These days everyone is counting down the hours, minutes, and seconds until this wild year is over. There is a movie trailer that parodizes this year: https://www.facebook.com/LADbible/videos/3038672026179967/?pnref=storyThere are gofundme's to protect Betty White: https://www.gofundme.com/help-protect-betty-white-from-2016. And, naturally, there are entire twitter accounts, reddit feeds, and blogs that solely focus on the blunders from this past year. It has been interesting. That is for certain, but I know that I learned a lot about myself, my vocation, my strengths, and my weaknesses. Despite this year having been rather challenging, I am leaving it only slightly scathed and very loved.
New Year's is my favorite holiday. As a child I would write pages and pages in a journal about the highlights of my year in fear that I would forget the events of my life. While I no longer spend hours journaling, I do like to take time to reflect so here is a list of the top 16 lessons I learned and the top 16 moments of my year (in no particular order).
1. Drink more water - learned from marathon training and everyday life.
2. Homemade food is always better than boxed food - learned from making Sunday night dinners with Bridget.
3. It never hurts to reach out to old friends - learned from reaching out to Ian and Bridget when they moved to Chicago. They were two friends I had not spoken to in about a year. Now they are some of my closest friends.
4. Money is better spent on experiences and not things - learned from putting my paychecks towards concerts and travelling instead of materials.
5. It's ok to drive a crappy car - learned from driving my baby blue 1994 Ford Taurus that I am now rather fond of.
6. I cannot party like I did in college - learned from a night out with Julianna while home that left me bed-ridden for much of the next day. Waving a white flag.
7. Blink-182 was right, nobody likes you when you're 23 - learned from life.
8. Girlfriends are the best friends to have - learned from the strong, confident, and inspiring women that fill my life.
9. Be nice to nice boys - learned from regretting being mean to someone that really didn't deserve it. We met on a holiday. I wish him well.
10. Don't break your phone or park your car in a no parking zone - learned from emptying my wallet far too many times.
11. Being financially independent is empowering even in the midst of a tight budget - learned by successfully paying my own bills and rarely having to rely on my family for financial assistance. I feel lucky to have this privilege so young.
12. Sometimes you just need to listen - learned from social work jobs and post grad adjustment.
13. Always give yourself 15 extra minutes - learned from always being late (by 15 minutes).
14. It's ok to cry, and laughing is cool too - learned from Nora McInerny Purmort's book of the same title which came into my life just when I needed it.
15. It's ok to be not ok - learned from a year of working through my anxiety and melancholia.
16. It is ok to change course from what you thought you would be doing - learned from realizing that I need to make some changes and now knowing that it is ok.
Best Moments of 2016
1. # blueHearts reunion in Omaha.
2. Running the Chicago Marathon.
3. Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park on the Bicentennial of the founding of the National Parks.
4. Watching the Cubs win the World Series.
5. Joining Live Grit's marathon training team.
6. Living with my wonderful MercyWorks roommates.
7. Doing insane amounts of yoga.
8. St. Paddy's Day celebrations.
9. Joining November Project
10. Running a 5k with my dad in New York.
11. Being an aunt to 4 fabulous children.
12. Seeing countless concerts.
13. Protesting for the first time.
14. All the camping.
15. Moving into my first real apartment.
16. Going to *almost* all of the museums in Chicago during the free museum month in February.
12. Seeing countless concerts.
13. Protesting for the first time.
14. All the camping.
15. Moving into my first real apartment.
16. Going to *almost* all of the museums in Chicago during the free museum month in February.
2016 was hard, but it was also life-giving. My hope is that I hold these lessons and continue to let them teach me in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. I hope that 2017 will contain just as many lessons and just as many joys for myself and for all the people in the universe.
Happy New Year.
