This marks the first year since 2010 that I didn’t make my new years eve post prior to the end of the year. It also marks the first year that I haven’t made a single photo post on my main blog through the whole year. I guess that’s fitting if I really take a moment to look back at my year…. it’s been one incredible blur.
I suppose that’s only going to get more and more common as time goes on and I get older. I wanted to believe when all my parents and relatives told me that time slips away more and more as you get older that I would somehow exempt from that… that I could make my reality differ from that of my elders. Yet, I find myself living that same life at only 25.
Not to say that my year wasn’t an incredible one. I had the time of my life this year. It was arguably one of the most eventful years I’ll have, and when I look back at my life years from now, I’ll think of this year as the year I really let go and had fun… lived… but all of that comes at a cost.
2016 was full of memories for me. While it seems that many had a terrible year if you gauge social media as a whole; mine was actually quite fantastic. Starting from last year’s NYE event at bassnectar 360, I started the year off right. I went to at least 1-2 events a month, a festival almost every month of the year; I made trips to new places, tried new things, tripped for the first time and multiple times thereafter, barely went even 30 days without rolling, learned more about myself, my limits… made new friends. Fought, loved, lost, and built my life even more to the point that I once dreamed I’d be at. 2016 was one hell of a ride… and I’ll forever cherish it.
It was also the first year being at the weight I’ve wanted to be at for years. I worked out, gained some muscle, and for the first time in my life, was confident in my appearance. I made out with random girls at clubs, finally got a hookup buddy whom I care about immensely, and ultimately I grew even closer to Her this year. Everything about my year was fantastic; and yet because of all the partying, it seemed to slip by so quickly.
2016 was also the year that we built a core crew around us. We have our core squad, and even though drama was recently challenging the survival of that crew, the times I shared with these people will forever be the best memories I have with friends. I’m closer to each one of these people than almost all of the people that were in our wedding… and that’s mind blowing to me. It saw the rise, and the fall, of this crew. Not that it has ended… but I know it can’t last forever.
And that brings me to 2017. I know 2017 is going to be a hard year for me. Like it or not, one way or another, everything about my reality and the great times of 2016 will have to come to an end in 2017. All the things I’ve come to know and love will change this year. The crew we have built, even without the drama that recently tore into it, will separate this year. The other couple we’re ‘with’ are getting married in April. And while that’s beautiful, it means the end of whatever we had with them, assuming it’s not already over given recent events. They’re going to move away, and ultimately we will end the crew that we’ve built along with them.
I also believe this will be the year that I leave the only job I’ve held out of school. I come up on 3 years with this company in June, and I feel it’s near time to move on. Largely, it’s because we are going to travel nurse this year. That’s another thing; we are starting, at some point in 2017, a 2-3 year travel nursing experience, traveling the country, and making enough money to pay off our debts. While that’ll be great and we’ll still have this house to call our home base, we won’t be here much, and that too will lend to the end of the crew we have built and the life we’ve all shared. It’s sad, but it’s a part of life. I know I’ll enjoy travel nursing, whether I can work remotely for the company I’ve been with, or if I need to get a new job. It’ll still mean drastic change. If you read my last blog post before this though, you’ll know that I’ve gotten to a point in my life where I recognize these changes as a part of life… and I welcome them.
So, I end 2016 with a bittersweet goodbye. I lived life to the fullest this year, and welcome whatever new horizons 2017 has in store. My resolution for this year is to take more moments to stop; to slow my life down, and to appreciate each day. I downloaded this new app called 1 second everyday. I plan to use it to capture my year, so I don’t let it slip by…. I did okay with that with photos and videos in 2016, but I want to not only see it as it goes by, I want to cherish it. So, here’s to 2017; the year of change, and the year of new paths. 2016 closes the chapter on another part of my life, and I will always remember it forever.
