2012 Year in Review: How did we get here?

Editor’s Note: I realize it’s the last week of January and it’s a tad tacky to post my “year in review” blog post. But do you know what’s even tackier than that? Publishing a year-in-review blog post in February. 😉

Days before the clock struck midnight and we rang in a New Year, I sat on Skype having a conversation with a dear friend about anything and everything that happened in the year that the world did not end. In the middle of the call, my husband dropped in and showed off the framed piece of artwork he illustrated for our nephew. This piece he drew, brushed, and water colored in his studio on a desk that he didn’t imagine owning a year ago. But over the past year, it has been the location where his best work has come to life.

Back on the call, my friend described the successes and detours his business had throughout the past year; a business that was a glimmer of an idea less than two years before. Then I connected the dots that lead me to the day job that I’m so fortunate to have landed, happy to be at, and invested in today.

At the end of my story said the something that I’ve been repeating over and over to myself as I entered the New Year: How did we get here?

Every year when holidays settle down and the clock runs out, I try to reflect on how I started the previous year and how it ultimately ended. It’s at this point when I see the things that were such a struggle, the moments that were absolutely wretched, and the moments when everything happened for a reason and the stress was totally worth it.

2012 was—without a doubt—a crazy year. As I look back on my 2011 year in review, I had no idea how completely different life would be a year later due to things that were beyond my control. I knew the year would take it’s own shape, so I said “no” to resolutions and framed the year around goals, mantras, and priorities. But as the note cards lost their adhesion, goals literally fell off the wall, and life marched on. But unlike last year that ended with me feeling disappointed that things didn’t go as planned, this year I’m okay with that 2012 had a different ending than how it began.

2012 Year in Review

Like last year, I used the annual review template from Benny Hsu of the blog, Get Busy Living, to reflect on everything that happened in 2012 and map out my goals for 2013. It’s a great tool that I recommend for reflecting on the past year. Here are some highlights from my year in review:

 Five of the greatest things that happened in the past year:

1. First solo speaking event
2. Got my first unassisted kipping pull-up at CrossFit
3. Amazing writing/blogging weekend with a girlfriend down in Portland (oh, and second solo speaking event too!)
4. Celebrated my fifth wedding anniversary
5. Joined HTC’s social team

 Three great lessons I’ve learned from the past year are:

1. Working hard and hustling pays off.
2. If putting myself out on a limb scares me, I’m doing it right.
3. People always have an agenda and what they say is a part of the truth, but not the whole truth.

 Three personal developments I have made in the past year are:

1. Learning how to be freaked out on the inside and calm on the outside
2. Patience and persistence pays off
3. Having confidence in what I “know”

Three things I need to do less of in the next year are:

1. Hustling
2. Working myself thin
3. Thinking that the world will end if I don’t get something done.

Three things I need to do more of in the next year are:

1. Writing for myself (fiction or creative nonfiction)
2. Spend quality time with the people who matter the most: my husband, friends, and family
3. Working towards the next step in my career (vs. towards the next job)

Three things I need to stop completely doing in the next year are:

1. Losing sleep
2. Feeling bad if I’m not interested in something anymore
3. Spending time and energy on people and doing things that don’t really matter to me

One Sentence that sums up this past year: How did we get here?

Even though January is over and the allure of the New Year has waned, 2013, I’m ready to approach you differently. And I’m excited to see how it all turns out.