Around this time, people are either summing up last year, or thinking ahead to the new year. If I am actually being honest, most people summed up last year by the stroke of midnight last night.  Kudos to them.  I thought about it, but couldn’t come up with anything.  That’s why I am writing now.  I am hoping the words will magically appear in my head or my typing fingers.

Maybe this will do the trick. If I had to pick words to describe last year, they would be as follows.

Traveler

When I started my Japan adventure so many years ago, I thought I would be a rootless traveler.  I thought I would spend a couple of years in a place and then move on to another place.  I did managed to visit a several other countries and see some amazing things.  This desire never died, but somehow it hid itself in the mundaneness  of real life and those allegedly real life goals.

This year, I rekindled my love of travel. I took two significant trips and enjoyed them thoroughly.  I cycled over some beautiful landscapes, tried some new food, and saw things in person that amazed.  I came back with a smile on my face that took work a long time to grind out of me.

Adversity

This past year threw up lots of adversity. I won’t call them roadblocks because they didn’t stop me.  I don’t know if I am stronger for it, but I am definitely surer of myself and recognize that being selfish is sometimes important.  I didn’t manage to always look out for myself, but I definitely learned an important lesson.  This doesn’t mean not helping other people, but means remembering to help yourself as well.

Doing

I got tired of people talking, making plans, and then not doing anything. In my head I was shouting at them, but realized that I could have been shouting at myself.  I won’t lie and say I did everything I planned to do, but I would judge this year as being better than others in this regard.  Yes, the house could be neater.  Yes, I could be thinner and have gone to the gym more.  Yes, I could have marked those student papers faster.  It would be easy to pick the things I didn’t managed to do, but instead I did complete some tasks.  I blogged more.   I read more.  I worked harder.  I enjoyed more.  I laughed more.  I was more positive.  I listened more.  I noticed more.  I lived more.

……….So that’s 2017 done and dusted.