What a year it has been! I was thinking long and hard about what my first post was going to be in the new year. Normally I write about all the cool things we did this year. But when I looked through my photos no events really stuck out. The only REALLY cool thing I did was go on my first cruise to Mexico, but honestly, I thought I did that in 2021.
What I did notice though is looking back on the posts I have written this year. I learned a lot of cool stuff about myself. A lot of Valuable Life Lessons and I wanted to share them. Hopefully, they in inspire you and you can bring them with you as well into the new year.
January Lessons
This was the month I learned I needed to change my mindset. The way I was thinking was not benefiting me in any way. If anything it was probably making me stagnant in my personal growth journey.
Also, I learned the difference between feeling lonely and being alone. I often confused them and used them interchangeably. Not realizing they meant different things. Since writing this blog post I have noticed I actually prefer to be alone now. There is no drama there is no stress. It’s just me working on myself and figuring out new ways to inspire growth. Not to say I don’t miss having friends I see on a regular basis. I have come to appreciate my online friends and reach out to them more.
February Lessons
Feeling stuck is okay sometimes. Hear me out… For months I was feeling like I wasn’t making any progress. I was self-reflecting and racking my brain on what could be going on. Often asking myself if am I doing enough.
That stupid fucking question… Am I doing enough? Of course, I am! But that doesn’t stop me from feeling like I am at a standstill I started to doubt myself and everything I was working towards.
We all hit a plateau at some point. Sometimes it is just because we need to let all the amazing things we have been working on catch up to us. Take this time as a little breather because you don’t need to worry about doing personal growth stuff all day every day.
I spent all of last year really working on my self-esteem and confidence. I needed to stop hating my body and thinking I am ugly every other day of the week. It is exhausting being in my brain. But after having a conversation with a friend who also was expressing the same feelings it was clear that we both needed to learn how to handle the “I feel ugly” days. We need to remember that society’s standards of beauty are fucking bullshit. You know it… I know it…All women know it… But for some reason we let it get us so riled up about how we look.
March Lessons
I was pretty good at sabotaging myself
One line from one of Maria Forleo’s podcasts lit a fire up under my ass.
Your subconscious mind is a powerful little biatch and let me tell you, you want her on your side…
I was having a little bit of writer’s block. I was writing posts for the sake of writing them and learned that if it doesn’t inspire me in some kind of way then I shouldn’t be writing about it. It wasn’t a great post. I had been putting too much pressure on myself to write the “perfect” blog post that is going to bring in all this traffic to my website and social media profiles.
I don’t do this to get rich and famous. I do this because I want to genuinely help and inspire all. Making some money from it wouldn’t hurt, but it’s not why I do it. However, I let external forces get the best of me and read posts from other bloggers. You know the ones “do this to get 1000 new followers”, or “your post must be so long and jammed packed with information.
You guys don’t want to read a 1000-1500 word blog post EVERY SINGLE TIME you come to my site.
It took that one line from Marie Forleo to spark some kind of emotion within me. It made me take a step back and internally think “is me and this little biatch on the same page”?
April Lessons
As I said earlier in this post I was working on my self-esteem and my confidence as a plus-size gal and that meant I needed to start working on healing my inner child and work towards being the adult I needed as a child.
Working on these throughout the year has really made a difference in my life. I am more self-aware and not afraid to call myself out on my own toxic traits. Anything I do in life now works towards fulfilling one of these 3 things.
May Lessons
This is why in May I worked towards changing my inner monologue. I started saying or writing in my journal daily affirmations. I had to change the content I was consuming on a daily basis to subconsciously influence my brain. Which meant listening to body-positive podcasts, unfollowing creators on social media, and following more creators that looked like me.
June Lessons
I celebrated my 10-year anniversary with Mike. I shared a post on 20 lessons I learned in my relationship. I will continue to work on our relationship and share the lessons I learn along the way because how I grew up viewing relationships is VERY different than how a “real” relationship is supposed to be.
July Lessons
On Friday, June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, this marked the day I learned that if you are not a straight white man then you don’t matter. I put this as a July lesson because that’s when I wrote about this.
I always knew that it was a man’s world, but I had the delusional thought we were moving away from that and working toward gender equality. Boy… Girl, l was I wrong… It was decided for me right then and there that I needed… we need to become more active in politics.
August Lessons
August is my birthday month and one thing I have really learned about myself is that at 37 years old I still don’t know jack shit. hahaha But that is what personal growth is all about it is about becoming a lifelong learner. About yourself, the people around you, the world… Everything.
I am working towards learning about all of those and will continue til my dying day. To another year of becoming older and wiser.
September Lessons
September wasn’t that exciting… I explored the world around ADHD because I thought I might have it. I did not get diagnosed professionally by a doctor, but I wanted to learn and read up on it to see if there are things that I do that could possibly explain why I am the way that I am. Hopefully this year I will be able to get back to the doctors to find out and to work on my PCOS.
October Lessons
With each month of working on my personal growth, I learned a lot of things. Looking back I can see that my main focus was changing my mindset. I didn’t know that at the time until I was writing this post. I learned that you are what you think.
To keep myself on track every year I do a Life Audit once or twice a year. Maybe more if I need it. This started out as a little something Mike and I would do to make sure we were still on the same page, but it grew to something more… Once only 4 questions turned into a 4 step process. LOL, It takes work, but benefits me and my life in the end.
A life audit is a map of my life… of our life together… Because I do a life audit just for me and what I want out of life. Then we do one together. It helps up stay on track, learn what’s working and what is not and adjust things where needed.
I spent many years thinking that I was weird because of my interests and hobbies. But this past year I learned I need to embrace my weirdness because that is what makes me uniquely me! You will attract the right people into your life by being yourself.
November Lessons
On December 16, 2021, I started posting on Instagram every Thursday what I am grateful for. Kinda like a public gratitude journal. I think doing this really helped me appreciate the little things in life. It makes me want to express my gratitude all the time… not just in November because of Thanksgiving.
As I mentioned earlier about embracing your weirdness that if you live life just being who you are you will attract the right people… That starts with Following people who either
- Look like you
- Like the same things as you or,
- Inspire you
I shared 20 Inspiring Influencers to follow for personal growth but over this past year, that list will be changing. I have grown as a person and my needs, wants and expectations have evolved and I want my social media feeds to reflect that.
December Lessons
It is that time of the month when we reflect on the past year. Wishing we did things differently and say that the new year will be different. There has to come a time when you get tired of your own bullshit and HAVE to call yourself out. I do almost every blog post I write. This is the time of year when we need to leave some shit behind and never look back. Peace out cub scout!!!
Valuable Life Lessons
I’ll give you an extra one to take into 2023… Take the next 6 months to work on yourself. It is time to because the best version of yourself. Call out your own toxic behaviors, create new habits, and work on building your dream life. You are the only one who can change your life. You have to put in the work. I know it can be hard, it can suck and not be fun… but you have to think about your future self… Set yourself up for success.
It’s crazy to me how much my mindset has changed, how I view myself, and how much lighter I feel mentally and emotionally. The saying is true… Your life can change so much in a year!
Leave a comment below with a lesson you learned last year that you will be bringing with you in the new year!
Until Next Time, Have a Great Day! Remember you are a badass!
