Blog Layout
17 Mistakes I've Made In 2017
Dymond Phillips • Dec 31, 2017
Whew 2017 was a rollercoaster. This year has had its ups and downs. My emotions have been all over the place, from borderline depressed to the happiest I've ever been. More than anything, I learned so much this year. Even though it took for me to bump my head (a few times) I don't regret anything I've been thru because the end results were lessons. I'm excited but still a bit nervous for this new year. New year means new chapter new level and I'm nervous to see what all 2018 has in store for me. One things for sure 2017 has taught me to have faith. It was a year full of many wins and losses. One thing I'd recommend you do is reflect. Take a step outside yourself and look at this past year. For me, I had a lot of closed door breakdowns. It's so many things that I tried to cover this year and handle on my own. I learned that you can't always handle every situation and problem on your own. It's okay to not be ok, it's ok to need help. On top of that, I had a lot of great doors open for me, and I feel so blessed for all that I achieved in 2017. As I sit back now on December 31st, 2017 and actually reflect on the year I see there's so many things I could have done differently. Do I regret anything? NO! But I do see the areas where I went wrong. So without further ado here are my 17 biggest mistakes made in 2017:
1.) I Settled
-Now when I say I settled I mean with my life in all aspects. Don't ask why because I honestly don't know but this is something I saw myself doing multiple times in the year. Settled with my dreams, relationships with friends, school, my brand, and other things. I never went to get to a place where I’m complacent.
2.) I Lost Faith
-I lost site of the journey by looking at the finish line. I found myself becoming more distant from God but then I would always go back. In certain situations I even found myself questioning God when I knew not to. It took for me to actually have hope to bring my faith back.
3.) I Lied
-In 2017 I lied a lot not just to others but even to myself. Not only does that hurt people but it hurt me in the end because you have to be real with yourself. Lied about small things and even big things too. It's wrong when you try to make yourself believe something you know is not true. Looking back I think I lied because I was so afraid to just tell the honest truth. But when you tell the truth people can't judge you, they have to respect it. I hurt people because of my fear of what they have to say. I didn't open up to people who actually cared about me.
4.) I Lost Connections With Great Friends
-I have so many people around me that I lost communication with. Don't get me wrong it's ok to cut people off who have done you wrong. But this year I just lost contact with people who were genuinely good to me. People who were always in my corner. For example, my friend Keith was always there for me but our relationship was very distant in the last year. I hate that because looking back he was a great friend to me. It's more people who I had great relationships with who I don't talk to anymore and I hate that. Not everybody deserves a seat at the table but those who are good friends deserve it.
5.) I Sucked With School
-It wasn't the fact that school was just oh so hard, I didn't apply myself 100% in 2017. I don't know about you, but I'm not okay with C's D's or F's shit I'm barely ok with B's. I'm an A student. I somewhat was more so focused on my brand, I thought that if my blog blew up I wouldn't need school. But let's be real education is forever. No matter how big my business gets I know education will back it up. People will take me more seriously. I do believe college isn't for everybody and yes you can be successful without it, but I need it and I've been in it this long why not finish. School is teaching me things that I can implement into my business.
6.) I Questioned My Self Love
-Don't get me wrong, I love myself, but questioned if I was good enough. I allowed people to not treat me like the queen I am at times. I picked apart the things I disliked about myself and let them eat me up. I started to focus on what could be better than looking at all the great things about me.
7.) I Had A Horrible Diet
-In 2017 I had the worst diet ever. From eating fast food up to three times a day to even not eating at all some days. My eating habits were horrible all year. This caused breakouts, sickness, and even weight gain.
8.) I Let My Face Breakout So Bad
-I know, you can't always control breakouts but I knew what I was breaking out from and still was drinking all the sugar drinks. I know in order to keep my face acne free, I have to drink tons of water and use my skin care and this year I just fell off completely. Yes I was drinking a lot more water but I was also drinking a lot more pops and juices.
9.) I Was Very Inconsistent
-I allowed all problems to let me be inconsistent. I wasn't keeping up with my weekly posts because of minor problems instead of finding other ways. For example when my laptop first wasn't working instead of going to the library or writing posts from my phone I just didn't. I used my problems as excuses rather than motivation to do find a way.
10.) I Became Unorganized
-I stopped my daily to do lists, stopped using my planners and just went with a day to day calendar in my head. I always forget stuff and without writing them down they don’t get done. My time management sucked!
11.) I Tried To Control Everything
-Rather than let go and let God I tried to figure everything out to the t. I found myself hurt because I didn't trust the plans God had for me. Sometimes God has better plans for us. I wanted everything to go my way exactly how I had it set out. I had to learn that my life is not my own it’s God’s, so he has to order my steps.
12.) I Had Toxic People Around Me
-This year I had people who were around me who I knew didn't need to be, but I kept them there for whatever reasons. I knew they were toxic but I kept them around me and that hurt me because some of their bad traits were rubbing off on me. I had people who claimed they were rooting for me but secretly praying for me to lose.
13.) I Spent A Lot Of Unnecessary Money
-Woah looking back I touched a lot of money this year and rather than save more I spent more than I should have. I was so quick to just drop money because of the small amounts. But those $5, $10 and $20 things certainly add up. Looking back if I would have just saved as little as $200 monthly my savings would be so much higher.
14.) I Was Too Nice
-I was extremely too nice to people this year. I didn't like saying no to people because I just didn't. I found that I was spreading myself too thin. Also I was too nice to people who wouldn't do the same for me if roles were reversed. I found myself always doing for others but when I needed things everybody would go missing.
15.) I Didn't Get Involved
-I didn't get involved at school or with people I love. As I look back it's a lot of things I could have changed with people around me if I would have put my foot down. When you don't help others you secretly hurt them. As far as school, I'm not taking full advantage of my college experience because I'm not apart of anything.
16.) I Became Too Materalistic
-It's nothing wrong with liking nice things but I was obsessed with the newest thing or items. I should have focused more of that into my brand. If I work hard now I can get all of that in the future. All these designer brands have been around for how long, they aren't going anywhere. It's things that money can't buy that mean more.
17.) I Somewhat Lost Myself
-I became so obsessed with my future and where I wanted to be that I didn't live in the moment. I tried so hard to make myself be happy that I genuinely wasn't. I had this idea of how I wanted my life to be and I didn't trust the process. I was questioning myself because I compared everything to peoples lives on social media. I didn't know how to let go of certain things. Instead of being real and admitting it to myself I tried to make myself think it was ok. Little did I know I was speaking death over my life and not life. I'm happy to say I found myself and I'm learning new things about me each day. I'm a working progress but I'm able to admit my mistakes.
Overall, 2017 was a long year. Had many highs and lows. I wouldn't change anything that happened this year. My trials is what birthed my brand. Without the hardships of 2017 I doubt Dymonds Diary would even be here! I'm blessed that I made it thru the year to see another. Self reflect on your 2017. Pull out 17 mistakes you made and try to not do those same mistakes next year. We are humans we all fall short you have to know how to fix yourself, don't bring 2017 mistakes/choices into 2018. Next year won’t be perfect but I ready to see all the blessings it has in store!
Cheers to 2018, I'm ready! ✨
