[00:00] Hello my dear listeners this is English Canada the podcast about learning languages going through immigration and establishing yourself in a new place

[00:17] Hi guys and welcome to this new episode of the podcast and here is Anastasia Stoyanova and welcome to this episode and thank you so much for being with me and supporting me and listening to this

[00:33] And this new episode actually was supposed to come out like the end of December However something happened you know

[00:43] I caught the flu and I was just in bed with fever and sore throat and yeah that's how it was unfortunately

[00:54] And then after I managed to recover I ended up getting a new virus norovirus and I actually lost almost 5 kilograms over the course of two weeks

[01:07] Can you imagine That's a bit crazy I did not want that to happen I wanted to lose weight but not at this cost

[01:14] So be careful what you wish for as they say And actually today's topic today's episode is dedicated to the goals and resolutions for 2026 something

[01:28] I made And also I wanted to talk about the results and the achievements of 2025 and the failures of my 2025

[01:38] So yeah I hope you stick around and kind of get to know me better and learn about my resolutions and goals and what worked out what not

[01:48] So 2025 was a very important year for me because that's the year when I actually started my new degree my new professional field higher education in a new professional field

[02:07] And the reason for that is of course the financial instability in the teaching career and also kind of

[02:15] I decided to try something new maybe something that can make me feel more financially stable in the long run because

[02:25] I feel that despite the fact that I do love teaching people and teaching English and that has been everything to me for the past 10 years but

[02:37] I do feel that in Canada it's impossible to provide for myself just by simply teaching or having a small small small business

[02:48] And it has proven to be very unstable and the amount of tax and other costs cannot keep up with the amount of money that

[02:58] I make I cannot cover my basic needs and I kind of grew tired of relying on other people on my family

[03:09] I mean my husband to help me And I reluctantly accept help and for me it's also like this pang of guilt that

[03:20] I have that I want to be that person who can be financially stable and have some prospects So that's why one of the goals was to start new higher education diploma program

[03:32] I got into It's not connected with education at all With the education field I mean it's a completely different field and

[03:40] I'm just hoping that I can start a new career And of course teaching is never going to leave my life in one shape or form or another

[03:51] I'm still going to be a teacher I will be creating products and courses for people I'm sure But yeah that was the goal

[03:59] So I studied successfully and I worked on top of that So I never stopped teaching and I worked part time and

[04:07] I kept tutoring people as well So one of the goals was to minimize expenses and yes that's what I achieved

[04:17] I minimized all of my expenses and I led a very frugal lifestyle I'm that kind of person who I could never splurge on anything anyway unless

[04:28] I really had to But I'm that kind of girl who can buy lipstick and keep wearing this lipstick for five years

[04:39] And I'm cool with that I'm fine with that So that was the goal because I really had to shrink my budget so to say because you know that in

[04:48] Canada higher education is not free So you've got to pay for that yourself But I think learning new skills might help me in the long run and might just improve my life

[05:01] So I hope that this is the investment that I'm making right now with my time with my money and I hope that it will pay off

[05:10] So one of the goals was also to complete financial literacy course and start investing So the first half of that is done

[05:19] What I mean is that I completed the financial literacy course personal finance course I took in college

[05:25] It was amazing I love the teacher I learned a lot about Canada and personal finance in Canada I'm really grateful

[05:33] However I did not start investing As you can imagine investing takes you need income but I could barely cover basic needs of mine and also education on top of that

[05:47] And I was kind of living and relying on credit So investing was not in the cards in 2025 So like this

[05:55] And then oh by the way I want to make a comment that I usually make resolutions like right before Christmas

[06:04] And I've been doing that for years and years And I try to write as many as I can not because I hate myself but it's like

[06:12] I want to make sure that I read through them every week or every other week which I do And I think it keeps me in a good shape

[06:23] And like it doesn't matter how many resolutions you have You might have as many as five But like in my case

[06:31] I do have a lot like a lot more than five I have like 10 15 For 2026 I wrote like 20 But I'm just writing whatever comes to my mind

[06:42] And I want to make sure that I cover all of the fields or aspects of my life because there is this the wheel of balance of balance life balance like our life consists of like personal relationships family friends finance health entertainment right

[07:00] Like all the fields of your life So in the field of career and work finance health family friends romance relationships personal development entertainment and leisure and some extra goals right

[07:14] So for me that's how I create my goals And I try to brainstorm of everything I'm wishing for So some things don't happen right

[07:25] Some things just because yeah you are stretching you are kind of sometimes stretching yourself But for me it's important because

[07:33] I feel like if you don't have the goals you're just going to waste your life right So I just want to wanted to make that comment wanted to make that remark

[07:43] All right So something I failed was physical activity because I wanted to go to a gym once a week and

[07:51] I could not do it like consistently And I even gained weight because of the stress of juggling studying full time and working part time

[08:01] And it was very hard Yeah so I failed at that No consistency there I'll try to do my best this year So far so good

[08:10] And yeah that was in 2025 Like I said and then also one of the goals was to improve my relationships my husband discuss all the problems and challenges and and accept support and help

[08:23] Because for me I always kind of I'm always hard on myself because I feel like I cannot just you know rely on the financial support of my husband all the time

[08:35] I want to more independent I want to be you know that kind of partner that everybody everyone dreams for dreams about you know

[08:45] And sometimes it's really hard because my profession unfortunately and yeah my profession lets me down

[08:53] Being a teacher unfortunately means being in a lot of financial trouble and being a teacher as a tutor as an

[09:02] ESL teacher That's very hard to just trust me And I decided even to make a separate episode about business and self employment because

[09:11] I feel like a lot of people romanticize that like romanticize I mean a lot of people when they hear the word business they immediately think that oh or self employment like oh she must be you know like she must be rich or something

[09:26] But it's it's a complete disaster actually have being a self employed person in Canada that means you're screwed

[09:33] And I'm going to talk about that separately But anyway so that was one of the goals to accept financial help from my husband openly discuss problems

[09:41] And I think I I achieved that So we could put a tick on that And yeah that was well done Another goal was to learn

[09:49] French and I succeeded I I started actively learn French and also learning French is very important for my new career and something

[09:58] I can monetize in the future as well maybe also like teaching or for a government job or for something we will see how it goes

[10:08] So yeah that was good And then also another goal that I failed yeah so like French was not something

[10:18] I failed I succeeded in But like remember I told you that I failed at investing so I also failed at obtaining a full

[10:26] G driver's license because I only have like G2 right now And when I moved to Canada I started the process from zero like from

[10:37] G1 because I had no driver's experience no driving experience at all You know in Europe like in Ukraine for example not a lot of people and in a lot of other post

[10:50] Soviet Union countries people do not rely on cars that much if you compare how much people might be relying on cars in

[11:00] Canada right in GTA Like right now I'm living in Toronto but it's not going to be always like that I bet that in the future

[11:09] I'm going to we're going to have to move or we might want to move out of Toronto especially considering how much it costs to live in

[11:18] Toronto and living in Toronto and all the expenses wow it's just guys Toronto is a very hard city to live in and to immigrate to

[11:29] And that's why hence driver's license because if you want to move out when you move out you are screwed

[11:36] Public transportation sucks like Toronto has a subway system right and TTC and the buses but they're not reliable whatsoever

[11:47] So like unless you have an online work which is a privilege I think right now because everyone is kind of is made to go back to the office yeah it's like

[11:59] I'm going to say that having a good job a good work is a privilege these days as well I feel like So yeah anyway a license driver's license is crucial and

[12:09] I really want to obtain a full G driver's license because in the future we might move out of Toronto which would be great which would be great

[12:19] I love Toronto but sorry Toronto English teaching cannot pay for that unfortunately Yeah some other goals

[12:29] I failed at was actually going skiing with my husband we never went and reading three books in French and three books in

[12:38] English This goal was not accomplished because I well first of all the lack of time and the lack of discipline

[12:46] I would say some books were not as interesting as I had expected them to be or had wanted them to be

[12:55] So I kind of stopped in the middle of the way in the middle of the book because I felt like okay wow that's not this is not something

[13:03] I'm interested in or that's not good And then I could never finish you know like I think I read two books in

[13:12] English and that's it just to maintain my level But I kept reading the articles and watching the news and of course teaching and preparing for my lessons and looking for information

[13:23] And I mean I'm studying full time right in Canada and everything is in English but I feel like it's not the same when you just kind of indulge yourself in reading for pleasure

[13:34] So I do strive strive to achieve that in the future And then three books in French also was not possible like

[13:44] I only finished one but I think it's it's kind of like I tried but I'll try better this year So the last thing was the to celebrate my birthday anniversary in

[13:57] London the UK And that's a huge tick That's a huge done Thanks to my husband And I'm really grateful

[14:04] Thank you so much baby Without you I would never be able to afford that shit like that traveling Oh my god

[14:12] And I'm really grateful I'm really grateful because that was like a dream come true This is the best trip

[14:17] I've had in my life so far Thank you so much And yeah these were my goals for 2025 And now I want to talk about something and

[14:28] I called my resolutions you know every year I come up with some catchphrase not come up with a phrase but it's more like

[14:34] I use a catchy phrase to talk about something I'm I'm wishing for myself So this year for 2026 I I called this list and

[14:48] I have like 21 goals and two extra goals I call this list dare to dream So some of the goals that I was not able to accomplish in 2025

[15:00] I want to make them happen in 2026 So like for example losing weight I'm going to lose 10 kilograms And you know it's like be careful what you wish for because right after

[15:11] I made this list and then I caught this horrible flu and I lost like five kilograms So just kind of you know yeah that was not the way

[15:22] I wanted to lose the weight But anyway I put this on my list So 10 minus 10 kilograms by the end of the year you know before

[15:32] I gained my weight I gained my weight in 2025 actually because I was very stressed with my new field with the higher education that

[15:41] I was getting and I'm still getting I'm not done with that And I gained like 10 kilograms Yeah So like

[15:49] I my weight was 58 and I gained and I became like 68 kilograms And yeah I want to I want to go back to 58 because that felt freaking good

[16:00] So anyway one of the goals was to yeah So one of the goals for 2026 lose 10 kilograms go to the gym two times and then finish my higher education and get my diploma also find a job

[16:16] But honestly this is too optimistic And I there are several reasons for that that I do not really want to talk about right now

[16:23] But like more realistically would be because I know that the job market is not good in And I know that

[16:29] And it's like we'll see on the May But it's like I'm switching to French because I had a lovely French class today

[16:40] And anyway I'm sidetracking here So as I was saying realistically probably the job hunt would be in 2027

[16:48] But like I put this just to get started in 2026 And then have French classes yay every week So that's one of the goals

[16:58] And then take and pass B2 exam in French just to have this nice diploma or certificate that can justify and say hey

[17:10] Anastasia knows French quite well B2 that's upper intermediate So she's like fluent basically almost bilingual right

[17:19] Because I'm not even sure like the concept of bilingualism I think you start being truly bilingual when you have the

[17:28] C1 level but B2 I guess that almost counts Yeah Then another couple of goals are about the self employment

[17:39] So I want to create five courses for the people who are learning English And I want to help them master grammar and vocabulary and pronunciation and reducing their accent

[17:53] And also yeah I want to improve my existing CELPIP course That's one of the goals Also I want to get some professional certification in a new field then get a

[18:06] GFUL license GFUL driver's license something I failed at in 2025 Also I want to start investing if I can because

[18:19] I really want to And then I want to keep making this lovely podcast and release one episode every two weeks

[18:28] I hope I'm not going to fall behind on that I want to make one post on Insta for English learners every two weeks

[18:37] And then the biggest goal is to prepare all the documents for Canadian citizenship and start Canadian citizenship process

[18:44] Because this year in 2026 I'm going to be finally eligible to apply for Canadian citizenship because we are going to fulfill the physical criteria

[18:56] So yeah it's like in the summer we're going to fulfill the physical criteria requirement and we're going to start filing our case right away

[19:07] Start working towards my Canadian citizenship and a password This is something I can't wait for honestly

[19:14] This is like the hugest if you could say like that the biggest goal for me Also I want to start growing out my natural hair because

[19:25] I feel that something I didn't tell you but like I really wanted to grow out my natural hair Because my natural hair color this is something you could see if you're watching this on

[19:38] YouTube right now It's like I do have like a dark blonde hair you know like dark you call that mousy blonde something

[19:46] I saw online This is what it's called So I want to grow that out and I want to stop dyeing my hair because that's expensive but that's actually not one of the reasons

[19:59] I just I do not see myself as blonde blonde anymore Somehow I want to be very natural when it comes to that and like grow out my natural mousy blonde color

[20:13] And also speaking of that like I want to give up dying my hair because that's expensive as I said and also

[20:22] I want to give up getting manicures and pedicures done to save money I want to eat something sweet only once per two weeks

[20:32] Something sweet I mean like really I want to give up eating pastry and drinking pop and I think I'm really good at that like

[20:41] I already this is my second week yeah of not doing that like not eating pastry and not drinking pop like ginger ale

[20:50] Ideally like I want to make water as my drink of choice and yeah just kind of give up um yeah give up coffee no

[21:00] I cannot say this is my goal but maybe like drink also less tea and kind of try to be just like water water maybe one coffee in the morning and yeah so that's like this

[21:15] Uh what else I didn't tell you yes the last thing I wrote for myself is to read three books in French and three books in

[21:22] English to maintain a very good level of proficiency So I really attempted that last year but I think

[21:31] I was very busy because um the biggest chunk of my time was by the um by the education my my diploma program because believe it or not uh getting college uh diploma at an older age and

[21:49] I'm getting my diploma at a very different field and everything is new and that was super stressful and it took a big chunk of my time of my energy of my health

[22:01] So yeah but anyway I'll try and and fix that and read more for expanding my horizons and just improving my languages

[22:11] French and English also um two extra goals that I have is actually um Spanish I started learning in 2025 but only like for fun

[22:25] I did not really take it seriously so I'm not gonna say like get serious about my Spanish but I wanna learn uh for now just to build a foundation um yeah uh just for fun this this skill actually

[22:41] I'm not gonna monetize because it's mostly this is for fun this is just I like the way Spanish sounds and

[22:49] I what I've heard is that it might be a bit easier if you learn Spanish after you learn French so that's what

[22:57] I heard and that's we'll see yeah how it goes and then also one more goal is to keep volunteering and maybe volunteer more

[23:07] I like volunteering and helping people so maybe I can get on with some new projects this year to volunteer and maybe volunteer in

[23:16] Toronto Public Library like a speaking club or something maybe volunteer um some at a new place I'm not gonna say like church or but we'll see maybe so um yeah that's that's all that

[23:29] I wanted to share with you I'm kind of like you know just opening up and uh really talking here no filter and just just wanted to to share a piece of myself with you like really

[23:44] I'm feeling as if I'm naked right now you know I disclosed all of my goals here but uh I hope you can appreciate and maybe some of these goals might make you think of some of the goals of yours and something you want to do something similar or maybe something that can motivate you to actually start setting those goals because for me is like when

[24:08] I look at the goals that I did not achieve I think that okay maybe next year next year why not in that way you could see that okay like

[24:16] I postponed getting my full driver's license because I mean heck we don't have as much time as we wish we we could have right for everything so

[24:26] I think setting the goals uh like using smart um maybe you know specific measurable blah blah blah attainable uh rt

[24:37] I think it's also reasonable and then something like that I forgot the abbreviation but it's just setting your goals is not a bad thing and

[24:46] I always recommend uh working on your resolutions and living your life having those goals in mind because if you live your life like that having something to look forward to

[24:59] I think that what makes your life right like it makes your life more interesting it really fills up your life with a purpose and that's what we are all we we are all here for yes we we all have our purpose our our um

[25:15] I don't know just like our path so yeah those goals are my path and uh crossing my fingers here and hoping that everything

[25:24] I told you today is gonna come true next year um thank you so much for listening and in the next episode

[25:32] I'm gonna talk about uh actually the downsides or the disadvantages of being a self employed English teacher in

[25:40] Toronto why it sucks big time exactly that's what I'm gonna talk about because like yeah there aren't many advantages trust me so being your own boss and having your own side hustle or like a small business it sucks guys it's not that easy and it's like yeah financially you you can drown so anyway but about that we'll talk about it next time okay have a day thank you for sticking around and yeah um

[26:13] I hope that you're gonna listen to me soon till next time bye