There seems to be a consensus that 2017 was not a good year. From hurricanes, political unrest, shootings and other bad news, overall, one can see how that opinion would be true. Of course, this year treated everyone differently when it comes to personal matters.

So I’m here today to talk about how 2017 went for me. I think it’s great to take the last day of the year to reflect how the year has changed you as a person, what the highlights of the year were and what goals were reached or still in progress to hopefully be reached in the new year. Usually this is something that is done internally and not publicly shared but I’m trying something new this year and hopefully, you guys will find this post to be interesting or at least entertaining enough to be worth a few minutes out of your New Years Eve.

2017 was the year I gained the title of “Doctor of Pharmacy” and “wife”. A pretty big deal. The beginning of the year was filled with final rotations and final projects to meet the requirements for graduation. It was also filled with wedding planning, most of which fell onto my mom’s shoulders since I was busy with school so she deserves a huge shout out of the whole year of 2017 for being amazing and taking on everything I couldn’t do for the wedding – which was quite a bit. This was also the year that I moved out of my parents’ house and moved in with my husband into our new apartment. Also a pretty major life moment. So you could definitely say that for me, 2017 was a pretty major year.

I saw people this year that I haven’t seen in many years – my grandparents, aunt and cousin from Kazakhstan came into town for my wedding and I got to spend almost a month with them which was one of the most special things about this year. My best friends from the age of 2 also came from Kazakhstan for the wedding which was extremely special as well. If you want to hear more about the wedding, I wrote about it in great detail in my wedding post.

I started my big girl job as a pharmacist which was a big transition. It has put on a lot more responsibility for me and I’m excited to see what the next year holds for my career. Through my job this year I’ve met so many new people and hope this trend stays the same.

As far as traveling goes – I kept it domestic this year. Two trips to New York City (one for my bachelorette and one to show the city during the holidays for my husband) and numerous trips to Chicago. Next year is going to be a much more international year, starting out with our honeymoon to Thailand in February.

As far as the blog goes – I set some goals for myself for this year that I didn’t quite reach and ones that I exceed. A lot of these “goals” were just in my head and I think for next year, goals will be put in writing and I will work harder to reach them. There were a lot of blogging and social media breaks and I let a lot of things get in the way of writing so for next year, I will do better, with more consistent content and higher quality content.

Resolutions for next year – I am a big fan of New Years Resolutions. I love hearing other people’s as they inspire and give me ideas for my own and I love coming up with them for myself. Every year, I am that person that will “get in the best shape” of her life that year and so far, every year I’ve failed that resolution so I’m putting this out there now – 2018 will be the year that resolution is met. I’m changing things up a little bit though. This year, I will love my body. Not for the way it is now but for the way it will change with the hard work I’m going to put in it. I’m going to try new work out classes, eat healthier and cut out some indulgences that come around too often but I will not limit and restrict myself too much and will treat myself for the hard work I will put in.

A resolution I’ve come up with for next year is that every month, I will try something new. For January, for example, I will go to a cycling class at my gym. In February, I will play with elephants in Thailand. For the months following, I will make sure to come up with something that gives me a new experience whether it is in the form of fitness, adventure or just even trying a new cuisine. There’s no limits as even small things can be great experiences.

With all that left on the table, I am wishing everyone a happy, safe, healthy and successful new year. Russians say that the way you spend your New Years Eve and “greet” the new year dictates how the whole following year will go so I suggest you surround yourself with those that matter most tonight and celebrate the year that’s leaving and greet the one coming in.

As always, thanks for reading and thank you for a great year.

Cheers.