I came across a Tweet from one of my Internet/celebrity crushes earlier this afternoon. Felicia Day said “Happy NYE all! Make sure to write down things you’re proud of from 2011! Brings in the new year on a positive note :)”
This has been a year full of excessive challenges for me, and as of yesterday, I was ready to write this off as quite possibly one of the worst years of my life. However, when I really started to think about it, Felicia is right. When you focus on the positive, the negatives of bereavement, loneliness, rejection, being stood up more times than I can count, being dumped, all do not seem quite so bad. Among the difficult times and the perceived fails, here are some of my wins for 2011:
- I started a blog.
- I paid all of my bills on time.
- I was never charged any overdraft or late fees from banks or credit cards.
- I didn’t lose any weight, but I didn’t gain any either.
- I worked two jobs while going to a state university and got a promotion at one of them.
- I took eight classes at a state university, and I received As in all of them.
- I drummed in a band with friends in front of an audience for the first time in a few years.
- I made at least one coworker laugh almost every day of work.
- I read more books in a single year than ever before.
- I continued to learn a new language.
- I had a poem published in a nationally circulated literary magazine.
- I was invited to discuss that poem at two community college English classes.
- I helped some of my family members stay connected during difficult times.
- I get to celebrate 31 years of being 100% drug free.
- I demystified some of my family history with my nana and even got to share new discoveries with her before she passed away.
What are some of your wins for 2011?