One year & four plane rides

2014 was sort of a monumental (well, as monumental as a normal, ordinary life gets anyway) year for me: I graduated from the academe, moved closer to the city, got my very first job—a few big things took place then. Come the end of 2015, I have sadly quit said job and had to say goodbye to people I’ve grown to seeing five days a week; ended up trying to help create a startup business—which was never ever part of my plans to begin with—and learned tons (the most important thing being: don’t go into business with your friends); and unfortunately encountered some other stressful things here and there. Kind of took a 180 on a few of last year’s highlights, I guess.

That being said, I kinda loved this year? Quitting my first job means I’ve gotten a step closer to what I really want to do (even though that remains a mystery—I at least get to cross out one thing I don’t want to do. Or at least that’s what I tell myself). I don’t plan on staying a bum for too long, but finally having this time off now—after a failed attempt at being a businesswoman of sorts—means I get to make time for the things I’ve been putting off (spending more time with my piano, blogging, editing videos of my travels, among other things).

Up in the air. My absolute favorite place to be.

And of course, the main (or only—without this, this year would’ve pretty much been total crap) reason I loved this year, even though it has caused major damage to my bank account: I traveled 4 times to 3 different countries, experienced 2 new seasons (spring and autumn), and got to reawaken and explore my love of travel. Before this year, before I decided I needed a break from my monotonous life, I’ve only gone away once, to the USA in 2013. I hoped there would be more trips after that, but would not have known I would quadruple that in a span of a year. Now that I’m writing it down I actually can’t believe I got to do that! (I’ll probably take it easy this coming year. Cut that down to half. /wink)

Anyway, yeah: some crazy shit went down this year, but I’m taking a lot from these new experiences and in the end, even though some of these things are still haunting me at the moment, I’m just going to try to focus on being grateful that I’ve been blessed with all of it. Because at the end of the day, even though it doesn’t necessarily feel like it, so much has been learned that have ultimately made me a better, wiser person.

So for you and me both, this 2016, some of my wishes: that we meet a lot more good people than bad, that we encounter more positive things than negative, that the ratio of these makes the latter completely irrelevant; that we develop real, honest, genuine friendships—not one-sided ones, not the ones with shitty people, the kinds that take advantage of you, disappoint you, come to you when they need you but are never really there for you. This year I got the chance to finally meet and bond with my best of friends from high school and I realized that there’s something to be said about friendships that don’t require constant communication, but when in each other’s presence, it’s there, and it’s real, and it’s genuine.

I wish you’ll get to do more of what you love, and if you don’t know what that is yet, that you somehow get closer to finding clarity. I wish that you’ll be able to gather the strength to ignore the voices around you that tell you you’re not good enough; I wish that you’ll keep going through life at your own pace, not allowing yourself to be pressured by the demands of those around you, or of the world in general. I hope you’re able to find moments of joy amidst life’s many struggles and stresses, and that you’re able to hold on to those moments instead of the bad ones. And of course, the cliché: I wish you a happy new year—a year you can look back on when it ends and will leave you feeling nothing but gratitude and bliss. No regrets, no fury, no bad energy. Just gratitude and bliss.

Signing off of 2015 and looking forward to a much-needed fresh start,

Michelle

Leave A Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *