It is currently January 14th, 2014, but I am yet to do my customary 'year just gone by recap'. Part of me was lazy, and part of me just wasn't feeling it. I still don't really feel like it, but, you know... got to keep up the tradition!
2013. Sucked. Balls.
It was easily one of the worst I have had for quite some time. I returned from my year long backpacking trip around America in the first quarter of the year, only to struggle to adapt being back home again.
But at the same time, I realized that being back home, and unemployed, provided me the rare opportunity for an entirely new start in life, so I mapped out what my goals were to be for the rest of 2013 (with teaching more classes at my old University, pursuing my freelance career more vigorously, and getting a new girlfriend being chief among them).
This all started off well. I got some classes to teach, I was getting a few freelance clients, and this girl (whom I have been crazy about for years now) and I went on a weekend inter-state holiday together for the fun of it, so that was looking positive as well.
Fast forward to the end half of the year, and I was thoroughly depressed about pretty much everything. I hated the house I was living in and the stupid housemates within it, I ended up asking the girl out (whom I was crazy about), but got rejected (which sucked), and then we had an arguement and stopped being friends all together (which I hated).
I didn't even blog during the entirety of November (which is not like me), I felt lost, cheated... you get the idea.
But, as we begin 2014... I have to say, honestly, that 2013 was one of the best things that could have happened to me. It is hard to see it at the time, but upon looking back you can really get a new perspective on things.
2013 sucked, there's no doubt about that, but it was the year I set new goals for what I wanted out of life, which I think helped me realize what makes me tick and where my passions lie. I've now moved into an entirely new house, one that has none of the qualities that I hated of the old (something I might not have known about if I hadn't lived in the crappy one in 2013).
It was the year I took a huge risk and leap at the chance to be happy when I asked the girl out, despite knowing that it might ruin my friendship with her, and that all our other friends would know about me asking, and also despite being nervous as hell, I did it anyway. And I know the next time I am in that situation I will be able to handle it better.
It was the year that I hated so, so much, that I think has put me in a much better position in making 2014 a year that I will enjoy. One of the best ways to enjoy life, is to know what you don't enjoy about it (or something like that anyway).
