2016: music, memories, madness

Well, we’ve come to the end of another year. While I know for many you’ll be glad to see the back of 2016, for me this year has truly been one of the best years of my life. It’s been an absolutely crazy ride, but I’ve achieved so much this year and my confidence has continued to grow more than I ever thought possible. I used to wish I could be someone who wasn’t afraid of what other people thought of them, to be myself, to be able to start conversations and talk freely to people and share my
opinions without fear of judgement, and slowly but surely I feel that’s the kind of person I have finally become.

So, as a wave goodbye to 2016 I’m going to share some of my favourite music of the year and some of my best personal memories over the last 12 months with you.

Favourite albums of the year

• I Like it when You Sleep, for you are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware of it – The 1975

What a mouthful of a title! I’ve spent most of my year listening to this album; it’s become like my soundtrack of 2016! I would always listen to it on my way to uni on the train and it always made me chilled out and happy despite the stresses of my final months of my degree. Getting the chance to finally see The 1975 live this month really finished off my 2016 amazingly!

• Wild World – Bastille

If you read my post about this album, you’ll already know how much I love it! It was definitely worth the three year wait for another album from Bastille and again, to get to see it live last month was one of the most amazing experiences ever!

• 24hrs – Olly Murs

Again, there’s not much more I can say about this album that I haven’t already said in this post, but anyone who knows me will know how much I love Olly! But seriously, even though this album only came out towards the end of the year, it’s definitely one of the best (in my slightly biased opinion) albums of 2016. Olly just never disappoints, and I’m so excited to be seeing him live twice next year!

• Dangerous Woman – Ariana Grande

Ariana’s latest album is such a banger, let’s be honest. Since her first album, her songs and sound have matured so much and I just love how fun and feel-good her music is. It’s the perfect album to listen to if you need cheering up or just want a good, girl-powered dance around your bedroom! I’m also seeing Ariana live in 2017 for the second time which I’m very excited about!

Top 12 singles of the year 

(These are in no particular order and I couldn’t narrow it down to 10!)

• This Town – Niall Horan
• Just Hold On – Louis Tomlinson
• Cake By The Ocean – DNCE
• Can’t Stop The Feeling – Justin Timberlake
• Good Grief – Bastille
• Hymn for the Weekend – Coldplay
• Into You – Ariana Grande
• Kids – OneRepublic
• Mercy – Shawn Mendes
• Shoutout to my Ex – Little Mix
• Water Under the Bridge – Adele
• Grow Up – Olly Murs

Personal highlights of the year

• In July I graduated from university with a 2:1 degree in English with Creative Writing, and even
though the prospect of walking across a stage in front of around 1000 people filled me with anxiety and dread, it turned out to be one of the best moments of my life. The whole day was amazing, and I felt so happy that I had achieved something I never thought I ever could and I was so proud of myself.

• For my dissertation, I wrote 15 of my own poems along with a 4000 word essay, which I ended up getting a first on. If you don’t know the university grading system, basically that’s the highest grade you can get! Safe to say I was over the moon, as I’d never got a first on any other piece of work. So to have got my highest grade ever on my own writing made it so special, I still can’t believe it!

• In May, I went to Wentworth to a celebrity pro-am golf tournament. My day ended perfectly when I met Niall Horan and got a selfie with him! I have been a fan of One Direction for around 6 years and I had given up any hope of ever meeting them. But I heard about this golf thing Niall was doing 3
days after my last ever exam at uni so I decided to go. I never expected I would be lucky enough to meet him, and it was a perfect day all round which I spent with some friends I’d met on twitter. I’m still so in shock that I finally met one of my favourite people on earth.

• As if meeting Niall wasn’t enough, in October, he did a Q&A on twitter. As always, I tweeted him a few random questions and then gave up because I knew it was going to be like every other time and he wasn’t going to reply to me. Then around half an hour later, I see that someone has liked a tweet I’m tagged in. I click on it and there it is. Niall Horan tweeted me. Not a normal tweet, but a video message of him answering my question. I freaked out so much and didn’t stop shaking the rest of the day! Honestly, I’ve spent almost six years trying to get noticed by any of One Direction and then I meet Niall and get tweeted by him within the space of a few months?! I still can’t believe it to be honest, I’m so grateful.

• In July, one of my friends got married and I was lucky enough to be invited to the wedding. I was so happy and excited because I’ve never been to a wedding (that I can remember as I was so young), and it was a truly beautiful and magical day.

• Throughout uni, I didn’t really have a clue what I wanted to do as a career and it was stressing me out a bit. Everyone had all these plans and I still felt a bit lost. After talking to a careers advisor I decided on music journalism, and my personal tutor recommended me to apply for a masters in magazine journalism. After visiting a uni in London I soon fell in love with the idea, and I have since applied for a masters in magazine journalism in London and Nottingham (as a back-up option). Fingers crossed that 2017 is the year my dreams come true!

• Since I decided on doing a masters, I also decided to increase my hours at the shop I work at to start saving some money. Although this has been quite tiring and stressful, it has increased my confidence so much and I have earned so much more money which feels really good! Hopefully 2017 will mean I move to London (if I get into the course, fingers crossed), so all the extra money will help a lot!

one of my favourite photos I took in Mallorca this summer

• As well as the internet friends I met at the golf tournament, this year I finally met one of my best friends who I met on twitter around two years ago. Although I was slightly nervous as I’m quite an awkward person when meeting new people, it was like we’d been friends our whole lives. We spent an amazing day together and I’m so glad we could finally meet, and we reunited at The 1975 concert earlier this month which was so lovely.

• I did a week of work experience at a local newspaper in September, and I got some of my stories published in the paper and online. Seeing my name in print was amazing, I may have got a little too excited! One of the articles I wrote ended up being one of the most popular stories of the day on the website which was pretty cool!

My life has changed so much this year, and it hasn’t always been easy. Change is hard, and by God there’s been a lot of it this year hasn’t there? It’s been my first year out of education for basically my whole life, which is really strange and hard to get used to. I missed uni so much when I left and I still do.  I had a strange sense of jealousy when I saw all these people going off to uni in September thinking I wish I could do it all over again.

I’ve felt recently like I’ve been stuck in a bit of a rut. If there’s anything these past few months have taught me it’s that I don’t want to work in retail for the rest of my life. My dreams are within my grasp, and I really hope that 2017 will be the year that I finally reach them. It’s been a long road, but I know where I’m going now and life isn’t going to be like this forever. For the first time, I am not scared of the future. I am excited and optimistic and I know I can do it. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I am a much different person than I was a few years ago. And I’m ready, 2017. Let’s do this.

Finally, I really want to thank you all for following me, reading and commenting on my posts. This time last year I was so new to blogging and didn’t really know what I was doing, but throughout the year my blog has grown, I’ve now got around 140 followers and I know it’s not much but I appreciate every one of you. So thank you for making 2016 a great blogging year, and here’s hoping 2017 will bring you happiness if this hasn’t been your year. I realise that on a global scale, everyone hasn’t been as lucky as me. But if you look beyond the headlines there have been great things that have happened this year. Scientific research, diseases cured, the Olympics inspiring us all, and much more than all the drama and craziness you see in the media.

What are your highlights of 2016, and what are you looking forward to in 2017? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Happy New Year to you all, and best wishes for 2017! x