It’s that time of year when every blogger and vlogger puts up their new years’ resolutions – but I kind of did that in my last post.  You know, the one where I said “LET’S DO THIS!!!” and promptly….didn’t post again for over a month.  Whoops.  At this stage, my blog runs the risk of becoming an endless list of “things I’m definitely going to do….one day…soon…” – a pattern that I think lots of us find ourselves in.

We always spend the last days of one year and the first days of the next thinking about what we’re going to do, but we rarely think about what we’ve actually done, the things we’ve achieved and the things we’re proud of.  So here’s my list – a few highlights from my past year that I’m proud of.  Perhaps it’s slightly self-indulgent, but sometimes we need to pat ourselves on the back! So here goes…

In February, I went back to my old school for a careers evening – I sat behind my own little table with my name label and talked to an endless stream of 15-16 year olds about my career so far, my university qualifications and everything else in between. And yes, I had a lot of “Do you know Danisnotonfire?” and “Have you ever met Jack and Finn?”  (incidentally, the answers are ‘yes, he’s very tall’ and ‘once, briefly’) but amongst those, there were lots of girls (and a couple of boys) who genuinely wanted to hear what I had to say. I half-joked afterwards that it was the most popular I’d ever been within those walls!

I joined a gym and realised I actually enjoy exercising in my lunch break at work. I bought myself a corset and a Vivienne of Holloway dress – two things that have been on my wish list for quite some time now.

I’ve made a fantastic group of friends, been to loads of really exciting events and even organised a few myself (including a party for ChannelFlip’s YouTubers at the Harry Potter Studio Tour for Halloween!) Going round the studios after hours followed by some overly-energetic dancing to the cheesiest music possible is definitely one of the high points of my year.

#Twinmas was a project I worked on with my v.good friends Niki and Sammy and Lizzy – we spent days (and evenings) getting everything together – a live audience, a full set, live G+ hangout…the list goes on and on. It was a massive success, and something we’re all very proud of.

I’ve kickstarted my creativity again – with this blog, and with my YouTube channel – yes, only two videos so far, but it’s a start. And I’ve even got my violin out again.  My friend Luke even gave me the world’s nicest shout-out in the fabulous TenEighty magazine’s “YouTuber Picks”. You can go and read that here if you really want to…

And as for a massive “I was there” moment? I spent a day getting a few people organised to be in opening shots of this year’s YouTube Rewind. And then, on a very quiet Friday afternoon, I popped out of the office and went along to that video shoot to see how it was all going. The video itself has had 75 million views so far, and to say I was even a tiny part of that is huge. I even managed to (accidentally) make it into the official behind the scenes video  (top marks if you can spot me. Hint – I’m wearing yellow!), and of course a few of my friends’ own vlogs from the day too. Whoops?

Above all, I’ve come to realise that life is what you make of it – I could make excuses for weeks, months, years…you get the idea. But ultimately, if I want to do something then all I need to do is make a start.

So here’s my one New Years’ Resolution:  keep a note of (at least) one thing from each month that I’m really proud of. And then, on the 31st December 2015, I’ll post my own personal “rewind”.

Happy New Year, everyone. I hope you have had a fabulous 2014, and I hope that 2015 is even better.

L xx