It’s been so tempting to write this year off as the world news Instead, I’m going to see what I can salvage as the highlights of my 2016. These things have made me happiest and inspired to me to keep going.
★ My boyfriend and I are now living together
This one has to win as my biggest highlight hands down. After 6 years mostly spent in a long-distance relationship where my boyfriend would drive several hours down from Lincolnshire or I had to take several trains into and out of London in order to see each other, my boyfriend got a new job in Oxfordshire and was finally able to move in with me. Long-term long-distance relationships are really hard to sustain and while I don’t regret doing it at the time, I am so glad that he’s around now and hopefully for good.
★ My new job in London
After four years working for an academic publisher in Oxford, I finally broke out and got a job working for one of my dream publishers in London. It’s been a year of challenges and lengthy commutes, but I’ve had so much fun learning new things again and getting to help their digital publishing grow and thrive in my little capacity. It was also a great opportunity because it’s proven to myself that even with my visual impairment, I can still work and travel to work without it having to make every day a struggle and be my defining characteristic. I feel very lucky, every day, to be able to do that still.
★ Travelling to Barcelona and Edinburgh
Barcelona was a trip of firsts, my first visit to the city, first time flying for business rather than leisure and my first time flying solo. It presented a great many challenges, but I faced them all head in and came out stronger in myself for it.
Edinburgh was a dream in comparison, a lovely, straightforward, short getaway with my boyfriend that was just what I needed to relax and recharge before changing jobs.
★ Contributing to medical projects close to my heart
Earlier in the year I was working with clinical experts to help produce a guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of the catastrophic event that caused my sight loss. It has probably been the most serious and significant thing I’ve ever had the privilege of contributing to, and to think it might help even one person not go through what I did will make it all worthwhile for me.
★ Being immersed in stage and screen
This year was a year for fantastic stage productions, and, by coincidence, a lot of musicals for me. This was one area where although my visual impairment did impact on my experiences negatively, I was able to make the most of the benefits available and get access tickets to some amazing shows. I’m waiting like a hawk for Hamilton tickets in 2017, but in the meantime I enjoyed seeing the fantastic musical adaptation of Groundhog Day, with music and lyrics by the inimitable Tim Minchin, In The Heights twice with a number of cast changes between the two performances, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Pts I and II and the absolutely marvelous RSC Don Quixote. All were phenomenal and I felt very lucky to witness them. I’m hoping 2017 will be the year of Hamilton, but would love to fit more theatre in wherever I can. Comedy was also well represented by sharing my birthday with Bill Bailey in London and discovering we have the same birthday, spending and Valentine’s Day at the Glee club in Oxford with the musical whimsy of David O’Doherty, and of course my lovely partner.
I also saw some great movies in the cinema, but want to give a particular shout out to Deadpool, a movie that may not have been arthouse levels of deep, but was surprisingly smart and made me laugh a lot. Plus I love Careless Whisper, so I was always going to be sold on this film.
★ Taking a bit more time for creative projects
I started bullet journaling in September, which meant I had a lot of fun (and stress) setting up my bujo and capturing my to do lists and meal plans in a more organised way. I’ve let it lapse a bit but it’s something I plan on going back to as it did make me feel more organised.
I also joined a creative writing club that was equal parts inspiring and soul destroying as I surrounded myself with passionately committed writers with fascinating projects. It did compel me to resurrect projects of my own and again was great inspiration to be around other writers.
★ Getting back into reading
I had worried that the strain of visual impairment would cause me to drift away from reading and for a while that was true, but a new kindle paperwhite and a commute that is several hours long soon put a stop to that. I may not be getting through the hundreds of books a year that I used to, but I powered through 26 books, eyesight be damned, including every Sarah J Maas novel so far and that’s good enough for me, for now.
★ Improving my fitness and strength
I channeled all my energy for the first half of 2016 into improving my physical fitness with Les Mills Body Pump and Body Combat classes 3-4 times a week, and completing a 5K charity Wally Run to raise money for the National Literacy Trust. Sadly due to the lengthy commute and inflexible class timetables I had to sacrifice a lot of the exercise classes once I started working in London, but the increased strength and endurance has helped me throughout the year.
So really I can’t claim 2016 as a bad year for my personal goals, and I’m proud of achieving quite a lot of stuff. Hopefully together we can kick 2017’s ass! Onward and upwards!
