What did you achieve?

I read an article this week in Stylist magazine which got me thinking about what I had achieved this year.  Trust me, I had to think long and hard but this is what I came up with, and for the record, maybe we should all do this, every year...

I mastered Excel, or as much as I needed to anyway, I went from 2% expertise to 100%, I've spoken to old friends who've said, Excel, I love Excel, what's the problem?  But can you concatenate? I ask.  The reply is usually.... What?

After eleven years of vowing to declutter, this year, I have achieved more than in the previous ten.  I think that by next Christmas, I'll be micro organised, I'm so proud of myself.  You know how disorganised I am Col, I hope that you're proud of me too.

I have exercised.  I could have been more consistent but I have worked out, at least most weekends and I've tried new things, yoga, tabata, I love them both.

I have eaten healthily, 80% of the time.  I get jokes and jibes at work over my daily, enormous salad based lunch, but I shrug it off, I know that I'm doing okay, more than okay actually.

I've taken control of my alcoholic beverages.  As I've got older, I realised that I can no longer tolerate alcohol as much I used to.  I was always striving to take the healthy high road... except for when it came to alcohol.  I love wine.  I enjoy a glass of wine but it got to become a habit, good day, (infrequent) bad day, (frequent) need to relax, (always) need to drown sorrows, (often) want to forget, (more often than not)   Thanks to an Ailsa Frank CD, I'm sleeping soundly for the first time in years, and I'm alcohol free for 5 days out of 7.  This is a major achievement for me, for the past few months, I've thought that this may be what would eventually kill me.

I spent a year in the company of someone who seems to like me, just the way I am.  He makes me laugh, he makes me feel wanted, he gets upset, even angry, on my behalf.  The achievement in this is that I let him in, and while I probably should have driven him away... I didn't.  Whatever happens in the future, he will always have a place in my heart, a soft spot.

I survived a year in work.  My job is repetitive, pressurised and totally unsung.  In a department of pressure and praise, I am always overlooked, which doesn't do this Leo's ego any favours.  Still, a year and a few wobbles later, I'm still there.

My darling brother in law gifted me his old android phone when he upgraded.  This was a major upgrade from old texty only phone, held together with cellotape, which I adored.  Over a two week period, I almost pitched the new phone out of any open window due to sheer frustration but, in the end, and after hours of pouring over an online manual, I got to grips and I can at least text, phone and take pics on the new phone now.  I am such a Luddite and the phone initially only served to remind me of how alone I am as I had no one to help me figure everything out, but I got there in the end.

I uploaded details of my Grandad James Williams into a WW1 project website.  We never got to meet, but I love him very much and I'm so proud of him.  I can't wait for the day when we do get to meet.

The people I've held so tightly, I've learned to... hold less tightly.  Not that I love them any less, it's just that I don't have the energy to hold them so tightly anymore, and maybe, I wasn't doing them any favours by holding them so tight.  What will be, will be.

I'll probably be back to update this as and when I remember my achievements x