Tags
2015, 2016, bittersweet, Books, Dreams, Lists, new year new me, New Years Eve, Original Writing, Promise, reflections, Year in Review
New Years Eve has always been a bittersweet time for me.
While it certainly brings the promise of a new year and new adventures to come, it is also a reminder that a chapter of my life will be closing. New Years Eve is a time where I must step into the future, as bravely as I’m able, while my heart longs for a time I’ll never see again.
I never want to be held back by the past, but I never want to forget about any part of my life, because then maybe I can better understand how I came to be and what my values are. For the last couple of months, I’ve been noting my most memorable experiences of 2015. I hope that you all take some time to reflect on your year, and realize that these short 12 months really can transform you.
Most Memorable Moments of 2015:
- Began the New Year off celebrating in Toronto with my best friends – how it’s always been and always will be
- Travelled to Ottawa for a journalism conference and totally bonded with Cabbie Richards from TSN
- Completed my reign as Features Editor at The Cord after being on the Editorial Board for three years and passed on as much knowledge as I could to my successor
- Started working on
onetwoTHREE novels and started sending some of my other stories out to publishers, because why should I keep waiting for one day? - After years of anxiety and never feeling prepared, I finally took my G2 road test – and I passed. Now I feel so in control when I drive instead of having it be something I’m afraid of
- Made the conscious effort to love and respect my body and forgave myself for everything I put my body through these last couple of years
- Read books that made me fall in love with literature all over again:
- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Shining by Stephen King
- Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
- Big Brother by Lionel Shriver
- My Sergei by Ekaterina Gordeeva
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
- Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
- The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
- A Lion Called Christian by John Rendell and Ace Bourke
- Jaws by Peter Benchley
- On the Road by Jack Kerouac
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- This is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
- Pericles by William Shakespeare
- Siege 13 by Tamas Dobozy
- The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
- The Love of a Good Woman by Alice Munro
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
- Memoirs by Pierre Elliot Trudeau
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding
- The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
- Open Heart by Elie Wiesel
- Room by Emma Donoghue
- Common Ground by Justin Trudeau
- The Beforelife by Franz Wright
- The Revenant by Michael Punke
- I had breakfast with Romeo Dallaire and had some pretty intelligent conversations with him
- I went on a trip with my sisters to Cayo Coco, Cuba where I did the following things: rode horses on the beach, held baby crocodiles and falcons, swam with fish, experienced a new culture and learned to be fearless
- I graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours in English, after four years of anxiety, essays, exams and countless cups of strong black coffee
- Leonardo DiCaprio regrammed my photo on Instagram, definitely solidifying our plans to get married
- After working hard and being incredibly persistent and patient, I landed my first internship on the Morning Show and am continuing to further my fashion journalism career
- After spending 10 years admiring Fashion Week from afar, I had my first job assignment with Fashion Week and nearly peed my polka dot printed pants when I realized that this event got my foot into the door of the career I wanted
- I had floor seats to see One Direction in concert, where Harry Styles and I were definitely couple’s matching and will likely get married (if Leonardo DiCaprio doesn’t get to it first)
- Fell in love with the same guy a hundred times more this year when we were strangers in a dark room than I did the four years of ups and downs and finally decided that it was time I fell in love with myself instead of someone who wouldn’t stay or give me the love I wanted and deserved
- In just over a year’s time, I completed the 100 Days of Fashion Challenge and feel so much more confident in both myself and my future career path and endeavours
- Found out who my real friends and family are
- Realized that not everyone deserves to have my forgiveness and that sometimes taking the high road isn’t always the best solution
- Decided that I wouldn’t settle with “okay” or “good enough”
- I discovered that there is something oddly beautiful about being alone and not feeling insignificant
- I learned that things will change, including myself. And that is the best thing that could ever happen
Happy New Year everyone – let’s make 2016 the year of aggressive self-love.