NYE 2016
I know what you're thinking right about now. Thank God 2016 is over. Thank goodness we made it, but good riddance, right? 2016 on the surface has been quite the struggle right? Violence at home and abroad, terrorist attacks, a terrible election, a multitude of high-profile deaths, and a seemingly crumbling government. It's been hard to see the light this year for many of us, but as I looked back through some of my social media posts it became quite clear that I have so much to be thankful for in 2016.While I didn't follow my 3-posts-a-week schedule completely, I blogged every month except for September totaling 60 posts with over 1,500 views from 48 countries! Those are humble numbers in the blogosphere, but they're something I could have only imagined just a year ago.I had a wonderful pet rabbit named Puddles that taught me about life, responsibility and love.https://www.instagram.com/p/BJQZQI_AtgX/?taken-by=aceisjoyLeo won an Oscar.https://www.instagram.com/p/BCW8NOhsRrZ/?taken-by=aceisjoyOne of my poems was included in an art exhibit.https://www.instagram.com/p/BDHn2a4MRhX/?taken-by=aceisjoySeveral of my poems were published in literary journals.
I got to watch my favorite team play for a national championshiphttps://www.instagram.com/p/BDzenpSsRg1/?taken-by=aceisjoyI saw some of my family twice this yearhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BD_i5aEsRrg/?taken-by=aceisjoyI traveledhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BKvykFkgQsH/?taken-by=aceisjoyI ran my first 5k (blog on that soon)https://www.instagram.com/p/BMtx8OsBgXL/?taken-by=aceisjoyI went to the beach and played golf at a new coursehttps://www.instagram.com/p/BHYh9QDgQlJ/?taken-by=aceisjoyI gave back to my community through political activist work (that I'm still working on by the day)
America won the medal count in the Rio Olympics (and the Zika virus didn't stop it)https://www.instagram.com/p/BI_uB4CA3bg/?taken-by=aceisjoyI self-published my first chapbookhttps://www.instagram.com/p/BM1aIjhBg2D/?taken-by=aceisjoyAll of these wonderful moments and more have made this year worth it, despite all the challenging, maddening, heartbreaking and devastating things have taken place globally and locally over the past 365 days. I enjoyed creating professional and personal connections, the flood of brilliant music we were blessed with this year, and building healthy habits. Life is, after all, a "guesthouse" teaching us and preparing us for some new delight.
That awkward moment when everyone talks about how good 2016 was to them, but yours was like pic.twitter.com/rkoADuhwAC
— F U T U R E 🐐 (@CandaceHowze) December 31, 2016
So I welcome 2017 with open arms. I hope it treats each one of us well, I hope we find ourselves better off this time next year than we are now, God willing. And I hope you have a safe New Year's Eve. Talk to you next year.