Karibu 2020

Happy motherphucking New Year dear reader.

I hope the New Year and new decade has gotten off to a roaring start for you and yours. Mine officially kicked off two days ago when the gym reopened on Monday 6^th. Lol. I decided that 2020 begins for real for real when the gym opens and continued living the Drinkscember way of life for the first five days of January. Hence this post is a week late 😐 but better late than never. I am here now and I am …Ready For It because 2020 is not going to kick major ass by itself.

2019 was, unequivocally, the best year of my life. In a post I put up in February last year I declared that I’mma make 2019 my bitch and goddamn goddamn goddamn *Beyoncé voice* did I do just that. You can read the recap of my year here, and it is my hope that 2020 will be just as good as 2019, if not better. But fucking hell 2019 set the bar so goddamn high 2020 may have to work twice as hard to be half as good.

But to its credit 2020 has gotten off to a promising start as I am now officially in a relationship.

I wrote a bit about my boyfriend in the recap as he is the most incredible man I have ever met. Meeting him and getting to know him was the best way to end my best year and I could not be more thankful for him even if I tried. Though it feels weird saying “my boyfriend” after being single for just under two years, but I smile each time I do so because I quite like the sound of it.

Now onto the essence of today’s post which is similar to last year’s Karibu 2019 where I shared Lwile the Leo WIP plans for the year.

This year my priority 1a agenda is to tell my mum’s story regarding her five year battle with breast cancer, because even the battles lost are still worth telling.

My priority 1b agenda is to continue being as vocal as possible about mental health. I intend to do this by continuing to be as honest and open about my struggles with my mental health as I possibly can. I also plan to have more guest posts this year from people who struggle with their mental health to:

1. 1. Show others that they are truly not alone.
   2. Add more voices to the fight to destigmatise conversations around mental health because every mind matters.

Additionally, I intend to look into solutions for decreasing the cost of therapy because it is just too fucking expensive. Therapy saved my life and the fact that so many people who need the same help that saved my life cannot easily access it no longer sits right with me. It will take a village and I will need all the help I can get, but I am more than ready for the challenge. This is a long term plan though, as I am under no illusions that significant strides to reduce the cost of therapy will be made in a year. In fact, it is better defined as one of my goals for this decade with the work beginning in 2020.

This year I will also continue to protect my newfound happiness at all costs. Anything or anyone that fucks with this newfound happiness, that took me my whole goddamn life to find, will not be tolerated.

I will also continue being deliberate with practicing intentionality in all facets of my life and I would urge you to join me on this because I promise it will change your life.

This year I am also toying around with starting:

1. 1. A fashion section on the blog.
   2. A book club.

I have no idea though how either of those would look like/work, so if you have any ideas feel free to hit me up in the comment section or in my DMs.

This year I also want to do more with The Mother Of All Losses. I started this tag last year with the intention to show what this great loss looks like at different stages. With The Grief Diaries I focus on my relatively new grief. With TMOAL I plan to showcase the grief of those who have been without their mum for some time, while also bringing in a different perspective from other people whose grief is also new. That way if someone is reading the blog, no matter where they are in their grief journey they may find comfort in someone else’s journey they identify with. So if you have lost your mum, or know someone who has and would be willing to write a blog post for me on their mum’s anniversary do let me know. We kick off tomorrow with a post by Francina on the twelfth anniversary of her mum’s death.

This time last year I more or less had my entire content calendar for 2019 figured out. There were a few blanks here and there, but I knew what post I was going to put up when for approximately 80% of the Wednesdays in the year. This year I do not even have a hint of a content calendar 😐 but I am pretty sure I will figure it out.

Lastly, for those who may not be aware, this is my first and last post for the month as Lwile the Leo is taking a break for all of January. I put up 62!!!!!!!!!!!!! creative writing posts last year and I am fucking tired of writing!! I am taking guest posts though, so if you would like to write for the blog do let me know. As usual blog posts go up on Wednesday and I have openings for 22^nd and 29^th as 15^th is taken.

Once again, Happy New Year! May 2020 be the best year yet, but not ever.