happy 2017

not really sure how it's 2017, but last night i found myself surrounded by some incredible people and getting more and more overwhelmed as the seconds on the countdown clock wore down. i was struck with how much i've changed, with the person i've become, and the massive amount of growth i see in myself.
2016 was not an easy year, and it's not the year i thought it would be. i started out with a much different vision, and it completely fell apart, but amidst that brokenness, i found both good and bad in myself, i found both healthy and unhealthy ways that i was living, and it all hit hard. i pushed it off for most of the year because everything was just too painful to attempt to deal with.
feeling the weight of how un-useful this year seemed to be was discouraging, but then i remembered the following,

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

 a time to love and a time to hate,

 a time for war and a time for peace.

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

this reminded me that, though it feels like i got nothing done, this was not a wasted year because i have learned so much, i have felt so much, and i have come so very far. without the experiences i had and the pain i was constantly trying to handle, i would not be where i am, and i can truly say that i am happy with the life i am living. i may have spent a whole year learning to love myself, but the fact remains, that i do love the life i am living, and the person i have become, and that seems pretty worth it to me.
i haven't had much time to really sit down and reflect, and it's something i always like to do, so i don't have many thoughts on that as of now. however, i do know that i am going into 2017 with a few goals and a completely different attitude on my life. i have learned that what you think your life will look like, is actually pretty dang inaccurate, you don't really have much control over what the future holds, but the awesome thing i learned this year is trust. this was such a year of trusting God, and through that, i found that everything is so much better.
so this year i have a few goals in mind and a blank slate. i don't know what it holds, and i don't need to know. i am going to work on those unhealthy ways i have been living, i am going to work on the bad that i found in myself. i know it won't be easy, but that's okay. challenges are so good for you. life goes on, despite everything, and its really best to just take one day at a time. xo, rn