2018: My Year in Review

As I prepared to write this post, I realized that I’ve been REALLY caught up in a recent predicament and that it might be a good idea to look at my year as a whole to evaluate it more honestly. This year has absolutely flown by! If you need a refresher on how I hoped things would go, read this.

Let’s start by discussing my “recent predicament.” Over the summer I gained four pounds, which turned into eight by the end of Thanksgiving. There, I’ve said it. I’ve started working really hard the last few weeks and am already noticing progress. I’ve annoyed my husband and friends with constant concerns, updates of gains and losses, and been a general nuisance to most folks who cross my path.

But do you know what else I’ve done this year?

• Attempted to start a nonprofit that helped low-income residents in our county get registered to vote. It’s fizzled out, but there may be a future down the road.

• Joined and regularly attend a women’s workout group that meets at 5:15am during the week and 7:15am on Saturdays.

• Made amazing new friends and supported old ones in major milestones.

• Found a new hobby in rucking and completed my first two events seven days apart, which in addition to training, required traveling alone to unfamiliar places to complete.

• Began occasionally leading workouts in the aforementioned women’s group.

• Started consistently working out five days a week.

• Helped my husband through the difficult decision to quit his job and find a new one, that wouldn’t cause him to be traveling nearly constantly.

• Survived my daughter’s preschool graduation, enrollment into kindergarten, and transition into elementary school.

• Navigated a huge project at work that’s now nearing completion.

• Made a commitment to have lunch with my daughter at school on a weekly basis and I’m doing it.

• Realigned my priorities in life to make sure I’m focused where I need to be, instead of spending precious time that I can’t get back doing things that aren’t as important as I thought they were.

• Affirmed one my greatest strengths: inspiring and motivating those around me, and I’ve worked on honing those skills.

• Learned that it’s okay to accept help from folks when they offer it — I’m not alone.

As mentioned in the linked post above, my word of the year for 2018 was “courage.” When I look back over the year, I definitely think I’ve succeeded in being courageous. My year may not have looked exactly like what I thought it would between January and December, but I’ve put my heart and soul into this year more than I have in a long time. I haven’t figured out my word for 2019 yet, but I’m leaning towards “transform.” My relationship with my husband will be reaching its own milestones in 2019 and for that I am so excited and grateful. On the flipside, I’ll be turning 35 and I’m already anxious.

Here’s hoping that this time next year I’ll feel like my year has been as successful as it’s starting to seem like this one has been. Even if my pants are a little tight and I need some extra courage along the way.