THE YEAR OF

Around this time last year I wrote in my journal how I hoped 2017 would be a year of discovery for me and I can honestly say that it has been just that. This year has brought a lot to the table, a lot in my life has changed and there are problems I had to face and lessons I had to learn no matter how hard I wanted not to. But looking at all those obstacles I was forced to overcome, all I can see is positivity. I turned 22 a couple weeks ago and while unfortunately something else I have to face is the reality of growing up, I think there are some really important concepts to be understood before I head into the real world on my own. 

I have always had this very carefree persona. I don’t always confront my problems head on, I typically pick the easy way out, I procrastinate the big things and if I’m honest I usually choose the fun path rather than the one of responsibility. Unfortunately each of these characteristics has a way of catching up with me, ultimately making my life seem a little harder than it really is. A couple months ago, something happened that required me to have a serious reality check. While it took a lot of change, a lot of hard decisions, confusion and self assessment, I finally feel like the person I always knew myself to be. My carefree persona is a blessing and a curse at times, but there are things I have learned over the past couple months from this characteristic of mine that has started to shape the way I want to live my life, and I think it’s really important to share the happiness I’ve found with the world and in myself because of it. 

Life is a series of steps, and in order to achieve the things you really want you have to first achieve the things that really matter. You’re going to come across a lot of people in life who define themselves by the grades they make, how much money they have, what brand of clothes they wear or by how many people know their name. And while each of these accomplishments can result from hard work, I feel so bad for the people who see their worth and define their lives only from the societal or materialistic things given to them. I hope that you are not one of these people, I hope that instead, you are someone who understands that life should be measured, lived and defined by the experiences you have, the relationships you build, the memories you make, the hearts you impact, and truly by the moments in which you feel the utmost of gratitude. 

You deserve to be out there experiencing and learning the real things, the real lessons, the real tribulations and the real blessings because at the end of the day that is what matters and that is what you will remember. I want to be passionate, curious, interested and intrigued by all the right things, and to society this type of behavior is considered irresponsible or lazy. But there is happiness in the things the world tries to get you to avoid because to society those experiences or those endeavors don’t lead to success. Working hard, doing your best and living responsibly is important but that can only come from being grateful by the given blessings first. Whenever you’re feeling so absolutely overwhelmed, discouraged or disappointed, take a pause in your life and look at the beauty you do not have to work so hard for, at the gifts placed before you simply for your enjoyment, at the hearts of the people God so graciously put in your life, and at all the natural, raw blessings with the capability to eliminate all anxiety, all failure, all sorrow, and all discouragement without even having to lift a finger. For me, I need all of these things in order to achieve all the rest. Nothing in life is a hindrance but only an adventure put in my path ensured to teach me something. 

I hope in 2018 you work on yourself so that in return you can help others because it matters. If you want to make a change then make it, if you want to take a stand then let no one stop you, if you feel something never be ashamed to say it out loud because if anything I’ve learned this year it’s that life is short and there are no guarantees. With that knowledge I can’t help but feel responsible to truly live the best life I can with all the means and people around me. God did not send His one and only son to die on the cross for a world of people who did not appreciate His sacrifice. God sent His son into a world knowing of the pain, torment, torture and disbelief He would endure. Jesus felt our pain, He lived on this earth just as we do, so He truly understands the hurt we go through. He walked and He talked but what’s different is He did it with a full and faithful heart. He trusted the Lord, He believed in His plan for the world and He took all of God’s gifts and implemented them to the best of His ability. Trusting in the Lord, being so taken back by the awe of His beauty and being so passionate about His never dying love will not hurt you. It is impossible to ever live the way Jesus did, but living with Him inside us is something everyone can achieve. It is truly about honoring the sacrifice God made, Jesus made so that we could all LIVE. The experiences I am so blessed to have would never be able to be fully cherished without recognizing it is only from His sacrifice that I am so privileged to do so. 

I know life is overwhelming and I know life is unfair but choosing to live only in that mindset is when you start to make it harder on yourself. If you have gone through pain, it is not wrong and you should never feel guilty about being happy or choosing to find the good again. Be proud of yourself that you are someone with this amazing ability to see the good in spite of all you have gone through or had to overcome. There is a positive light at the end of every road if we has humans decide for there to be. Go find the light you deserve and appreciate all that comes with it along the way!

Most importantly, I hope this year you focus on what’s important first, and I hope you find that foundation in which you will need to stand firm on in order to fulfill all the dreams, all the hopes, all the responsibilities and goals you have next. I hope this year you have the courage to embrace life for what it should be, for how it demands to be seen, and I hope you know that you are defined by so much more than the things that everyone can see. When you leave this world you will have a legacy, and what what legacy holds is so much more important than any financial investment, any materialistic possession, or any surface level reputation. It always comes to a point where you have to ask yourself, how do you want to have lived? 

Love your people endlessly, choose to think positively, approach life loudly, forgive relentlessly and live so abundantly that everyone around you catches on. Be known not for what you own but for all the experiences where you at least attempted to live life to the absolute fullest. Life is a series of steps, and in order to achieve the things you really want you have to first achieve the things that really matter. So take a deep look, travel, explore, investigate the roots of who you are and what you want and what it is you truly desire in life and then go after it. 

Merry Christmas to all my loved ones and Happy New Year ♥