Here is the second part of my 2016 in review questions. This block of questions deals with a bit of everything, from career moves to family relationships, positive influences, topics researched and habits learned. This one was more fun for me to answer, as it delved into more of the positive things that came from the year as opposed to the deeper ones, which have sadder or more negative answers. Let's get into it!
1. What five people did you most enjoy spending time with?
My niece, my friend and her husband (and their two boys), myself and my Twinsie.
2. What was your biggest breakthrough moment career-wise?
My biggest breakthrough was when my mentor and I put down roots on a few of my business concepts. After years of making plans and moves by myself, I found a mentor who understood my brain and helped me tailor my concepts down to something we can pitch. Things are finally moving in that direction now, and it's been awesome.
3. How did your relationship with your family evolve?
'Devolved' would probably be the better descriptor. For a few reasons I won't elaborate on, things have been rather strained with my family and I for a few years. Each year that has gone by has caused said relationship, especially those with my mom and sister, to deteriorate just a little more. It still has wonderful moments in which I'm able to remember why I was close with everyone at one time, but its the times between those moments that cause the fun moments to be more bittersweet each time. I know they won't last and it makes me really sad because at one time, it was the bad times that were moments, not the good ones. As I get older, confront the many lingering feelings I have about certain situations and those feelings evolve--which then shapes how I interact with others--, my relationship with my family devolves just a little bit.
4. What book or movie affected your life in a profound way?
Hmm...I saw quite a few movies that affected me, but when I think about something affecting me profoundly, I think of something that shaped and changed something about my life after being exposed to it. I don't know that anything I saw was applicable to my life to shape it in such a way, even if the experience as a viewer stuck out in my mind after the movie was over.
5. What was the best compliment that you received this year?
My godmother told me Happy Mother's Day this year, and that was the first time anyone else had ever recognized me on Mother's Day. As the oldest child, I already had the lion's share of responsibility when it came to watching out for my brothers and sister but my childhood was pretty fucked, so I had to take on a lot more in order to shield them as best I could from what was going on. Once things were stabilized at home, my mom and I worked to give the kids the childhood I didn't get to have, and for the most part they were able to have that. When she wasn't around, I was. But because I'm not mom, what I've done often seems to get lost in the shuffle, which stinks. Mother's Day isn't for me and I'm totally fine with that; I'm not a mom or even a surrogate. I'm not trying to intrude on that at all. I explained all of that to say that the morning of Mother's Day, I was so touched when I texted my godmother to tell her HMD and she told me she knows I'm not a mom but that she's proud of me and knows how much I do for my family. Nobody's singled me out before and I appreciated that she did. Now do I think I deserve HMD wishes? Of course not. But I'm happy that someone thought of me at all, especially on a day that doesn't even apply to me. I really appreciated that someone else saw what I've done and continue to do so that was hands down the best compliment I received in 2016.
6. What little things did you most enjoy during your daily life?
Being able to watch my nieces play and hear them laugh was one of the things that I enjoyed the most. I enjoyed the moments when I didn't have a blog post to worry about and I could lay in bed and read. I was so busy for a lot of 2016 that I didn't often get a lot of time to do the things I wanted to do, so I loved the moments that I wanted to curl up and read a book and was actually able to do so. I also enjoyed my obsession with figuring out ideas for childrens' parties and outfits lol, because that came out in full force in 2016.
7. What cool things did you create this year?
I created a couple of floral headband crowns for Christmas and New Year's, and while I'll probably look back on them later and laugh because the design is probably elementary as hell, I still think they're cute. I also created some nice (to me) calendars that I'll be showing you in a DIY soon, and I created a coloring book for one of my friends as a Christmas gift.
8. What did you think about more than anything else?
Freedom. The thing I thought about the most by far was getting my own space. At this point, it not only feels practical but necessary. It's necessary for my peace of mind, it's necessary in order for things to remain on an even keel with my family, and it's necessary because I'm of an age when I should have my own space. I'm about to turn 30, I'm not really in the mindset to follow someone else's rules when I should be creating my own. Now if my anxiety gets in the way too much, I don't mind moving back until I get myself together. But moving out and having something that I can call my own has been on my mind more than anything else.
9. What topics did you most enjoy learning about?
At one time I probably would have said 'world events,' because at one time I loved hearing about what was going on in the world. But the world's gotten so ugly, I hate having to hear about it now. I loved hearing about the topics I cover here--beauty, books, tv, DIY projects and home decor, games of all kinds and different tech products. I really enjoyed learning about bullet journals and different life improvement techniques, things I could try to bring to the blog. There were a ton of topics I enjoyed learning about.
10. What new habits did you cultivate?
New habits? I started drinking water on a more regular basis, which for me is a new habit as I wasn't often in the water drinking game before. lol One of the more fun habits was creating seasonal inspiration boards. I don't know if its a habit per se, but I consider it a habit because I do the boards on a regular basis now. I also got in the habit of pre-planning my longer post series, but this is more a thing for ATV, where I do 3 month-long series a year. Instead of waiting for the last minute to prep the posts, I work on them the month before so that I'm not cramming and struggling to keep up. I'm not always successful, but it's a habit that's done me a lot of good.
11. What advice would you give your early-2016 self if you could?
Don't let yourself be lulled into a false sense of security because you think people will be as willing to help you as they say. It sounds nice, but circumstances are going to get in the way and it's not going to happen. Other people will waffle on you and you'll be stuck trying to figure things out by yourself anyway. You already have everything you need, don't rely on the opinions or confirmations of others to give you the confidence to push ahead with your ideas. Get off your ass and get the shit done.
12. Did any parts of yourself do a 180 this year?
Not quite a 180, but I did make some turns. lol
13. What had the biggest positive impact on your life this year?
The biggest positive impact......hmm. That's a hard one. I don't know that any one thing had the biggest positive impact on my life this year because there were several.
I still think a lot of the year was shit, but there were a few bright lights in there somewhere. Career-wise, it actually wasn't so bad. I've made moves with my business plans and finally gotten some clarity out of both blogs, and I've come out of the year with a lot more direction about what I wanted to do and when. I hope you enjoyed this part of the year in review and I hope you'll come back for next week's!
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