At the beginning of 2017 I published an article about my goals for the year because 2016 was a rough one. I wrote it so I could ensure I will notice the changes throughout the year and to remind myself in my weakest moments that this is what I want to accomplish.
Well, I kind of forgot about the changes I had promised myself to make in the past few months because I had been so focused on other issues. It wasn’t until I re-read my list randomly when I recognized that I really did have a lot of growth this year and hadn’t realized it until now.
The big thing I learned last year was I am not able to change people as much as I’d like to and I won’t always get the answers I deserve, and that’s still a very valid lesson of the year. Despite many changing relationships with people I learned to embrace them for who they are and not to question every little thing. If they wanted to leave, I let them because there was no use fighting for them. Someone who wanted to be in my life wouldn’t leave.
I made a hell of a lot of time for myself. I learned techniques to help me when I’m in a rut and recognized what activities helped me relax when I felt my most stressed. My self-awareness flourished into something I didn’t know existed within myself. I made myself a priority for the first time in forever and solely focused on myself and no one else.
I improved my overall health both physically and mentally. And while I did suffer from one injury that set me back physically, my mental health was pretty damn good! When I noticed I was falling back into a familiar pattern I got help from the most unexpected person and she ended up saving my life and helped me discover a lot of things about myself. Pinpointing the cause or reason for certain feelings make it way easier to recognize triggers and avoid them in the future.
I spoke up for myself this year and didn’t let anyone walk all over me. Sure there were moments I knew I needed to remain quiet on the issues at hand, but I defended myself and put people back in their place if they thought they could bully me.
For the first time in a long time I gave brutally honest opinions and advice. Before I used to be the supportive friend who would be as nice as possible and would only be truly honest on my feelings if I thought it was a bad idea. Over the past year I was brutally honest because I didn’t want to see the ones I loved make the same mistakes as myself.
I opened myself up to new opportunities I wouldn’t have imagined would happen. I started a new job in a field I wasn’t overly educated on and it’s gone really well for me so far. I opened my heart to someone who ultimately broke it, but I wasn’t afraid, and I didn’t let it crush me like I would have last year. There was very little fear and I’m proud to say I’m experimenting in all the right places of my life to enhance myself.
The self growth I experienced this year was such an improvement and I’m thrilled to see how much improvement I’ve made. This year by no means was the perfect year, as I did have several setbacks. But I learned from my previous experiences from last year and really focused on making those changes to improve myself and it worked!
No one dictated my happiness but myself, I didn’t live in fear and I really changed my perspective on how or why I do things. My independence didn’t change but I’m glad to see that I certainly did while remaining the same, bubbly, self I’ve always been.
What I dubbed to me the year of me definitely turned out to be, and I’m so glad I made this resolution that actually changed me for the better and continued throughout the entire year.
Feature image via Thought Catalog on Unsplash
