It's the end of the year ya'll...

2017... a heck of a year, right? At the end of the year I like to do sort of a reflection on the positives and negatives of the year. Do you guys do that? Hope so! For me it puts things in perspective. It gives me a clear picture of what worked and what didn't.

Positives

I spent the summer in one of my favorite cities, which prompted me to start THIS VERY BLOG! Obviously it's been a challenge to keep up being that my last post was in August! lol
I started my second year as a teacher! I love what I do. I love my students; seeing their little minds learning and growing keeps me going.
I successfully knocked out 2 more semesters of grad school! One more semester & then my Capstone Project, and after that I'll be finished with that thang!
I bought books! In the beginning of this year I decided I was going to dedicate more time to reading. So every month I'd buy a book to read. I've collected some really interesting reads!

Negatives

here we go...

Next year I want to do a better job of taking care of myself. I could have dedicated more time to my physical health. I need to sleep more, drink more water, EXERCISE, and most importantly I need to go to the doctor when I feel bad. It's seems so simple but apparently I'd rather make it hard.
While we're on the subject of health, next year I also want to work on my emotional health. I want to believe in myself, love myself, respect myself, encourage myself. I want to be my own biggest fan. I want to celebrate my successes without immediately turning around and undervaluing myself. I want to rid myself of self-deprecation.
I didn't talk to God enough. This year seemed like I was going through life with God thrown somewhere in the backseat; just along for the ride. I think I would have saved myself a lot of sleepless nights and nervous breakdowns if I just would have handed Him the keys. Current politics and the actions of "Christians" clouded how I viewed my own belief system. So many times I thought, "If that's what Christianity looks like, if that's what Christians are aligning themselves with, I want no parts of it." It's something I'm still working through.
You know those books I mentioned above? Well, I bought them but I didn't actually read them. Shame. I've GOT to dedicate more time to reading.
Last thing! I um... I'm consistently late to almost everything. Punctuality is a skill that I have not yet mastered and its gotten ridiculously out of hand. Here's to being on time next year!

Ok so that was my 2017 reflection. Like most years, this one was all types of horrible, wonderful, challenging and beautiful wrapped into one. Despite it all, I am honestly so thankful. God has blessed me with some pretty incredible people and has allowed me to experience some incredible things. There is so much I hope to accomplish next year; some HUGE, some small... I'd love for you guys to stay along for the ride with me...