wasn't a priority at all, but ended up happening in Tunisia very unexpectedly!
7) See a shooting star - Bucket List
Seeing a shooting star had always been on my Bucket List; I knew when the probability of seeing them was highest and every summer I aimed to stargaze under a clear sky to view the phenomenon. After years of trying (and failing), I decided I needed to be proactive with this feat and enlisted two school friends to join me on this expedition (as I'm much more likely to persevere if other people are involved too). On August 12th, as the Perseids hit there were clear skies across London, and despite a couple of mishaps, I did indeed manage to witness several shooting stars, which was honestly magical (and well worth the series of insect bites I awoke to the next morning). To read about my full experience, click here.
8) Read a book in Portuguese - Self-improvement
Although my parents are Portuguese and I am fairly fluent in the language, I very rarely read in Portuguese, so in 2022 I made it a priority to read a book in my parents' mother tongue. As a keen reader, I knew I'd be reading throughout the year, but this was another resolution that I knew I had to be proactive with if I wanted it to actually happen. During my trip to Porto in March, my cousin lent me a book entitled 'Febre' (Bite in English) by Nick Louth. It took me a lot longer to get through than it would have in English, but it was a great read and I felt very accomplished once I'd finished it. I'm aiming to read another in 2023, as well as one in Spanish in order to keep up my language skills.
9) Move out / buy a house - Self-improvement
After spending almost two years at my parents' house during my Master's degree and Covid-19. I decided it was time to move out. I had been saving up whilst looking to buy since March 2021, however the house hunt wasn't going very well so I made the decision to move out instead. I actually really enjoyed living at my parents' house, however given the push at work to get the team into the office at least three times a week, moving out would half my commute and make me more likely to go into the office.
I moved to central London in June and as luck would have it, I had an offer accepted on a house in July. I was supposed to finally exchange on 14th December and complete on 22nd December however the seller pulled out on the exchange day, which was extremely frustrating after a 5 month wait. Nonetheless, it's not the end of the world and I'll keep trying to buy a house in 2023.
10) Continue to invest regularly - Self-improvement
As you may know from my '7 Financial Tips for Young People' post, I have been investing for years now, and an annual resolution of mine is to keep investing regularly. I managed to achieve this for the first half of the year, however after my offer on the house was accepted, I stopped my monthly investments as I didn't want to take any money out of my investments for the house and I wanted my income to go towards the surveyor and solicitor instead. The process of buying a house incurred significantly more expenses than I'd anticipated, and I'm planning on breaking down these costs and the house-buying process in a blog post soon.
11) Improve my public speaking skills - Career
Despite loving drama at school and doing LAMDA exams, I never enjoyed presentations during my academic career. Having started my grad scheme in 2020, I decided that it was time to work on my public speaking skills so that as I progressed throughout my career, I would feel more comfortable presenting and speaking in large groups. I had already done a couple of presentations to my team, however they were mostly virtual which I didn't find as nerve-wracking. In 2023, I made an effort to develop this crucial skill and volunteered for a live panel as well as doing a presentation to the wider team. Although I definitely felt nervous and spoke quickly, I do think it's a case of exposure therapy, so will keep working on this.
12) Ask for monthly feedback - Career
As aforementioned, I have always been very on it when comes to my career; for example, I am very proactive when it comes to tasks and am always on top of admin. Regardless, my coach recommended that I ask for feedback monthly (as opposed to just waiting for project reviews to obtain feedback). Despite feeling that I was constantly pestering more senior colleagues, I managed to achieve this and found it to be very valuable so that my coach could back me up in the biannual appraisal and provide tangible examples of my improvement throughout the year.
A lot of people don't see the value in New Year's Resolutions as they struggle to stick to them, however I view them more as goals which I can check in on throughout the year and many have turned into positive habits over the years as I've stuck to them. I would recommend thinking about the different areas of your life and setting a couple of realistic goals in each area that you can work on throughout the year, then sticking to them as much as possible.
Every year I aim to read a certain number of books (26 this year), blog regularly, eat less meat and pass exams (all of which I have achieved). These regular goals tend to be manageable but not without effort, so that I can build these habits without them being too difficult so that they lose all joy.
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