I used to be apprehensive about the new year to the point of tears, however, this year I welcomed in the new year with a raging scream, excited 2015 was over and a new start was beginning.
I posted these words almost exactly a year ago, not knowing what 2016 held in store for me. The first question that came to my mind was: If you knew what was to happen this next year, would you still welcome it in with a heart full of exitement and joy?
If, on January 1, 2016, I was to know everything that was to happen to me throughout the months of the 2016 year, would I have still welcomed it in like I did? And to be honest - I have no idea what I would have done in that moment. However, looking back at the knowledge gained and the newly understood wisdom I have gained through this 2016 year, I am all the more joyous than I was when I welcomed the year in.
I am apprehensive about the future days of 2017? Not really. 'Cause now that I have successfully passed the year of 2016 onto the past, I know that I am so much more capable than I could have ever imagined. When you first hand witness the strength of God overcoming your weaknesses and challenges, perspectives change and victory because surreal.
Taking into account the sixteen things I planned to do in 2016, here is a list of sixteen things I did NOT do in 2016.
1. Give up on my dream of becoming a BSN by May 2017. If you recall from my first blog post of the year, my goal was to get through spring and fall of 2016 with minimal tears and loss of hairs. I can say that there was a minimal loss of hairs, but I have probably shed more tears over the course of this year than, like, ever. My 2016 journey became extremely tough in February; it got to the point where I was unsure if I would be able to graduate on time due to circumstances largely out of my control. It was challenging, but I continued to stay determine to graduate on time while handing over my worried and anxieties and fears and tears onto God. Turns out He never lets you down; for the moment I decided to hand over all of my control over my future {which was really no control at all}, he gave me a way out, a way to graduate on time. And here I stand because of him, six months away from my undergraduate graduation.
Don't give up, always stay determined, and don't be afraid to give over your future to the Lord.
#nursingbound
2. Say goodbye to my college-bound sister. Who knew both my sister and I would fall in love with the idea of being a commuter. I guess living on campus has its perks, but, I guess, we are just fans of the 'simple life' and prefer studying and spending quality time with the family to whatever the mainstream college-life consists of today. I am thankful that this year did not bring college 'goodbyes' to our family, rather, 'I'll see you tonight at dinner.'
Growing up is such an odd occurrence, yet it is refreshing to embark on new adventures and rando challenges that life enjoys to throw your way. I continue to be grateful to the blessings we have both received from our Father - wonderful opportunities and guidance on these college-related adventures.
Thank you, little 'nora,' for continuing to inspire me to be a better person, to love more, to smile more, to be bold in the face of adversaries and negativity. You were my backbone through the majority of this year and I am thankful that you have found a home in being a college-commuter student so you con continue to be that backbone that I so desperately need.
#nora #collegestudent
3. Forget about my passion for writing. I was once asked by a friend when do you find your time to write your blogs? Now, her question wasn't as chill as you probably just mentally read it; no, she was really confused as to where and how I get the time to write.
What this friend did not realize is that the extent of my writing doesn't end at blogging. The core of my soul is not an exercise-fanatic, chocolate-lover, or even healthy-food-freak, but more so an author. Writing, for me, is a fiery passion only quenched by a long night dedication of hours into a novel or a few short hours of dedication each week into my blog.
This year, I had a good chunk of down-time due to my extreme restrictions from physical activity. Guess what I did {of course, after my small amounts of studying was complete}. . . w r i t e . All those late nights during high school I spent not studying but writing were relived during my external-fixator days. And even in the midst of my pain I was able to use writing as an escape, to leave my life behind and journey into the world of another.
#authoring
4. Miss out on a beautiful gift of being a part of something bigger than myself. This year has been full of adventures and journeys on which I could have never even guessed I would embark. For some crazy reason, about three-fourths or so into the year, I decided to contact a family friend and try out this church I had been thinking about trying for quite some time. Not really meaning for it to turn into anything more than one visit to the church, I found myself falling in love with the way this church surrendered their lives to the Lord; I found myself falling on love with the way they worshiped our Father and the way they were so dedicated to expanding the Kingdom of the Lord.
This year I learned what surrender truly means. It is not easy, but through surrender is when we truly become strong.
#mannachurch #surrender
5. Go another year with the same bad habits. I am not one to do ‘new year’s resolutions.’ I mean, yes, I want to become a better person, but I don’t wait until the last day of the year to compose a list of things I need to change about myself and then, on the first day of the year – WAHLA – a completely new person. However, this past year, something I wanted to work on was a bad habit of mine that has lingered for pretty much my whole life, and that is biting my nails.
This year has been a little crazy. The first time I tried stopping biting my nails, I had some serious stress hit my life – and you can only imagine that those somewhat nice nails turned into terrible ripped and bitten poop. My life slowly began going uphill, so I decided to try this ‘new year’s resolution’ once again; and as the year comes to a close, I can say that my nails are the most beautiful and tear- and bite-free they have ever been!
. . . now, if I can get back to my healthy diet ways of life. . .
#nailedit
6. Allow 2016 to NOT change me. I have gone through so many years staying the same and, thankfully, this year that is not the case. 2016 has kicked me, broke me, and changed me in ways I never thought I could be changed, and for that I am beyond thankful.
#happydays #saddays #changedways
7. Make my bridesmaid adventure boring. If you know anything about my 2016 year, you know most things did not go as planned - being a bridesmaid was no exception. Simply put, I was utterly the most chaotic bridesmaid ever. About two weeks before I was to be a bridesmaid, I shattered my ankle; and if that wasn't enough, five days before the wedding, I had this weird metal things screwed into and through my lower leg and foot bones medically known as an 'external fixator.' The dancing and celebrating I was beyond excited was slowly stolen away from me. This time that was supposed to be such a magical and lovely time turned out to be pretty crappy.
Thankfully, a handful of months later, when I look back on this beautiful soul's wedding, I don't remember the intense pain or the constant {and quite frankly, extremely annoying} questioning I received due to my fixator; rather, I recall the love that circulated in the air, and the smiles that my cousin and now cousin-in-law continue to wear each and everyday following their beautiful wedding.
It's funny, because just as he "takes away," God surely gives right back, for, at the end of my 2016 year, I was blessed with the opportunity to make up for all those lost March dances and celebrating moments. And don't you know that those moments were all the more magical as I danced in thankfulness and awe of how God can heal bones and turn lives around in such a short period of time.
Here's to more magical moments filled with love, dancing, and beautiful brides.
Here's to a new year filled with more weddings and bridesmaid-ing!
#mackandmitchgothitched #nomoredatesshesatate
8. Stop running. I had every intention of running in the Color Run this year, then I got in a car accident and shattered my ankle. There was a span of over twelve weeks where all physical activity for me had been put on pause. Running became a dream that I might never be able to accomplish again in this lifetime. Yet, through a sprinkle of determination and large handfuls of prayers, running is not a dream but a reality. Of course, physical activities, such as running, still pose their own challenges, but determination can overcome oh so many things.
In my first blog post of the year, I wrote "I will dedicate this year to running in God's color and not in the lies of the world." How beautiful is this sentence to see it come to life in a way I would have never guessed when I originally typed it. It's ironic how God's color is so different in comparison to my definition of "color." My color becomes so monochromatic compared to God's color; when you experience the color of God, life becomes so much more, for lack of better words, colorful!
Despite the happenings of my early 2016 year, I remain in one piece, once broken but now healed. Running is even more of a challenge for me than it was before, but I am still able to run! A broken ankle has become a part of who I am and because of it I have learned how to adapt in ways that I never had to before, but that's life. Just thankful that God heals broken hearts and broken ankles.
#brokenankleruns
9. Lose out on my concert-year filled dream. My concert buddy and I had decided to attend a Nick and Demi concert about mid-way through the 2016 year, however, the concert ended up being cancelled; we weren't too bummed, because we were going to have to sell the tickets anyways. I had pretty much given up on our goal of a concert-filled year when social media informed me about a concert where one of my favorite artists would be performing. My concert buddy {my sister} and I decided to take part in concert ticket contest. We ended up not winning the meet and great tickets {the ones we really wanted}, but instead won tickets for another artist performing that same night. On the first try, I was able to win concert tickets {how that happened, I have no clue} and we had the best time.
Not stopping there, my concert buddy and I went to another one of Gavvy's concerts, this time, a little closer to home. We made our first concert friends and were so close to the stage that I could see Gavvy's spit accidentally fly from his mouth during a song!
Our year wasn't filled to the brim with concerts as we had hoped, but we enjoyed every second of live song by Gavvy and even became fans of a new upcoming artist!
#gavvy #wrabel
10. Hide from the rando adventures life throws at you. I had planned to adventure through this year in ways planned that, in reality, turned out much differently.
This year I will try to take more days to relax and 'veg out.' (January 2016)
This year I will travel out of NC and do things I haven't done and see things I haven't seen before. (January 2016)
This year I will dance more and sing more and hike and bike more. (January 2016)
Not all these adventures were undergone or went the way I thought they were going to, yet my year's adventure was unique and what a story to tell.
#wildernessexplorer #embark
11. Let physical barriers stop me from engaging in fitness challenges. Fitness can become all the more challenging when you break/destroy your ankle and you are prescribed non-weight bearing in that leg for over 12 weeks.
. . . And when the day came to stand on my leg, the challenges set before me were made crystal clear; there were so many things I was able to do before that I would have to retrain myself to do again - talk about aggrivating. You know how they say that once you learn to ride a bike, you never forget? Well your brain can forget things that sometimes you wish it wouldn't forget {don't worry, I didn't forget how to ride a bike}. For over 12 weeks, my brain had been denying any opportunity to even place my food on the ground - I would flinch every time something hit my healing disaster of a foot.
And here ten months after the initial disaster and seven months after putting my foot on the ground for the first time {after the breaking of my ankle}, I am extremely pleased with the progress I have made, personally and fitness-wise. The one fitness exercise that I thought would take me many months to years to regain in my right leg is something I can say I am able to complete. And even more surprisingly, I have adjusted this fitness exercise to become increasingly challenging, and yet, my right lower extremity continues to keep up.
It truly amazes me to see the progress with which the Lord has blessed me. Because of the accident, my broken ankle, and the determination I have gained through my experiences, I continue to find more challenges and make goals that, seven months ago, I never thought I could ever reach. It is true that with God and a hearty amount of determination and perserverance, anything is possible.
#pistolsquats #fitnessenthusiast
12. Re-Read the Divergent and the Hunger Games books. To be honest, I really have no idea why I stuck this particular 'goal' to complete within the year of 2016; I mean, yes, I wanted to re-read both trilogies, but what broken-ankled-nursing-major has time for reading {outside of textbooks}. It's kinda sad, because on one hand, I am a passionate writer, and on the other hand, I really hate to sit down and read books - like any kind of books. And apparently if you are going to be an author, you need to have a wide variety of books read under your belt.
The one book I read this year {outside of textbooks and the bible and other Christian self-help books} I read a book entitled Nerve. Maybe if you are as nerdy as my sister and me, you went and watched the movie on the big screen, like no joke, four times. Well, of course, when you get crazed over a movie and you hear it was based on a book, you want to go read the book. . . right? So I bought the book and my sister read it first. If you recall, I wrote a short and {not} sweet book review on this Nerve, which the movie was extremely LOOSELY based upon, earlier in the year. Don't read the book unless you want an example of how to write terrible fiction. Just go buy the DVD and watch Dave Franco be hot.
#fourtris #nerve #fangirl
13. Settle. Earlier this year, I wrote a short blog entitled, " Oh darling, do not ever settle." Catherine, one of my friends, expressed some issues on her heart that surely can be found in every girl's heart at one point in their life or another. . . "am I settling?" Am I settling for a career? Am I settling for a specific lifestyle? Am I settling for a boy? Am I settling for less than what I deserve?
Sometimes it's hard to determine if you are settling, and sometimes when you try to determine if you are settling, you begin to overthink and things get confusing and more complicated than they should be.
This year was a year of not settling - I refused to settle for future plans, and instead, I gave my situation over to God and continued to persevere through the situation given to me.
And here's to a new year of not settling, not overthinking, and {not just surviving but} thriving in and on God's blessings.
#neversettle #thrivedontjustsurvive
14. Throw opportunities away simply because they are intimidating. Sometimes my ambition takes over and I put too much on my “to-do” plate; other times my aspirations intimidate me and I back down to the challenge. On top of all that, it is so awe-striking to look back at the moments of this year and see how they have all come together, how God pushed me past certain weaknesses and allowed me to overcome certain ‘intimidations.’ I would not have come out of this year with many of the accomplishments I have accomplished if it were not for many weeks and months of darkness and pain.
One of these mentioned accomplishments includes an almost-year-long research project which was beautifully completed at the end of this fall semester. Beginning the year, I had not planned to take on my Honors College senior project; nursing school is just too hectic to take on an Honors College project. . . right? Then it hit me – the agony and pain of doubt and uncertainty. However, if it were not for the darkness that overshadowed me many long days and weeks of this past year, I would have not taken on this senior project, and I would not be able to say that I am the second nursing student in UNCP’s history to accomplish this task and, this next semester, graduate with not only the nursing program but with the honors college program as well. Of course, this may not mean much to you, but I thank God every day for this opportunity and Him pushing me to do more than I ever thought I could. Truly, with Him, anything is possible.
Additionally, this year I decided to do something that I have never really done; that is, become a part of a board of officers in my school’s own Association of Nursing Students (ANS). If you know me you know that I have never been big in student organizations, not to mention being an officer within a student organization. I didn’t run for President or anything, but I did run for treasurer, and despite the heavy running load of candidates {I was the only one who ran for treasurer}, I came out with a hard-earned victory. Being an officer does take a little dedication and time, but, so far, it is rewarding.
15. Lose precious moments of everyday life via lack of camera-capture. If this year has taught me anything {which it has taught me a whole heck of a lot}, I have learned that you much capture moments in a tangible form because these may tangible moments may just be able to help you get through the darkest days.
There was some point in the past few weeks or so that someone looked as I scrolled through the pictures on my phone and stated, "Man, you sure do have a lot of pictures!" Nothing could be more true.
Here are some of my favorite moments from this past year caught on camera {there may be a whole lot, TBH}:
16. Let my hectic schedule stop me from trecking into the woods with daddy. Every hunt has its own story, they are all unique and will all be remembered for their frustrations, their laughs, and their adrenaline rushes. Although this year's hunting trips were very brief, they were mighty successful and come along with some wonderfully unique stories! Adittionally, little sister shot her first deer ever! "There's more where that came from!"
#eatmorevenison #ifitsbrownitsdown
Goodbye, 2016 & Hello, 2017.
