My reading bucket list for the New Year

This year has been a bit of a mess for those of us who set yearly goals. When we were writing out new years resolutions none of us could have predicted what was to come. I don’t know about you, but I’ve completed less than half my goals because many of them, like doing a 10K charity run, simply couldn’t happen due to safety concerns.

This got me thinking when it came to plan my goals for 2021 and what type of goals would be even feasible with the current state of the world. Then there was the question of are goals even the right thing to me making for the new year, can my mental heath handle that added pressure? After a bit of thinking and talking to those who know me the best, I’ve decided to set as little goals as possible and instead create bucket lists of things I’d like to do next year. Sure, there will be some goals being made, I’ll still have financial ones, business ones and even an updated Goodreads challenge, but there won’t be many. Life is too unpredictable right now for big set targets.

The idea is that bucket lists take off some pressure that a goal would do but still gives me some form of direction for the year. They also feel far more exciting and intimate than a big end of year goal. I’ll also get more satisfaction by crossing off many small activities over the year, I think that will help keep me motivated.

So, in the name of all thing bookish I’m going to share with you my reading bucket lists for 2021. I’ll still be doing the Goodreads challenge throughout the year, but I haven’t decided if I want to aim for 25 or 30 books this year, I struggled enough with 20 this year.

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Dear Social Media, lets break up

Dear Social Media.

I’ve known you for a while and I can say that I can’t stand you. Hate feels like too strong of a word and anyway, if I truly hated you then why do I spend so much time with you?

I guess you’re something I love to hate.

I don’t know what it is about you, maybe it’s the way you keep me entertained, maybe it’s the way you show me adventures and beautiful places I would have never imagined existed. Maybe its the funny cat videos and the cute puppies that bring a smile to my face. Maybe it’s the dopamine rush I get from people liking a picture of mine.

No matter what it is, I can’t seem to put you down.

You make me feel connected, yet I’ve never been so lonely. I can’t remember the last time I spoke to some of the people on my news feed. I don’t send them a text, I won’t meet them for coffee, why should I? I only have to scroll and I know everything they’ve done for the past year. But hours of scrolling makes me seem dull, friends I once knew pose for a photo and my loneliness only grows. I have a fear of missing out because of you. Continue reading “Dear Social Media, lets break up”

My favorite read of 2019 – Branches

Since starting university I’ve read so many great books… and some not too great ones. But rather surprisingly my favorite read of this year wasn’t a part of my required reading. In my poetry class we had the opportunity to chose what collection we wanted to analyse and review. Without any hesitation I told my professor that I was going to chose Branches by Rhiannon McGavin. I didn’t even own the collection at the time, I had to order it as soon as I got back to my flat.

I’d come across Rhiannon’s work via YouTube, she has a channel called The Geeky Blond where she shares not only her poetry but general life chatter. She’s one of the people who influenced me to become a poet. I’m not sure if it’s her personality or delivery of her work that I enjoy more but either way she’s a joy to watch.

Branches is everything I love about her work, it’s the perfect poetry collection in my eyes, every poem is a pleasure to read. When reading it I have the book in one hand and a pencil in the other. Ideas I’ve had whilst reading the poems are scribbled in the margins. Some pages have big stars in the corners for the ones I really love. Words are underlined and stanzas and circled. Continue reading “My favorite read of 2019 – Branches”

Favorites of 2017

I’m a bit of a book nerd.

I love to read, there’s something quite magical about losing yourself to a book. So to celebrate the end of a crazy 2017 and my love for books, I’m going to share with you my best reads of 2017.

There’s no particular order, I wanted to originally do my top five books but when it came to chosing them I just could decide out of two of them. So, here are my top 6 books of the year.

Continue reading “Favorites of 2017”