bring it on 2014

So another year has come and gone. And as I am socially obligated to do according to my Facebook newsfeed, I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year that is about to end. Sorry this one is going to be a little more personal than I usually like things to get around here, but whatever right.

This was a year for me where nothing particularly out of the ordinary happened.

No giant changes.

No horrible tragedies.

Just a lot of little things that have made it a really huge year for me despite it not seeming that way at the time.

Are you confused yet? Good, me too.

I guess what I am trying to say is I find myself in a very different place in life than I was at the beginning of the year and I don't know why really. I am happier than I have been in quite a long time and more content than I have frankly ever been.

Something I have long struggled with is just being satisfied. I have always want more. And in a lot of ways I like that about myself. It makes me work really hard when I want something, and keeps me motivated to succeed.

But sometimes it can be really shitty too because I often found myself wishing I was somewhere else instead of enjoying where I was or what I was doing. I think somehow I have finally got a good balance. I still want to work hard to change things I am not happy with, but I have also learned to just Let it Be. Seems simple, but for me it wasn't easy to get here.

I just feel pretty content finally. I feel a sense of accomplishment more than ever before because I have really taken life by the balls this year. I have become pretty bad ass at my job (if I do say so myself, my boss says so too), gotten myself healthy as shit (another long time struggle for this cat), and come to a point where if I want to do something I just do it for the most part (this primarily applies to travel and day drinking).

These are all things that have happened slowly and steadily over the last year. And man am I ever glad.

At the beginning of January I made a set of resolutions as I do every single year along with the rest of America. The difference was this year I stuck to almost all of them. That is a first for me.

And just because I feel like over-sharing some more I am going to go ahead and tell you all about my resolutions...feel free to stop reading now if you're bored already.

1. I set a weight loss goal. I have done this for about thirty of the past 28 years of my life. I always say I will get to a certain weight each year, and for the past 5 years or so I have instead just gotten a little larger. This year though for whatever reason I became one of those assholes that goes to the gym every day and eats healthy. Who knew that was the way to loose weight? I sure didn't. I won't tell you how much I weigh or how much I have lost because honestly we all have different "ideal" and healthy weights and I would never ever want someone to feel bad because of a silly number, but let's just say I have never felt better. I am at a point where I do not care what I weigh I care that I am healthy. It is also really nice to enjoy shopping again and to feel confident in a bikini, but honestly the most shocking thing for me is how much I love working out. I really always thought people who said they loved to work out were lying. And that they were just really dedicated and forced themselves to do it everyday, but now I get it. It is so cool to see and feel yourself getting stronger and gaining endurance, and I now get ticked if I have to miss a class at my gym because of something dumb like work instead of dreading going. Even though all I really talk about on this blog is yoga (cuz it's my fave) I have been running 2-3 times a week, taking a spin class, lifting weights, zumbaing, and going to a class called sweatshop where you essentially do squats until you die. I also do yoga and pillates as much as I can. I work out like a beast and I love it. I love it so much.

2. My next goal was to be able to run 6 miles. It took me until May to start working on this goal. I started out running around my block once a few times a week. That is a half mile. And it was really hard. I slowly added on laps and then started adding mileage as I was able. Last week I ran 7.5 miles and it wasn't all that hard. Not nearly as hard as that half mile was a few months ago. That shit is crazy. Craziest part is I now enjoy my runs. Who am I?

3. I set a resolution that I would have a new job and move to a city. I did not accomplish this goal. It is no secret I live in a rural ass area and I don't love it. I do however love my job. If I was willing to take just any job I could easily make this happen, but at this point I am not ready for that. I want to find an awesome job in an awesome place, and I have my peepers open, but in the meantime I am going to be happy with what I have. A great job, amazing coworkers, and a gorgeous river view from my office.

4. I have always loved to write, long before this little blog of mine. I used to write short stories and poems and all kinds of shit. I decided in 2013 I would start writing a book and I did. I started two actually. Hopefully I will be richer than the women who wrote Fifty Shades of Gray soon.

5. Next was to take a great trip. I went a little wild with this one and took 16 trips in 2013. No wonder I have no money. A few of them were small like overnight benders in Baltimore, but most were full fledged bad ass trips. New York, Seattle, Outterbanks, the list goes on and on. 2014 has a lot to live up to in this department, but I already have the plane tickets booked for New Orleans and Austin so I think I am off to a good start.

6. My last resolution was to become good at yoga. Now I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be, but when I think back on my first few yoga classes I am amazed at the shit I can do. Yoga has changed my life for the better in a lot of ways and I can't recommend it enough.

I am going to keep my 2014 resolutions a secret for now, but I am hopeful that 2014 brings lots of good things for everyone I know. I find myself in so much better a place that I was just a year ago, which is strange because I never felt like I wasn't in a good place. Let's hope it keeps getting better.

Happy New Year Bitches.