Max Ehrmann's Desiderata is one of those pieces of writing I often return to for a moment's meditation. And the holiday season (especially the week between Christmas and New Year) is a perfect time to collect and recollect, and plan for the year ahead.

Last year I did a series of photographs named 12 Days of Gladness, reflecting on the year when I up and left my job to move to be in the US with my husband.

I thought Desiderata would be the ideal way to reintroduce myself to blogging in 2014. All these photos are mine from the past year or so (except the first one which my husband took!)

I didn't learn much more in the way of photographic skills last year, but I did learn a lot about myself, the world I live in, and what I want to achieve for 2014. So I've spent most of January making considered and decided plans and goals for this year, and I'll share these ideas with you over the next few weeks.

I've also made some decisions about the kind of blog I want. I've always felt a little stuck between expat blogging, 'lifestyle' blogging, and blogging about more solid things relating to my career aspirations. I've decided that it's okay to mix all three!

I threw these photos together last night, and my husband found me at my desk as I was working on the last one. It's a photo from Camden in London, taken a few weeks ago. He'd never heard of Desiderata before, and he also didn't know that I'd taken that picture. The whole thing struck him much more profoundly than I expected - so I hope you enjoy it too!

Which poem or piece of writing inspires you? Or where do you take inspiration from? I'd love to hear. For now, I'm going to get back to reading my Bloglovin backlog…