2020 was a year we’ll never forget. There were a lot of scary and awful things about life this year. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Things aren’t going to magically change when the clock strikes midnight on January 1st, but I’d like to hope we are headed in a better direction.
I'm all about personal evaluation (hello, I'm an artist!) and New Years is always a big time for that anyways. I want to share some things that I'm proud of myself for accomplishing this past year:
1. Decreasing My Student Loan Debt
My student loan debt is something I’ve never made a space to share about, but the progress I made this year is honestly so exciting. For a long time, my student loans were overwhelming to think about. I’d send extra money towards my debt when I thought I could afford it, but most of the time I was just making the minimum payments. I’ve always hated thinking about money, but this summer I came across @refillingmywallet’s Instagram account and her approach to budgeting and spending money was a perspective I really connected with. I started focusing on eliminating my debt, and in six months paid of 13% of my total student loan debt and finished paying off my first student loan! I've paid off a total of 40% of my student loan debt, and that's really big to me.
2. (Re)Launching My Online Shop
If you remember back in the beginning of 2019, I launched my Laura’s Florals website with new designs with totes and stickers, and to be honest, I hated it. I loved creating the designs and the website and believe it or not, figuring out the sales tax haha. I just didn’t enjoy being a store and stressing about making sales. But flash forward to two months ago, and I reopened my store as LauraSkinnerArt.com. No pressure about posting or trying to be a big brand, just sharing the art I’m excited about making with you directly. The content gets to evolve with me, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Check it out if you haven't already! LauraSkinnerArt.com
3. Editing Videos
I really love making videos. Every year, it's one of my hopes that I’ll finally put some more videos on YouTube or IGTV, but I just haven’t made it a priority yet. Also, my computer hasn’t been able to handle video editing for the past several years, but I was able to upgrade this year. Did I finally post videos? Not really, but I made some fun videos I’m really proud of for family and friends. Maybe I’ll finally get to posting more in 2021, but I’ll let you know. This TikTok was one of my favorites from the few videos I did share.
4. Building New Habits
Something else I started this summer was using a habit tracker. If you’re not familiar with what a habit tracker is, it’s basically a chart you use to track whether you’ve completed a daily habit. It’s a ‘don’t break the chain’ situation. And that's a good enough motivator for me. I have a list of habits I’m trying to complete daily including some reading and writing goals, and I’m blown away by how much things can add up by doing one small task each day. If you're interested in trying out a habit tracker, my advice is to be specific with your goals (i.e. read for 15 minutes a day). Personally, if I make a goal too vague, it leaves too much room for me to be lazy.
So what are you proud of from this year? Any personal or professional goals you crushed? Or unexpected things you accomplished? I know not everyone is into New Years resolutions, but they are fun for me to think about. I've definitely surprised myself seeing what can be accomplished in a year.
Keep learning and being safe and wearing your mask, friends. You matter and I appreciate you being here.
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