Reflecting on the Year I Was 26

I don’t want to say that the year I was 26 was a mediocre year, but I don’t recall anything special happening to make it stand out from the rest.

Apart from making the decision to quit my job and go travelling of course. 

But otherwise, I was living in London on London City Island, going to work for Gucci and Burberry, dealing with influencers and trying to travel around Europe and further afield as often as I could. 

As with every year, I take the opportunity to look back on the previous 12 months of my life and the year that was and see what stood out, what I learnt and what I’m looking forward to as I enter a new chapter and new year on this planet. 

This time last year

Where was I this time, 12 months ago? I can remember it being a very busy travel period. I was getting ready to fly to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday, then preparing for trips to Marrakech, Magaluf, and Norway in April. 

It was full on, but we had quite a few bank holidays this time last year and I was very keen to make the most of them. 

I think it’s safe to say that my trips to Marrakech and Norway are what inspired me to want to travel more and to see more of the world. 

Morocco was a complete culture shock for me, but I loved seeing another part of the world that was so different from anywhere I’d ever been before. Norway was incredible for scenery and to sail through the Norwegian Fjords made me want to explore more of Scandinavia. 

Perhaps that’s why a few months later I made the decision to quit my job and go travelling for six months, or maybe it was London. 

My best friend got married

This was definitely a stand out moment for me in the year that I was 26. She’s the first of my friends to be married, so it really hit home how old we are getting.

Ok, 26 might not be old but we’re definitely not school kids anymore, even though that might seem like only a short while ago.

It hit quite hard seeing her get married as we spent so much time together in Liverpool during our university years, and spent every weekend in our favourite Irish bars having the best time. But on her wedding day, it hit me that that period in our lives is now firmly over. 

We’re not university students anymore, she’s now a wife, a homeowner and getting ready to start a family now. But of course, it also made me reflect on my own situation as I throw £2,000 at my landlord for rent every month in London and have no real plan in place for what my future should or is going to, look like. 

Quite possibly the biggest decision of my life

We had floated the topic of travelling and moving here and there, but didn’t have any firm conversations about moving anywhere apart from back to New York City.

Our plan had always been to move back to New York, but it wasn’t going to happen for either of us any time soon in our current jobs. 

I was very fed up with London by the summer and craved a change of scenery and to live outside of my comfort zone again. Everything was so repetitive and mundane and I wanted to see somewhere new, experience a new way of living and explore the world. 

We had to consider the fact that we could stay in London with the hope that someday our companies would facilitate a move to New York (which could be two, five or ten years from now), or we could stay and wait and nothing actually happen, thus wasting all of those years where we could have left and seen the world.

And so, in August 2023, the decision to start saving and planning was made. 

A significant year of grief

The year I was 26 saw the passing of some family members. I had gone my whole life up until this point not experiencing the loss of anyone close to me, which I knew was not something a lot of people were fortunate to experience. 

I was only two years old when my grandad passed away and so wasn’t aware of anything that was going on at the time. 

Within the last 12 months, I lost one of my grandmothers and my other grandad, and also lost an uncle quite unexpectedly a few weeks before my grandad passed.

With travelling, coming back and forth between London and Ireland, and going straight back to work, I don’t think I’ve actually taken the time to come to terms with any of it and perhaps it may hit me while I’m travelling around Asia and have the time to sit with my thoughts for a change.

Finding myself

I’m hoping that with the months I’ve taken off to go travelling that I’ll be able to bring out those emotions that I do keep bottled up. I’m always ‘fine’ and putting a brave face on to take on work, life and everyday life. 

Maybe 27 will be the year that I learn more about myself and feel more comfortable in myself to open up more.

I can say for sure that 27 isn’t going to be a mediocre year as we’ve started off our travels already fro the foreseeable and who knows where I’m going to be when I write this blog post 12 months from now.

I have high hopes for my 27th year, being born on the 27th of March and I hope that brings some significance to how the year pans out.