We did it.
We’ve made it through 2018. For some of us, it was one of the best years of our lives. For others of us it was the worst. And for most of us, our year falls somewhere in the middle. But for me, the beauty of even the hardest years is being able to stand on this day—the last day of the year—and see the good.
Every December 31st, I take a few minutes to catalogue the year, even if only roughly in my journal. I list all of the big moments; the trips, milestones, events, etc. I even take a moment to grieve the things that went badly. Or, the things that didn’t happen. Then, I ask myself,
What did I learn?
I ask this because all life requires growth. Growth involves learning. And no matter what Instagram tells us, all of us have had our share of struggles and challenges. The benefit of which, is only found in what we can learn from them. If we don’t look for our life lessons we only have the struggle, and we miss the gift of what they have to teach us.
With this in mind, I am continuing a tradition I’ve had since the first year of the blog. I am sharing what I learned, in hopes of encouraging you to mine your story from 2018 for the unexpected gifts life has brought you this year.
Here is what I learned in 2018:
Sometimes too many voices are too many.
I am one of those people who love to read books, listen to podcasts, and then follow these same writers and podcasters online. Today, we have an endless supply of leaders to follow. People who’ve succeeded in business, who tell good stories, or who do creative work—are making their lives and work available to us in a way that has never happened before in history.
But this year, I was reminded it all can get to be a little too much. While I was working at creating my website, there were times when I needed to take a break from all the noise. And days that as a writer, I felt I was losing my voice in all the voices I was listening to. So, I stopped following some people on Instagram. I unsubscribed to some e-mails and podcasts. I took the noise in my life down a few notches and was able to get back to work.
Working out is about more than just fitting into a pair of jeans.
Earlier this year, I shared that my workout routine wasn’t giving me the results I had been hoping for—in other words, my jeans were still a little too tight around my middle. But then, a few weeks later I shared that that same workout routine enabled me to climb a mountain. Then, it enabled me to climb the second highest mountain in Ireland. So often we get the message that exercising is about how we look, when it is more about our health and what it enables us to do.
Keep taking the next step.
Starting a business, creating a new website (when you’re so far from being a web designer), and beginning to write a book for the first time—have been harder mountains to climb than the ones I scaled in real life this year. But all that actual hiking we did reminded me that every mountain—whether literal or figurative—is only ever climbed one step at a time.
On this journey of going after some of my biggest dreams, it has been daunting to look at the road ahead and not feel unprepared and overwhelmed. But I am learning all I have to do, each time I feel this way, is to take the next step in front of me to the best of my ability.
Where do you need to take your next step?
What has 2018 taught you?
Are you in the midst of making a hard decision? Contemplating a big life change? If so, you may be interested in my FREE Making Changes Checklist that I give to all my email friends. Want your free copy? subscribe here.
