2017

It has been well documented that 2016 was a tough year for everybody... While it was a year of loss, political tension and intense change, it was also a year of new beginnings, history in the making and my own personal triumphs. I too had a tough year. I experienced my first death in my family that I have been old enough to understand and with that attended my first funeral... closely followed by my second. I have felt an array of new emotions; not all pleasant ones. I've watched friendships die and I've felt, at times, levels of loneliness I haven't felt for a long time. I've been emotional and I've been isolated. I have felt under immense pressure with my a levels and immense stress. I had to give up driving because of my anxiety levels. I've overworked myself and experienced enough health problems for a little while. (please and thank you!) 
 But when taking the time to reflect I don't want to jump onto the 'hate 2016' bandwagon. So many amazing things happened to me this year and have inspired me to make 2017 an even better year for myself and for the people I love.
 Firstly, I started dating my boyfriend in April 2016. We have had the most amazing 9 months together and I loved seeing in the New Year with him. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to play loads of gigs at some wonderful music venues and events including Witney Music Festival and at a regular charity fund raiser in Stratford raising money for the Brain Tumor Charity. It was an honor to be a part of these events and to be able to share new music. My music is something I feel was neglected a lot in 2016; my goal is to spend a lot more time writing and hopefully recording next summer. I sat my first AS exams and got grades I was really proud of! I also completed my University application and have received conditional offers. I visited my second choice university, fell in love with it and it's now my first choice! I am again in that period of coming change that I remember writing about two years ago. Leaving school was the best decision I have ever made. Leaving the college that I love is going to be scary; however, University is a whole new adventure that I can't wait to embark upon. I want to make sure that this change is as good as the last which brings me to my new years resolutions and plans.

 First and foremost, I need to get myself into a much healthier lifestyle. Due to health problems, I have given up red meat and I am still considering going vegetarian. I want to try to eat much healthier in 2017 and get fitter. To do this, I need to distribute my time more fairly. 2016 felt like a year of all work, no play. I gave up 99.9% of my weekends to my job and a few of my evenings too. I have been exhausted trying to balance my A Levels, my relationship and try to have time to myself. Hence why my hobbies have been neglected. I have struggled this year mentally and physically as a result. I have invested in a new weekly planner. I want to get back one day off per week to either study, rest or spend time with my boyfriend. Whichever I need most that week. I am going to set myself a list of things to complete each week and distribute my time evenly. This will include some ambitious goals that I will really try to stick to. I want to be uploading one blog post a week and one YouTube video per month. I know this is going to be difficult for me to keep up; I want to give more time to the things that I do for myself. I feel as though I give away too much of my time to other people. In addition to this, I want to try and get a chunk of revision done every day, be it 20 minutes or a few hours. I feel like I have worked my whole life to get into University and I hate the thought of it slipping through my fingers because I felt like I had to overwork myself. I want to try to exercise more, either at home or at a gym. All of these goals will be planned out at the beginning of each week or month and I will regularly write about how I'm doing either here, or, you can follow my instagram (ChloeHanks23) where I will post regularly about what I'm doing/reading etc. 

 2017 is going to be the year I move out of my home town into what I believe will be a much better living space. I want to be motivated, healthy and happy to start a new life with my family. I want to regain somewhat of a social life and I want to feel ready and prepared to start University. I am excited for the projects I have planned for this year. I have just began a partnership with Coconut-lane.com. Using the code ChloeHanks20, you can get a 20% discount on your order. They have some lovely products including phone cases, macbook skins and some gorgeous notebooks that I have found perfect for planning blogposts! I have some exciting posts coming up including book and makeup reviews. As I have previously mentioned, I want to write weekly which will include some more auto-biographical posts as well as any Creative Writing I feel like sharing. Some may just be updates on how I'm feeling etc. If you have any requests for posts you would like to read, leave them in the comments section and please have a wonderful 2017.