Okay, this will be a long one (feel free to skip this post), since I just want to get it over with. I worked on answering these questions throughout the week, so I did think them through.

15 GOOD HABITS FORMED – Did you form any new good habits? How did you do it? Hmn, I don't think I formed good habits this year. Well, maybe my daily cleaning routine. That's going quite well (though not every single day). Knowing what I should do each day helps me to pick up the pieces when I fall of the band wagon. The same thing goes for the weekly cleaning.

16 BAD HABITS BROKEN – Were you able to kick any of your bad habits this year? How did you do it? I mentioned it before, but it was a big one: eating when I feel emotional. I keep telling myself that I don't need food to make me feel better. And that I never want to be fat again, because it had some huge implications on my health and my mind. That usually helps.

17 UNFINISHED BUSINESS – What unfinished business do you need to take care of in order to start the new year strong? Is there anything you can tackle before the month is over? Ha! Nope, not going to list all that. There's so much I planned to do this year, but I never got to it. I just try to relax about it and do what I really need to do, nothing more. I have a bit of a deadline (um, a huge one!) for a lot things on January 10th though (I'll blog about that later).

18 THEME/WORD FOR 2018 – What is your theme or word of the year for 2018? What does it mean to you? Relax. Last year's was Rest and I did. Sort of anyway. I think now I need to relax. Not necessarily meaning I want to spent my time doing nothing on a beach or something like that (though that can be fun!), but more like a state of mind. I tend to overthink things. I am a perfectionist and a control freak. I need to relax. If things don't go as I plan, change plans. Make lists, but be prepared to toss them. Be prepared for what might happen but stop worrying.

19 START DOING – Is there anything you want to START doing in 2018? Relax 😉 I also want to go for walks more often, even when the weather isn't really inviting.

20 KEEP DOING – What would you like to KEEP doing next year? Blogging! This will be the year I won't quit. Or at least, that's my plan. I also want to keep knitting.

21 STOP DOING – Is there anything you want to STOP doing in 2018? Worrying. I don't think I have to explain. My children, my parents, my siblings, the world. So much to worry about. But since worrying doesn't help anyone, I'd really like to stop doing it and relax (there's that word again).

22 OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE – We all have those things that are uncomfortable but could be SO good for us. How are you going to step out of your comfort zone in 2018? Well, inline with being more relaxed, I'd like to be more creative. I have so many things I love to do (knitting, sewing, writing, photography), but I tend to stick to what I know people expect of me. Next year I want to create for the joy of creating and share what I make without worrying about what people may think about it.

23 SETTING INTENTIONS – What intentions do you want to set for the new year? Do you have a plan for how you will carry them out? Be more mindful online – I'm working on creating folders in my bookmarks that will help me to make a distinction between connections (blogs I read and comment on regularly), interesting/inspiring (blogs or articles I want to read intentional) and well, mindless clicking (sometimes that can be fun).
Embrace change – I always thought life would become calmer and steadier after the kids grew up, but that was a mistake. Things change faster than I can keep up with and more change is coming. I really want to embrace that, but I'm not sure how besides just going with the flow.
Be kind – to myself, and to others. – I find myself being cynical and negative a lot and that has to stop. I try to be mindful about my reactions and work through the reasons behind them.

24 SOMETHING NEW – What is something new you would like to try/learn/create next year? I can't really think of something really new. I think I have a lot of things going on already (knitting, sewing, writing, photography) and I want to be better (and more creative) at all of them.

25 SELF-CARE – You can’t pour from an empty cup. How will you make time for self-care in 2018? I think being more relaxed about everything will give me time for self-care. Right now I don't feel I can go for a walk until my house is clean and everything on my to-do list is crossed off. I hope that will change.

26 CONTRIBUTION – We all want to make a meaningful contribution in this world. What are some ways that you can contribute to your friends, family, community, or the world in general? Help when needed, listen when people need to talk, give them my full attention when we're together. I also want to be mindful about being part of a community. Online and in real life. I've been quite the hermit for a few years now.

27 EDUCATION – Education doesn’t stop when you’re done with school. How will you educate and grow yourself mentally in 2018? I found some interesting blogs about photography and I'd love to try some of the techniques they're showing, especially on editing photo's, since that's my weak spot.

28 CAREER – Do you have any major career goals next year? Well, since we're empty nesters now, my husband is already thinking about (partly) retiring. So my “career goals” are mostly aimed at finding ways to make a bit of passive income. I'm already doing some commercial blogging in Dutch and I want to try and expand on that by translating one those blogs (it's about cleaning and organzing) to English and see how that goes.

29 2018 WILL FEEL SUCCESSFUL IF… – Imagine it’s December 2018. Complete this sentence and write about what a successful year would look like for you. 2018 will feel succesful if I look back at the inevatable challenges we faced and I can honestly say I handled them in a relaxed way.

30 TOP THREE 2018 GOALS – What are your top three goals for 2018? Start an English commercial blog Write/complete a book I know that's only two (big) goals, but I think it's enough 😉  I do have a lot of smaller goals but listing those would make this an even longer blogpost, so let's not do that.

31 LESSONS LEARNED – What lessons have you learned through this year-end review? I'm not really comfortable with questions like this. I needed to commit to blogging about it to actually answer them. But in the end it was helpful to try to put things into words.

::  ::  :: Want to join in? You can find all about the BohoBerryChallenge here.

If you decide to follow my lead and blog about it, let me know. I’d love to read your answers to the prompts