It's 2013, a brand new year, and a chance to reflect on the past 365 days. As I get older, it feels like the years go by faster and faster. It seems like just yesterday that I was celebrating the advent of 2012 with some of my very best friends in my hometown of San Angelo, drinking champagne and speculating on the year to come. Here I am now in my new home city, Bloomington, in my new apartment, gazing out my windows at the snow-covered ground (yes, that's right, I live in a place where it SNOWS).
2012 was filled with change, as I expected it would be. I began my job search in January, determined to find a perfect fit for me. In April, I graduated from The Florida State University with my master's degree. In May, my parents announced that my Dad had gotten a new job in North Carolina, and they would be leaving my hometown for good. In July, I was lucky enough to find my perfect fit at Indiana University, and was offered a job. I packed up my life in Tallahassee, and drove cross-country to settle in my new home. Fall of 2012 has been spent adjusting--settling into my new place; learning the ropes at IU; getting to know my new friends, colleagues, and students. Friends and family members have gotten married and had kids; I've lost a beloved grandparent. Life has ebbed and flowed; the days have moved on.
All the while, I lived with my chosen #oneword of 2012: believe. I KNEW this time a year ago that 2012 would be one of the most challenging and life-altering years of my life so far, and so I chose a word that resonated with me to my very core. I had to daily choose to believe that everything that happens, good or bad, is for a reason, and that God's plan for my life would be fulfilled in the perfect time.
One of my StrengthsQuest strengths reflects this very word: Connectedness. According to Gallup, Connectedness means that I believe that "things happen for a reason," and that my "faith sustains me...in the face of life's mysteries." Gallup, again you've described me to a "t," and it's that belief that all things are connected that helped me make it through this year. Through life's ups and downs, I believed that I was doing my best and that everything would turn out alright.
And here I am, reflecting on this past year. I survived 2012; I could probably say that I thrived in 2012. I know I've grown and learned in the past 365 days; I hope that the people in my life can see that growth and change (and that it's for the better!). I have come into a new year a little older, a little wiser (I think), and, hopefully, a little more prepared to take on life's daily challenges.
So here's to you, 2012. You certainly didn't disappoint.
Happy new year to all of you, dear friends! I hope you survived and thrived in 2012, and I hope your 2013 starts out EXACTLY the way you need it to.
