Thursday, January 14, 2016

Did I Persevere in 2015?

Over the last few years, I have found myself choosing one word to live by for the year.  Before jumping into a detailed look of 2015, let's take a quick look at my words from past years . . .



That's a word that really packs a punch, and holds very high expectations.  As I look back on my thoughts for the year, here is an excerpt from what I had to say about my purpose behind this word . . .
The latter half of 2014 found me struggling with health issues that trickled into a lot of other areas: personal and professional responsibilities, reading, writing, and more. After a lot of conversation, I made the decision to resign from my job, get healthy, and re-evaluate my personal and professional goals. That's where PERSEVERANCE is really going to come into play. I need to figure out how to maneuver through all these obstacles and continue to move forward, possibly on a completely different path.

Well, 2015 definitely saw me taking a different path  I took a bit of a detour in my career and found the place where I am meant to be.  The path has not been an easy one.  Despite my experience and training in the area, returning to the field after more than ten years has proven to come with challenges and a very steep learning curve.  I have even had to return to school to ensure my full licensure.  But, I feel that it suits me.  I enjoy my work.   And, I have appreciated the opportunity to expand my knowledge.

Figuring out my life goals was the huge goal for the year.  I'm still in the midst of finalizing this goal, but I have set myself on the right track and consider this alone a huge success.  For those curious, I am completing one more class that began earlier this week.  It's a class on Indigenous Literature, housed within a Native American Studies program, and I have high expectations and a huge stack of very intriguing books to read.

I also had a number of smaller goals to accompany this very large one.  Let's take a quick peek at each of these now . . .

  • GET HEALTHY.  I was exercising on a regular basis . . . until we moved in September and I can't seem to find all of my workout gear or it is still buried somewhere.  Must fix this because I feel so much better when I am eating right and exercising at least a little bit every day.
  • READ MORE.  I had a goal to read 80 books for the year.  I read 74 for a total of 20,160 pages.  That was 3 less books than in 2014.  Technically, I did not read more.  I'm okay with that.  Here's a fun infographic generated by Goodreads with a peek at my reading for the year.  A manuscript that I have included in my final totals is not reflected here.
  • WRITE MORE.  I wrote, but not as much as I had hoped or than I have in previous years.  This goal is coming back in full force in 2016.  More info to come!
  • BLOG CONSISTENTLY.  I started out doing well, but the last couple of months were pathetic.  You will see this one return again in 2016 as well.

Overall, I consider 2015 a success.  I closed out the year feeling better than I did a year before.  I have had some very difficult things land in my lap in the last few weeks, but I am learning to roll with them.  I will address some of these with my new word to live by in 2016.  Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

What did you think about your year in 2015?  Did you live by your one word or did you meet your goals/resolutions for the year?

10 comments:

  1. My word for the past year was STRONG. Because I was going through so much I needed to call up the strength of all the gods of all the things. It was my word for 2014 I think, too. This year my word is FORWARD. I have gotten stronger, but now I need to take that and keep moving forward.

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    1. Becca Lostinbooks ... Love those words, and I'm wishing you the best in moving FORWARD!! :)

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  2. Congratulations on making it through another year! My 2015 word was Streamline because I need to get my stuff together and it worked (for the most part). This year it is Tenacity.

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    1. Allison @ The Book Wheel ... Awesome words, especially Tenacity! I wish you the best in 2016!

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  3. I think if I chose a word for 2016 it would be joy because I struggled living it so much in 2015. I think your word was great. Good job.

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    1. Andi ... I wish you all the joy in 2016! You deserve it! I have finally decided on my word for the year and will be sharing it this week. You know, at almost the end of the first month!! ;)

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  4. 2016 is the first year of doing this exercise, and I can already see some benefits. Persevere IS a strong word, and I really like how you were able to find ways in which you did live by that word throughout the year. I can't wait to see what you have chosen for 2016!

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    1. Michelle ... I've finally chosen my word for 2016. I just need to find time to write my post about it!! I'm so excited that you are trying this out this year. I gotta get caught up on blog reading and read all about it!

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  5. I hope that your 2016 is all that you want it to be. I love when people pick a word for the year but I just don't think like that. I take things as they come. ;)

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    1. Kristen M. ... Thank you so much! Best of luck to you in 2016 as well!

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