Reflecting on the Past Year

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My Year In Review

I think its safe to say, this year did not go as planned.

We all set goals for ourselves right? But those goals aren’t always easily reached. There were several very important things that I accomplished this year, that I realized only after sitting down and reflecting on this past year. I’ve included below some questions for you to reflect on also.

Settling into our New Home

This was a big one for us. This was by far our biggest move. The first one as a family, since our prior home was owned by my hubbin’ before he became the Mr.
So this move was the only move we’ve done since being married, and settling in was more than just relocating homes; it was also, moving the kids from home school into public school. Okay so that happened at the end of last year, but the settling took a while okay.
We’ve had struggles with possible dyslexia with our son. (Testing coming so Ill update you when we know), as well as our oldest struggling being the new kid, and our youngest struggling with a bit of anxiety. I’d love to touch more on these in future posts also if you’re curious about any of it.

Making time for Relationships

Y’all this one feels so good. This year I feel like I’ve REALLY settled into my relationships with friends. I’ve struggled in years past with knowing exactly where I stand on the friendship totem pole. Feeling self conscience about myself, am I funny, am I overboard, do I talk to much, do they really like me? So I guess its safe to say my confidence grew also. But I think the important thing here is finding the RIGHT friends. Finding friends that build you up, encourage you, are there for you when you really need it, but will also tell you exactly what you need to hear, even if it isn’t what you WANT to hear, and you can totally be your weird goofy self around.

So this year, we went on our first girls trip! Just me and two of my absolute closest friends. It was only 2 days and it was awesome. I highly encourage you to take a girls weekend if you can get away with it. We drove up to see the Pioneer Women’s Restaurant and Mercantile. And although that was super neat seeing where she films, and all her handy kitchen tools and space, and who could forget the delicious food!? The best part, by far, was just the time we got to spend uninterrupted by wiping kids boogers, and butts, answering five gazillion “mommy” questions, and husbands who need dinner cooked. We got to talk! Not like that rushed chat we usually get at the end of church service while trying to make sure the kids aren’t running through the sanctuary, or our husbands are rushing us out the door so they can catch the Cowboy game. This time with my friends was the BEST. And must be repeated yearly! Details of where we took our trip can be found here.

Quit Apologizing and Feeling Guilty

This one was hard for me. Who am I kidding, it’s still hard for me. But it feels so darn good. I tend to be a people pleaser. I’m a “yes” girl. If someone asks me to do something, I say yes, every time, if I think I can do it. This year I reflected on the fact that sometimes I say yes when I shouldn’t; when it takes away from something else, when I really don’t have time. So I stopped saying yes; okay not to EVERYTHING, but to a LOT of things. And I quit feeling guilty about it. From now on I will say yes when I know I can, when I know I have time, and when I know it’s something the Lord would want me to do. I think that last one was big too. Sometimes I would say yes to things because I thought that being a servant to the Lord was important. Okay OF COURSE its important, and I never want to stop being that. BUT, I don’t think the Lord would want me to wear myself out, stress over not getting things done, have anxiety over projects not being as perfect as I want them.

Mended a Broken family

So this one could get lengthy. But I’ll try to keep it brief. I come from a broken home. I didn’t meet my biological dad until I was 16. Needless to say, I/we (brothers) hadn’t met grandparents or any other family from our dad’s side at that point either. From the age 16, until now, we’ve seen our dad several times a year and spent time with him, our step mom and little brothers. Enough to decide we really love them a ton, and love spending time with them. But, no one lives close! We’re all sort of scattered so really growing in relationships is hard!
So this summer, my dad rented a lake house for a few days, and we ALL went on vacation together. I’m talking 19 of us, and the dog.
The few days we were there we so important to all of us I know. I’m a girl, so I think I’m a TAD (okay a TON!) more emotional than the rest of the siblings. A girl needs her daddy, and wants to know and have connections with her family. It was amazing to sit around the campfire and chat about memories.

Not everything this year was Rainbows & Sunshine

So, as I said before, this year was rough. Reflecting back on my year its so easy to see all the hard stuff. Read my previous post here for details on those things.
Goals were set and not met. Business was down 30% from previous years. Depression set in, and things did not get accomplished. But when I type out a few of the Great things that DID happen, it doesn’t seem all that horrible. So business didn’t go as planned. Does that mean we pack it up and quit? Heck no! I’m setting new goals like never before, writing out my productivity lists, and we WILL smash those goals this year.

In the end, through the good, bad and ugly, one things for sure….

My marriage grew. This is probably the most important thing next to growing in my relationship with the Lord (and that happened too!)
When you go through storms together, you grow together. You choose to stick it out, suck it up, and weather it together. And that’s exactly what we did. Communication was key in all this. It’s not always been easy, but this year, we grew, and fell, more in love than ever.

Finding out what’s important

I’m glad I had the opportunity to write this post. It forced me to truly reflect. It was so easy to look back on this past year and see so much negative. Now after typing it all out, I think this was a personal growth year. So business didn’t do what I wanted it too. Maybe that was necessary for my mental health and personal growth. I clearly grew so much in other areas and those are probably far and wide more important than growing in my business. Next year, I’ll just figure out how to grow in both, without losing sight of everything in front of me.
If you’ve stuck with me throughout all that rambling, I’ve included some questions for you, to help you reflect for yourself. Do it! Trust me. This was good, and helped me a ton.