GOALS FOR 2014

With another year passing we set aside time to reflect and to make resolutions for the upcoming year. This last year was my first full year of blogging and I have to say that it was very rewarding. I met some really lovely people who follow my blog and I learned a lot about myself and the blogging industry as a whole! As for the next year, I have high hopes. Let me list a few goals I have in mind...

1,000 YouTube subscribers

Host my first blog giveaway

Do something away from the norm

Get my photo business re-established

Become more conscious on brand testing

1,000 subscribers is a lot. However, I'm already over halfway there. Which I find absolutely insane and incredible! Videos are hard work and understanding cameras from a photography standpoint does not mean that you are going to have an easy time mixing into the video world. I'm learning. It's still very hard, though. That being said, I am much more comfortable in front of the camera every time that I sit down to record a new video and I believe that the more comfortable I am making videos, the more comfortable that people will be watching me and will hopefully want to subscribe. As a subset to this goal I would like to add that I hope to continue on in the direction that I have set myself for and not fall into the 'typical' beauty vlogger void. No hauls unless entirely necessary, no monthly favorites every single month (maybe more of a 'recent favorites' type of deal) and no purchasing things simply because I want to make a video or blog post about it. If I stay true to myself and the subscribers happen to follow, perfect. That's ideal.

Giveaways typically would fall into my 'typical' beauty vloggers cloud but I truly would like to host one sometime next year to thank everybody who has stuck with me through the beginning of this process. I already have some products stashed away and will begin to add to that as the months pass and I plan to have a giveaway whenever I feel like it's the right time. and this is not going to be to gain followers. It may end up being something where you must follow me on something to be able to enter but that is just so I can tell that you are somebody who is supporting me and then once you can show that, I'll be able to thank one of you. I'm excited. It'll happen.

Stepping away from the beauty and blogging world for a bit.. I want to do something away from the 'norm'. I've been having cabin fever these last few months of the year and it's left me feeling a bit worthless and redundant of every other person around my age. I'm tired of doing what I'm 'supposed' to do and really need to do something adventurous to get that out of me. I'm not sure what this will include be it a roadtrip to a city for a concert, a roadtrip in general, getting away from college for a bit(if only my parents would support my dropping out.. it would have already happened. College ain't for me) or just learning a new language or taking a two-week break from my computer. Something. I'm desperate for change and as somebody who doesn't like change, it may prove difficult. but that is how you learn about yourself. I was able to learn a lot about myself from moving halfway across the country for college before transferring back in-state and I'm hungry for more self-realization like that.

My last year of high school and my first year of college were odd for me because for those two years, I hardly did anything photography-related. I have been immersed socially and emotionally in my photography since I was thirteen with it being all I have ever had a passion for and all of my best and closest friends stemming from the connections that I've created through the community and once my camera broke my senior year of high school, I was out of commission. Other things happened that caused me to not be able to get a replacement camera for years and although those two years away made me realize that photography is the only thing I ever wish to do in life, they were tough. I felt very lost. Also lost was my once-established photography business. I have made it my main goal in my heart for 2014 to re-establish my business and be more successful than ever. I will do it this year. I have a different feeling than any other year. I can feel it stirring in my heart.

Now, this last one has already been hit on by me on my tumblr. If you're interested to read more about it then click here but to give a brief overview, I have been a vegetarian for over five years and now that it's become second nature I felt like I needed to take on something else. I'm going to begin being conscious of who tests on animals and who doesn't when it comes to my beauty items. I already researched my entire shower routine and I learned that three products are from companies that do test and I've already vowed to not repurchase them. It's going to be hard and I won't be able to cut out products from companies that do test 100% all at once but you've got to start somewhere, right? Here's to bettering the world for our animals!

I feel like these are some of the best new year's resolutions that I have had in recent years and I'm eager to see how it all plays out over the coming year. If you have any resolutions that you've made already, beauty-related or not, put them in a comment below!

Maybe you'll inspire me to add another to my list.