Year 23

I did it. I’ve survived 23 whole years on this crazy planet Earth. Many of you hardly think this is an accomplishment, facing much more struggling obstacles and for much, much longer, but 23 years ago, I had no idea what was ahead of me.

This past year is one that I could never predict. One year ago, May 13 2013, I was feeling nostalgic and nervous. I practiced putting on my graduation cap with my hair straight or curly, I tested out different dress/shoe combinations to wear for graduation day, I was drunk…very drunk…the entire week. I had an answer to “what are you doing after you graduate?”, and I said goodbye to so many people for what felt like the last time as tears welled up in my eyes.

I had no idea that my 22nd birthday would mark a year full of dramatic change. I graduated. I lost weight, gained weight, and lost it again. I cried and laughed about stupid things that I thought mattered to me, that now I can’t remember. I lost a lot of friends but met new ones even though it was scary. I moved out to a new city. I started drinking coffee and tea on a daily basis. I ran my first ever 5K, my second ever 5K…my 5th ever 5K….and committed to run two different half marathons. I found amazing, supportive people personally and professionally, and continued to forget how fortunate I am for every last one of them.

I’ve chosen this year as the year to begin creating resolutions on my birthday. We all make them when the calendar year starts, but why not make new year’s resolutions when it’s a new year for you? Odds are, it’s pretty far out from those empty promises you made yourself when you were eating your 10th sugar cookie or drinking another glass of champagne, which serves as a good checkpoint.

1. Drink more water. I hardly drink any liquids, let alone enough water. It’s fairly obvious that it’s starting to have an effect on me, because of how tired I am each morning and how drained I feel after (and during) my runs. Mental note: get new water bottle.

2. Find the positives in the negatives (a mantra I need to repeat). Too often I’ve found myself being frustrated and sad about things, such as weight or distance runs. How about instead of “I could only run 5 miles today,” it’s “at least I got off the couch.” There’s a fad going around social media sites right now, #100HappyDays, that inspired this resolution. It should be #365HappyDays.

3. Read the entire Harry Potter series. I was one of the typical kids who read the Harry Potter series as it was released. I got to the 7th book, read that my favorite character had died, and stopped. I never finished the book, watched the movie, or got the ending spoiled for me. Although it’s more of an accomplishment at this point than a disappointment, it’s time to have an ending.

4. Learn a new language. I’ve wanted to learn HTML/CSS on a personal and professional level because I work so closely with the web, and I’m genuinely interested in it. It’s generally just a matter of me sitting down and trying. I’ve also been interested to learn ASL, and I would love to take advantage of the ASL classes at GCC. Unfortunately, there’s no summer classes that I can take, but I always have fall.

I could probably squeeze out a few more resolutions for this upcoming year, but as the list gets longer, it becomes harder to actually complete these goals. Even though this last year drastically changed me and the world around me, I’m so excited to see what other challenges I’ll be able to overcome.

Happy Birthday!