The start of a new year brings much talk of what people will do in the coming year. Talks of how to make the next year better than the last. Personal goals. Physical. Relational. Monetary. All goals for how to "get past" or "beat" the previous year and the antics that went with it. What happened to idea that what you do in the your present will shape your future? It's not necessarily only where I'm going, but also where I've been that has me thinking a lot this time of year. I'm not a fan of "resolutions" since I feel like they are just setting me up for failure, but instead look back on the past year and figure out what I want to continue and what I would like to see happen this year and strategize for those things to come to fruition.
What did 2011 mean to me? Where did I go? What did I do? How much have I accomplished in my short 25 years?
2011 was a year of growing in my personal and professional life. The end of 2010 brought the end of a two and a half year relationship which started off 2011 with a clean slate. I blogged my way through eHarmony and met some cool people and learned a lot of what I wanted (and conversely didn't want) in a relationship.
Memorial Day weekend had me moving into a house with two old adults and a roommate who was my age. Desperation on finding a place caused me to land there. At least I could walk to work and it was less than I was paying living alone.
The start of summer brought the NACCAP conference my office hosted on campus where I gained traction on creating a social media manager for the admissions office and started the ball rolling on the "what's next?" part of my professional life.
July brought a summer camp for work that I had to go to against all complaints and tries of reason to not send me. All attempts failed and I went to Quincy California for a week and learned that sometimes you can hate your job and not have any say in what's going on, but chances are the reason you're hating it won't last forever. I made it through camp and came home to my three MBA classes I was taking.
Throughout the summer I rebuilt and created friendships from work and school and thoroughly enjoyed where I was in life. I was working at a job I liked 90% of the time, excelling in my MBA program and learning what the "single life" was like.
August brought a promotion along with a demotion to the downstairs office. Joining from the highest high of having an awesome new position created for me to crashing to a new low when I was told I was being ripped away from my normal office life. Away from my friends at work and with a feeling of lower self worth. Many times I applied for and sought out other employment because of how I felt I was treated. Out of that grew patience and understanding that while this job may seem unbearable at times, there are far more people out there who hate their jobs or don't have a job. I needed to be thankful for what I had.
I spent fifteen straight days at one hotel in October which was two weeks out of six travel weeks for the "fall travel" season. Balancing life, school and work all while enjoying the waffles Hampton Inn provides every morning.
November was planning to move (yet again) into an awesome condo with what I call "a random". It's the first time I've been "off the point" meaning I live more than 5 minutes from work and it's been an adjustment, but nothing short of a great one. Landed an awesome roommate and an awesome condo. Finally happy with where I live.
December marked my 25th birthday and an attempt at a new attitude on life. I am young, but successful however I have so much more I can and will do with my life. I now make lists of why I do what I do and what I like and don't like about aspects of my life. Then I'm able to weigh the pros and cons and stay grounded in how and why I got to where I am and weigh in my future goals with my current frustrations. It's all in the mind games that keep me going day after day through the hard times.
Which brings me to the end of the year and where I am now. It's only January but I'm already looking forward to all the things I have planned through July.
February is the Online Marketing Summit coupled with the Online Marketing Institute's social media degree program. March bring thesis defense for my MBA. Then May brings graduation from my MBA and NACCAP in Chicago with my coworkers. Mid June brings a two week trip to Thailand with my church and then July is hopefully a family trip to the desert over 4th of July weekend.
Twenty five is shaping up to be an awesome year and I'm wholeheartedly looking forward to it!
Until next time...
