New Year, New Growth!

I look back on 2017 and I am happy and satisfied. 

It was by no means an easy year. But it was a full one. It started low and ended high and was jam packed the whole time in between. I fell in and out of love with people and places and met people my heart will hold forever. 

I met a lot of new people in 2017. Many of whom I will cherish for life and some of whom had much less lasting impressions. But every single one taught me something about life or about myself. 

There were hard times, definitely. Depression, soul-sucking jobs, eviction, heartbreak, bed bugs. Learning to live with someone in Very close quarters and still get along with them. Etc. 

But I lifted myself out of each situation, and each one made me stronger. Each one taught me that I am able to deal with what life throws at me and eventually come out on top. 

And for every bad or difficult thing, there was something equally, if not more, wonderful. 

There were spontaneous midnight drives around the city and perfect kisses. 

There was poetry. 

Late night gossip sessions over a pot of tea. 

The euphoria that came with leaving the city and finally feeling free again. 

Walking through fairy forests and granite hills in a twilight that never became night. 

Climbing up mountains and howling into the wind. 

Standing on a glacier. 

Lying out under the stars bundled in sleeping bags and the warmest possible clothes, watching incredible northern lights and a meteor shower at once. 

The freedom of travelling alone. 

Walking in a new city, where I know not a single person, finding my way to my hostel with no data and all of my possessions on my back. 

Early mornings on beaches. Any time on beaches, really. 

Spontaneously going on sailing adventures in the sunset. 

All the beautiful wonderful people I have met. 

And always always, even though at times it's painful and maybe sometimes I don't want to face it--I am slowly becoming the person I want to be. 

It's slow going, but I learned in the first half of 2017, slow is better than not moving at all. 

So in 2018, I'll keep going. And I'll keep growing. 

And I'll hang onto that optimism for all I'm worth. Because the hard times will come, they always do. But I'll always keep trying to look for the value in every experience. 

And I know I'll always be stronger afterwards.