One Year Later

It always surprises me how quickly a year goes by. Today, December 22, marks the one year anniversary of the day I came back from Korea. If you haven’t been around, I had an epic health meltdown that prompted my quick return, and this past year has been one of healing, discovery, and baby steps on the path to…well, something. The future, but that sounds cheesy.

Taking stock, I’ve done a hell of a lot this year.

• Went to therapy
• Went to the doctor
• Cured the worst of my agoraphobia
• Stopped having panic attacks every other night
• Went on a overnight trip with my friend
• Started playing D&D
• Starting DMing D&D
• Wrote a series of flash fiction stories
• Wrote a novel
• Won NaNoWriMo
• Made a paper dragon mask
• Knit a Gryffindor scarf
• Saw Matt Mercer at Akon
• Went to LeakyCon
• Read 143 (and counting) books
• Went on several dates
• Went to several parties
• Did a detox and took a food sensitivity test
• Got a job
• Got a car
• Moved out into an apartment
• Finished a 30 day yoga program
• Started to learn to code
• Made new friends
• Bought a writer’s hat (set my intentions to become an author)
• Learned a lot

You can see that in between the small things, life has taken a quick upswing in momentum. I got a job, a car, and a new home all within about four months, and those were four of my five big milestones for my life I wrote back at the beginning of this year.

One year later, everything is coming up roses. I’m still stressed out about money and life and the future and everything, but I’m learning to live with that fear. I’m learning to walk with it instead of constantly fighting it, and overall, I’m feeling eager, hopeful, and curious about life. If this past year has taught me anything, it’s that life can change in a day, and what you thought would be the trajectory of your life is but the next ten feet in the fog, and you really, really can’t see beyond that.

This next year, I have so, so many plans, and some of those will succeed and most of them will fail, but always, I will strive to fail better, and so life will go on.

Happy New Year, friends, and happy anniversary to me.