The turn of a decade provides a natural opportunity to reflect. I’ve seen a couple different iterations of this way of reflecting, and I thought I’d try it out myself. It’s important to recognize and celebrate the good things that have come to pass, and the things we learned from, so here I go.

This decade…

• I found a first love, and we parted ways

• I dated a couple of snots who didn’t appreciate the magnificent woman before them

• I became a vegetarian, and then became a meat eater again

• I joined a church, and stopped going to that church

• I started running, Weight Watchers, and lost weight, but wasn’t any more or less happy with myself

• I graduated university

• I moved back to the Pacific Northwest

• I earned my MFA in fiction

• I taught English 101 for two years

• I started working as an academic coach

• I chopped off all my hair and love it

• I secured a second, slightly better job as a slightly different type of academic coach

• I paid for my first (and currently only) massage and loved it

• I worked on teams to build stellar academic coaching and peer mentoring/navigator programs

• I stopped running because it is wet and hilly here, gained weight, and I bought bigger clothes (still the same amount of happy)

• I found my style (kooky witch, apparently)

• I started singing, performed to over 700 people, and performed at the Mount Baker Theater as part of Kulshan Chorus

• I finished my short story collection, and am working to find a good home for it (journals, publishing houses, agents, etc.)

• I started this new little funky novel project

• I was published three times in different literary journals

• I built my website

• I wrote over 20 blog posts

• I started volunteering as a prose editor for Minerva Rising

• I served as an International Latino Book Awards judge

• I found love again halfway through this decade and we’ve been going strong through stormy times

• I bought our first home

• We figured out how to accomplish a major repair (renovating the bathroom) despite a lot of me freaking out

• I admitted I’m a stress monkey and I’m working on it (generalized anxiety disorder and GERD anyone?)

• I started face-to-face therapy, stopped therapy, started therapy, stopped therapy, and am now working with a different therapist via an online platform

• I did yoga for a year, near the beginning of the decade

• I’m back doing yoga again

• I started coloring again, crafting, doodling, and painting

• I returned to a former, more personal version of spirituality

• I became a great aunt (twice!) most recently and an aunt for the sixth time early on in the decade

• I saw my best friend get married

• I started brewing kombucha

• I got to check off one more fun and random item from my bucket list (being a mascot!)

I’m grateful for the last decade, and am hoping the next brings just as much love, growth, and opportunities to experience joy. I hope there might be a tad less stress, but I imagine if there is to be less stress it will only be because my capacity to manage stress and utter nonsense will have increased for this next turn. 

For this New Year, I’ve also set some intentions. I’m hoping to banish some things and embrace others.

Things I’m banishing:

• Dwelling in negativity

• Shame, guilt, or feelings of inadequacy about my body, size, ethnicity, race, or gender

• Irrational fear and rash reactions

Things I’m embracing:

• Making time to reflect, hope, and create (art, ritual/prayer, beauty)

• Feeling good in my body (yoga, walks in good weather, deep breathing, laughter, music, good food)

• Fostering patience and curiosity when thinking about the future