Reflecting on 2020

Where do I even start with this? What do I write? Whatever I type feels wrong. I feel lost. You know from my monthly Happy Lists that I like to be positive, to focus on the small and happy things. But I don’t shy away from reality either. So how on Earth do you even begin reflecting on a year that feels like it’s from a dystopian movie?

The months have blended into one and writing this is hard. I am of course going to focus on the positives later on but it’s hard to look back at last years reflection post and see all the wonderful things we did. All the hopes and dreams I had for 2020 and all the goals I set that I haven’t been able to achieve. How do you even reflect on a year like this when it shows no signs of getting better either? To set goals for 2021, to dare to dream when this year has shown us what can happen. It’s exhausting.

But finding the positives is something that always helps me so I’ve dug deep and come up with a list of happy things from 2020.

What made 2020 great

1. Disney pins featured heavily this year with the release of the Minnie Mouse The Main Attraction collection each month. We decided to collect the pins each month and did pretty well. It was stressful but in the end we only missed two months and that wasn’t because we couldn’t get hold of them, it was purely because we forgot it was release day. Oopps! Anyway the pins are beautiful! 2021 looks like it’s going to be a big year for Disney collections too as their new monthly release is going to be based on Stitch and he’s my favourite character!

2. In the first lockdown I worked on a rota and let me tell you it was great! More time at home in the sunshine? Yes please! It was short lived and I was actually only working on a rota for around 10 weeks before going back full time. But being at home allowed me to spend more time on my blog, more time reading and enjoy the glorious weather we were blessed with in the first lockdown.

3. 2020 was the year I finally took the plunge and went self hosted with my blog! I could write an entire post just on how good this year has been for my blog to be honest and I will be covering some other great points to do with blogging when I get onto my goals but wow it’s been such a good year for my blog! I’m so grateful for this little space and what it brings me. Going self hosted is the best decision I’ve ever made, I only wish I’d done it sooner.

4. We managed to have two mini breaks. Despite everything that’s going on, we managed to have two breaks this year to our favourite places in the U.K. Firstly we had a night away in York then we had two nights away in Liverpool. We were supposed to get married this year and our mini-moon was going to be to those two places so even though we had to postpone the wedding I’m glad we still got to go to our favourite places!

5. Being in a fortunate position to treat myself. OK I do not want this to come off as bragging at all because it’s not. For a bit of context Josh and I work hard and these last few years have not been kind to us. Josh’s freelancing career was just taking off when COVID hit and he hasn’t been entitled to a scrap of help from the government, he pushed through it though and I’m confident that 2021 will see him back where he was at the start of this year and better! I’ve also been working super hard this year and between my normal job, some overtime and blogging I’ve finally got myself a little savings pot of my own. Josh and I of course have joint savings but for the first time I’ve got my own and I’ve been able to treat myself to a lot of little treats this Christmas! I feel incredible lucky and grateful to be in this position right now.

Goals

Over the last couple of years I haven’t shared my goals at the start of the new year, instead I’ve chosen to keep them private then reflect on them at the end of the year. I write them all down so I can share what my 2020 goals were and how I got on with them right now. I split them into two categories, life and blogging and I did actually share a couple of my blogging goals at the start of the year but not all of them. So here’s what 2020’s goals were and how they went:

Life goals

1. Have a great wedding – well we’re not off to a great start are we?! We had to postpone the wedding, however we did have a pretty great would-be wedding day!
2. Travel somewhere new – well I think we can all guess how this one went! I’ve barely left my house this year!
3. Replace the stairs carpet – this didn’t happen. Between lockdowns and being busy we just didn’t get it done.
4. Get a new oven and hob – we got the oven but not the hob so this is half done!
5. Makeover the bathroom – this is 90% done with new towels, a new blind, accessories, a towel rail replacing the radiator and a new paint job. It’s pretty much there but not quite.
6. Get a new kitchen sink – another one not complete haha. I’ll be honest, I looked and it was hard to find one the right size so I gave in.
7. Get wedding photos printed into a book – no wedding so no photos!

Well the life goals didn’t go well did they?! I’m completely OK with that though.

Blogging goals

1. Double my blog income – I wanted to make double the amount I made in 2019 and I did this and a little bit more. I’m not making big money from blogging but what I do make is a massive help!
2. Consistently get 2,000 views a month – I utterly smashed this from April onwards! I now average around 5,000-6,000 sessions a month which is between 6,000-8,000 pageviews a month. I’ve got a whole blog post coming on how I managed to take my blog from well under 1,000 views to the stats I see now.
3. Relaunch my mailing list with a freebie – another one to check off! In fact I actually relaunched it with two freebies. One being my blogging course.
4. Start writing an ebook – not only did I start writing one but I published it too! You can grab a copy here.
5. Consistently drive traffic to my blog via Pinterest – Pinterest has been a massive stress for me. I’ve been marked as spam twice this year but I’ve also had some crazy viral pins, I’m talking millions of impressions kind of viral. So while it doesn’t bring in thousands of views a day for me it does help.

I’m so happy that I completely smashed every single one of my blogging goals!

As always I’m keeping my 2021 goals to myself, they cover home, life and blogging though and I will of course discuss them all at the end of 2021!

To end what has been a very long post I’m going to do my usual round-up of my favourite content I’ve published in 2020.

How to have a happy and positive January // 15 inspirational quotes about life you need to read // How to have an amazing self hosted blog // 5 things you should do straight after payday // What is a blog DA and how to improve it // 15 Christmas in July party ideas // Why you need to find and fix broken links // 10 great money habits to start in your twenties // 10 fascinating facts about Halloween you didn’t know // My tattoo story: Halloween Stitch // 5 magical places I’d like to visit at Christmas

So that was 2020. It was absolutely crazy and I just feel sad and exhausted from it. I know the start of 2021 is going to be tough too but I have everything crossed that within the first few months we begin to see a change for the better.

Tell me your positive moments of 2020 in the comments!