It’s the last day of 2018, and as always, I like to look back at the year while looking ahead at my new goals heading into 2019.

My resolutions for 2018 consisted of practicing kindness and establishing strong connections. It’s important for humanity to make a conscious effort to be kinder to one another, even if it’s just small acts of kindness, as they can go a long way. To that point, a nice thing I noticed is that if you take a moment to hold the door open for someone, not only is the person grateful but more often than not will hold the door open for the next person. Kindness is contagious.

I’m happy with the progress I’ve made this year in terms of broadening my personal connections, and I aim to continue making connections with more people this upcoming year. In 2018, I had the pleasure of attending two different networking events. In March, I attended Story Expo, where I met fellow writers and attended lectures led by speakers with experience in various storytelling mediums, including screenwriting, TV writing, novel writing and more. I’ll be attending the expo a second time this upcoming March, so I’m excited for that.

In November, I attended a Women’s Leadership Conference at my alma mater, and I found it extremely informative and inspirational. One takeway that serves as a nice reminder for all of us when pursuing our goals is the simple but effective message that persistence prevails. I keep that in the back of my mind and remind myself of it whenever I feel frustrated or discouraged about not being where I want to be in terms of my career just yet. Persistence is indeed key.

A big thing I did this year was start my own podcast called Storytelling Saga, the podcast that shares stories. I launched it in September and have really been enjoying everything about the podcasting process each week, from researching and recording to editing and posting. It’s definitely one of those learn-as-I-go situations, though I feel I’ve already improved a lot at presenting topics compared to when I first started a few months ago and was still a bit nervous and had to learn the ropes of podcasting and editing. I’ve already had a couple of guests, and I have a few more lined up for the months ahead. I’m excited to see my audience grow and learn more about podcasting and where it takes me next.

With that in mind, my main resolution for 2019 can be summed up with this mantra: Make it happen. During my second visit to LA in November, I chatted with someone who said those exact words to me. I talked to him about my aspirations to move to California to pursue my long-term career goal of writing for television. I feel it’s finally time for me to take the necessary, concrete steps to move out there in the years ahead, as I know doing so will help me to achieve other personal goals of mine, including gaining more independence, as well as learning how to be more assertive and feel more confident. I have a friend who lives there, and she said she’d be able to help me out in terms of finding a day job as I continue pursuing my career. I just know that I can’t let my dreams do all the work, so that’s my big goal for 2019. Yes, it’ll be scary and it won’t be easy, especially at first, but nothing worth having comes easily, and moving to LA is necessary in achieving my dream, so I will make it happen.

I hope you make strides toward achieving your personal goals in the year ahead, whether those goals are big or small. Here’s to a fiercely fabulous and fantastic 2019!