2011: The Year of the Leopard (or in my mind, anyway)

I’ve been very blessed in my life, but especially towards the end of 2010. Yes, the gods were good, and took care of me in all aspects of my life. Was it hard work? Good karma? Or just some friggin good luck? Who knows. And while this blog isn’t meant to be a diary about me and my life (I can’t stand those sites like Tumbler that document every time a person goes peepee, and have stopped using Twitter for the most part for similar reasons), my recent luck has forced me to believe that 2011 will only bring better things, and for that reason, can only be defined as the Year of the Leopard; something strong, sexy, loud, and spontaneous- because who knows what it has in store- and for that, couldn’t be more grateful.

Now, not every year has been my luckiest, and if you told me years back that I would have been this happy down the road, probably would have laughed in your face. Three summers ago, my friends and I dubbed 2008 as the Year of the Dragon; it was destructive, dramatic, and an all around nightmare. My mother got diagnosed with breast cancer (which she made it through and is completely fine now, but we freaked out initially and weren’t sure what would happen), a childhood friend passed away in a drunk driving accident, and my college boyfriend and I broke up after nearly two years together-all in a two week time frame And while the weeks after that were definitely infiltrated with tears, laughter (my friends were trying to cheer me up at the time, so did some of the craziest things in the world), and a couple anxiety attacks thrown into the mix, all of the evil that the Dragon struck on my life ultimately only made me stronger. It’s so funny to think that three years ago, when my life was so far into the shitter and couldn’t have gotten any worse, that three and a half years later my life would be in this perfect little place (which I’m not going to go off listing my blessings- those who are important to me know what they are and the point of this isn’t to boast and be all “OMG my life is fabulous”).
Again, I think it’s stupid when people become nostalgic on their blogs, and you won’t catch me spilling my guts very often. But I did want to start the New Year off with a little bit of an inspirational message for everyone going through a trying time. Is your money sitch bad? Your family a wreck? Your significant other being a poo? Did you just loose someone special? No matter what, keep in mind that it will get better. It might take time, and you might have to take some initiative and seek out happiness on your own a little bit, but just know that at some point in the future, whether a week or a year or ten years from the present, you WILL experience joy. And guess what? Other crappy things will happen down the road, too. But as long as you have faith in joy, and hold onto the feeling for all it’s worth when it happens, you’ll always have it in your back pocket to go to when you need it the most. =)