2014 has been a tough one, but at the same one of the most rewarding years of my life so far. I feel very grateful for even the moments where I felt like I wanted to give up, as it gave me something invaluable in return. New wonderful friendships made, a complete change in career and while for most of the year my mind has been elsewhere than my fitness & weight loss goals, I am happy. I feel like I've fought my way through all the bad things and come out of it all a winner. Thank you to everyone who's made it possible - you know who you are. <3

To highlight some of the awesome things that happened this year, I browsed through my Instagram account and grabbed some random shots here and there. Enjoy! :)

Moving house in February.

Celebrating my weight loss journey so far.

Download Festival with my brother in June. Powerman 5000 on stage.

Lots of Noom related stuff all year long!

A brilliant t-shirt found at EGX London, an absolute nerd heaven. ;)

I had the chance to go home to Finland in November.

Absolutely loving the new job, working most of Christmas didn't bother me at all!

.. and after eight years I finally managed to get myself new glasses! They make me feel so smart. ;)

So do I have any set plans for 2015? Well, I don't really believe in resolutions, I mainly plan and set targets for myself. I want to keep going on the same path I have been for the past month or so - I've simply felt happy and very calm since removing myself from a lot of restrain and stress. I can finally express exactly who I am, pretty much all that pressure has been taken off me and I can just go back to enjoying my life.

Weight loss wise I'm absolutely dying to get back into a good routine with both diet and exercise. I'm going to wait out the Jan/Feb gym rush and focus on working out at home, but eventually I really really want to start doing the 5x5 Stronglifts. I mentioned it a while ago but I just never got around to it - mainly because of work. Now, I know it sounds like the worst excuse in the world to slip to bad habits, and my solution was to find work that wouldn't take up 10-12 hours of my day and drain me completely. While I won't have the same time to dedicate to weight loss as I did when I was recovering from my back injury, I will definitely have bundles of time compared to earlier this year!

2015, I can't wait for you.

I had a conversation about being happy with my friend the other night. He's going through a lot of stuff in his life and despite all the amazing things happening to him lately, he still thinks his life is a bit meh. I told him that he should be happy about the things that are good in his life, and then this phrase came out of him.

"You've got more things to be happy about than me."

And I've thought about that ever since. To me happiness isn't a measurable unit. Just because someone has a bit more going on in their life than you do, it doesn't mean that you can't be happy. Even the smallest things make me smile - just seeing a baby duck might make me incredibly happy for the rest of the day. I mean, who doesn't like a fluffy baby duck plodding on?

There's several things in my life that I dislike and that make me unhappy, but I refuse to let all those things drag me down. Instead I really cherish the good things in my life and let that give me the strength to do all the things I do. :) Just knowing that I've got my other half and a very wonderful friend in my life is enough for me.

And even when you feel like the world is falling apart because you get a setback after another (because that's always the way things seem to go), just keep thinking back to the positive things! Maybe sit down with a pen and paper and think - what is good in your life, what makes you happy on a daily basis?

Smile people, life is wonderful!