Every year at this time, I grow pensive about the past year and the year to come. New Year's Eve has always been my favorite holiday, because I love the idea of a fresh start and new beginnings. I learnt a long time ago that New Year's is originally the holiday of the Roman God Janus, a God with two faces, one looking back and one looking forward. Naturally that is what many people do around this time- reflect on the events past and look to the future with anticipation.
When I was younger I kept journals (I wanted to remember every single detail of my life so I wrote nearly every day! Now I'm not as interested in my own life, haha). Around New Year's I'd write summaries of the year month by month. I did this also at the end of 2013 in my old blog. So here's what my 2015 looked like:
January: Adjusting to living in Munich again and my first-ever visit to the ER, working a lot and even visiting the memorial site of the former concentration camp Dachau again. This is also the month I became interested in veganism.
February: The month of firsts! I met a guy I started hanging around with a lot, met a lot of new people, and partied a loooooot.
March: On and off-again in my relationship, I recorded new songs and visited the Therme Erding (thermal spa north of Munich) which was goooooorgeous. Visited Bolzano, South Tyrol.
April: Spent a lot of time in Austria, trying even more new things, and went to Frühlingsfest (spring beer festival)!
May: PARTY. Basically this month was just a lot of working and a lot of going out. haha
June: My birthday! I was unfortunately sick at this time but I did eventually have a birthday dinner with my mom. Flew to Tenerife (Canary Islands) at the end of the month, which was lovely.
July: More parties, and a lot of time outdoors. Barbecues and rafting on the river Isar :) This is the month I "discovered" Amy Winehouse and began to take an interest in her.
August: I attended a christening for the first time ever! I'm not religious but it was a really neat event, and everyone was dressed up in their Bavarian traditional dress. I also travelled to southeast Austria to a region known as South Styria, right on the border of Slovenia. Delicious wine and amazing, cheap food! I loved it there. Finally, after this, I cut ties with my ex-partner. In this same month I also saw the documentary 'Amy' twice.
September: I think the obvious summary to this month is OKTOBERFEST!!!!! ;) This year was definitely my best Oktoberfest yet and one I'll remember for years to come! So much fun! I also met my band this month, that was undoubtedly a big positive point of the month.
October: More Oktoberfest! Hahaha. But notably this month I also travelled to London, which I really loved and adored. For sure one of my favorite cities in Europe. Finally I also started singing at an open mic night in Munich at a place called Cord Club. It was a huge success and so much fun!
November: Ah, November. A month of slip-ups and drama. But I wrote two or three new songs in this month so it was all worth it ;)
And finally, December: Hard Work! And miracles. I would say December might actually be my favorite month from last year, because so much has happened in just that month: I wrote more music, and of course it's also the point in the year where I felt most actualized, happy, and successful.
All in all, I would definitely view 2015 as a successful year. I really cannot believe it's already over though. It seems so unreal that the year is behind us already. Amongst other things, last year I learned to manage my finances in a much more organized, sensible way- dividing my money into various accounts for spending, saving, investing, and emergencies. Last year I also learned about a certain approach to "reading" people through traditional chinese medicine. It involves looking at someone's birthday and also looking at the features of their face to determine their personality traits, values, and even their path in life. It might all sound very kooky but I find it to be stunningly accurate (and specific! Unlike these weird horoscopes that are like, you have Mars in the 2nd house this week which means you're going to have stress with something. It's like, oh okay thanks for the heads-up) and the thing I like most about dealing with the birthday readings is that it has absolutely nothing to do with the stars, and rather with the natural cycle of the earth. I never liked the traditional zodiac anyway.
2015 was also a year of firsts. I travelled to many new places, tried a lot of new things, and even for the first time in my life have made a major shift to veganism! When I was younger I thought vegans were crazy. I was always like- but what about butter and CHEESE?!!!! Now I understand it much more, and since trying months at a time of being vegan, I realized it really isn't all as difficult as I thought, and really is much more a thing of mind over matter. And I've discovered I love eating plant-based! Eating mostly vegan I feel healthier than I ever have, and when I gave up dairy I lost excess weight- four pounds in one week!!! Plus a few more after that. Everyone I know is the first to tell me I don't need to lose weight- well I know, and that wasn't my goal with going vegan. But I did have a bit of excess fat around the waist area, and if it happened to go away on its own without me having to lift a finger, well I'll take it! Plus I'm a perfectionist- I'm happy with my body, but if I know I can do better, then that's what I want because I know it's do-able, and I like being in the best possible shape I can be.
Earlier, I would always come up with one solid resolution for the year. But I, like virtually everyone out there, can't stick to a new year's resolution and I think it's kind of dumb to just have like one goal for the whole year. So this year instead of a resolution I came up with a list of things I want to accomplish!
Which includes:
-get a tattoo (I don't have any! Yet) ;-)
-finish my material for the album
-give up dairy completely (I slip up from time to time. It's hard in Bavaria, Germany's dairyland!)
-I am considering bleaching my hair again to the color I had it when I was 18, but I'm not sure yet
-travel to a new continent (so far I've only been to North America and Europe, time to see something new! Probably South America, but I am also dying to visit Hong Kong. Why not both?!)
-climb at least one mountain bottom to top (for starters, but maybe more as well!)
-visit the States- I'll be turning 21 this year. And I just feel like America is the place to celebrate your 21st birthday. So I'll do this either in Las Vegas (I just feel that's the place if anywhere to do the 21st), or I'll head homebound to NYC!
-expand my financial education. This year I read some books that have changed my financial mindset and approach completely. I'm extremely interested in finance and definitely want to improve my skills in it.
There are a few other things on the list but they are not as interesting (buy a blender, for example).
So that was my 2015, and there are my hopes for this new year! How about you? I hope all of you had a great year and look to 2016 with as much hope and optimism as I do. I know I am very excited about the developments and changes ahead- I feel that 2016 will lay the groundwork and be a year full of change, preparing for 2017, which I believe will be an even more exciting year. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves.
Happy New Year! (again) and cheers to 2016!
India
Music for the mood: Tous les Mêmes by Stromae (incredible Belgian artist of electronic dance music, it really helps if you translate his lyrics or if you understand French- because what he writes is GOOD STUFF!)
