Revisiting the New Years Resolutions - Part Two

Picking up where I left off in Part One, I'm finishing off my update on my resolutions for the year. Let's see how I did with the rest...

3. Read more: One of my goals this year was to read more. Having joined a book club for the first time in my life, I have read a few new books that I never would've picked up before, some of which I've liked, others I didn't, but I think that's actually a good thing about book clubs - you never know what you're going to get, and even if you don't really like the book, at least it exposed you to something new and different.

Our latest book was The Secret Daughter by Shilpi S Gowda, which I really enjoyed. If you're looking for a new book, I highly recommend this one, or another one of my favourites, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer. (Okay, I'm biased - that was my choice for book club a few months ago, but I'm only championing it because everyone at book club loved it! And I'd heard so many good things about it before I picked it. It's a really lovely read!) Next on our list is The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown. I've heard good things about this one too, so I'm excited to start it in the next few days.

4. Worry less: This is a difficult one for me. The people closest to me in life know all too well my bad habit of over-thinking things, from major life decisions to whether or not I should buy those leopard print heels. (for the record...always buy the heels. They're an investment. Trust me on this.) Like all bad habits, this is a tough one to break, but I've really been trying hard to get myself to chill out when it comes to making decisions.

I read a great quote on Pinterest a little while ago and it helped me see things from a different perspective: "Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right." Over-thinking tends to be about negative stuff, so I've been trying to think about all the positive things that could come out of decisions I've made, and tried to focus on them instead of the negative things. Like everything else in my life, this is a work in progress. Plus, having certain friends, who know me all too well, give me a mental slap upside the head is a good way to stop and check myself too.

When I began 2012, I'd said that it was going to be the Year of Elizabeth (Part 2). And so far, things are turning out okay. Now, we're just about into October, and with only three months left in the year, I'm determined to make these the best three yet. We'll see how it goes.

Until next time!